A Century Of Yangzhou Painting (1844-1950) In The Geng Collection

The Geng family settled in Yangzhou during the reign of Qianlong,and used to practice medicine for generations.They associated with many literati painters because ofthe love for painting and calligraphy.This paper takes the Geng family’s collection of generations as the starting point of research because these paintings and calligraphy works have gone through over 100 years from the Reign of Dao Guangto the middle of the twentieth Century(1844-1950).For the first time,these works have entered the field of research.A holistic view is taken over the Geng’s collection,which forms the basis of this research.In addition,this collection offers new material and new perspective for our understanding of the history of painting.This paper is based on the collection of the Geng family and supported by authentic and reliable works,seeking to portray the consistency and variations of styles in the past century of Yangzhou painting.This is a rarely known history of painting which has unique value.From another perspective,this paper analyzesthe of Geng’s collection behavior itself from the source,content,form,purpose,and other aspects and compares it to the painting at that time,in order to provided a tangible perspective to discern a real epic in the existing state and developing trend ofYangzhou painting.And then,it seeks to identify and analyze the specific cultural form and motive,which are active in the community and underline the development of traditional painting.Although the center of gravity of painting has changed after the Eight Eccentrics of Yangzhou,but the painting activities among the people never stop.In the development process of the painting,since the knowledge and culture were deeply rooted in the folk literary class,the spirit of the prior generation’s elegance was preserved and continued,which in turn provides the soil for the creation and collection of the regional painting.As such,it inherits the most real and the most essential elements in the traditional culture during the alternation of prosperity and decline.We could therefore observe the core and evolution of the values of literature and art in the course of the development of modern painting history from the collection of the Geng’s.