The Exploration Of Dispute: Between Modernistic And Realistic Painting In China's Early 20～(th) Century

This thesis is situated in the 20s and 30s of the 20th century, which is a special period in the development of oil painting in China. It delves into "the disputes of Xus", which happened during the first National Art Exhibition held by the Kuomintang government in April, 1929. Based on the social background of the event and the artistic position, the standards of aesthetic value and experiences on art of the two involved, the paper discusses the debate between the Modernism and Realism combined with the evolution of ethos at that time. It discusses dispute between modernistic and realistic painting of 20s in China. At this period, Chinese painters choose un-rationalism in western modernistic painting, while it neglects its rationalism. In fact, it is a misunderstanding which misleads the similarity between the spirit of Chinese traditional painting and the un-rationalism in western modernistic painting.Based on the proceedings Art Exhibition run by the organizational committee during the exhibition and according to the different artistic viewpoint expressed by the two sides, the paper clarifies the art assertion and aesthetic position of Modernism, which held Xu Beihong as the representative. From an objective perspective, it reviews Xu Beihong's art education and social association and analyses the art course that he chose Realism which is not the mainstream of European art rather than Modernism which was thriving then in the west after he had studied in France for eight years. The thesis tries to eliminate the misreading about this period and the hindsight held by people nowadays and to review, from a new perspective, the development of oil painting in China in the 20s and 30s of the 20th century. By reorganizing the art history of this period, it discusses the phenomenon that Modernism fell to dreariness in the 30s, while Realism culminated in the mainstream of oil painting in China.