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UC San Diego UC San Diego Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Abstract Art in 1980s Shanghai / Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/16g2v1dm Author Jung, Ha Yoon Publication Date 2014 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO Abstract Art in 1980s Shanghai A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, Theory, and Criticism by Ha Yoon Jung Committee in charge: Professor Kuiyi Shen, Chair Professor Norman Bryson Professor Todd Henry Professor Paul Pickowicz Professor Mariana Wardwell 2014 The Dissertation of Ha Yoon Jung is approved, and it is acceptable in quality and form for publication on microfilm and electronically. ____________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________ Chair University of California, San Diego 2014 iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Signature Page ………………………………………………………………....……. iii Table of Contents ………………………………………………………….…...……. iv List of Illustrations …………………………………………………………………... v Vita ……………………………………………………………………….……….… vii Abstract ……………………………………………………….………………..……. xi Chapter 1 Introduction ……………………………………………………….……………….. 1 Chapter 2 Abstract Art and Socialist Ideology …………………………….….…………….. 33 Chapter 3 Discourses of Abstraction in 1980s China ………………………..……………… 67 Chapter 4 Abstract Art in Shanghai ……………………………………………….………… 96 Chapter 5 Shanghai Abstract Paintings …………………………..………………………… 125 Conclusion Multiple Versions of Abstract Art ……………………………………..………… 173 Appendix ……………………………………………………………...…………… 182 Bibliography ………………………………………..……………………………… 202 iv LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1. Liu Haisu, oil on canvas, “Female Nude” (1931) ………….……..………. 182 2. Guan Liang, oil on canvas, “After a bath” (1934) ………….…..……….… 182 3. Pang Xunqin, oil on canvas, “Composition” (1934) ………………..…….. 183 4. Zhao Shou, oil on canvas, “Let’s Jump” (1934) ……………...……...….… 183 5. Li Shan, ink on paper, “Order” (1979) …………………………….….…... 184 6. Li Shan, oil on canvas, “Origins-Hemedu Culture 1” (1980) …….….…… 184 7. Li Shan, oil on canvas, “Extension 2” (1985) …………………….….…… 185 8. Li Shan, oil on canvas, “Origins-Home Town” (1978) …………….……... 185 9. Li Shan, oil on canvas, “Origins-Harmony 1” (1984) ……………….……. 186 10. Li Shan, oil on canvas, “Origins-Rhythmic Signs” (unknown) …….…….. 186 11. Li Shan, oil on canvas, “The Origin 5” (1982) ……………………….…… 187 12. Li Shan, oil on canvas, “Still Life” (1981) ………………………….…….. 187 13. Li Shan, oil on canvas, “Young Girl” (1982) ……………………..………. 188 14. Zhang Jianjun, oil on canvas, “Trees, Pond, and a Bird” (1980) …………. 189 15. Zhang Jianjun, oil on canvas, “Moon, Sun, and a Human of Yin Xu Age” (1980) ……………………………………………………………….…….. 189 16. Zhang Jianjun, oil on canvas, “Pathetique” (1979) ……………………….. 190 17. Zhang Jianjun, mixed media, “Eternal Dialogue” (1982) ………………… 190 18. Zhang Jianjun, mixed media, “Noumenon No. 59” (1984) ………....……. 191 19. Zhang Jianjun, mixed media, “Noumenon No. 70” (1984) ………..….….. 192 20. Zhang Jianjun, oil paint on linen, “Human Beings with Their Clock No. 1” (1986) ………………………………………………………………..….… 193 21. Zhang Jianjun, Chinese ink on Xuan paper, “Nature Series” (1987) …...… 193 22. Qiu Deshu, ink on rice paper, “Song at the Crest of the Wave” (1973) ….. 194 23. Qiu Deshu, ink and seal on rice paper, “Abstract Space” (1979) ….….…. 194 v 24. Qiu Deshu, ink and color on rice paper, “Rhythm of Stream” (1979) ….… 195 25. Qiu Deshu, ink on paper, “Empty No. 1” (1982) ……………..………...… 195 26. Qiu Deshu, ink and seal on paper, “Days and Nights” (1980)…..……...…. 196 27. Qiu Deshu, ink and seal on rice paper, “Fissuring: Spiritual Self Figure No.3” (1983) ………………………………………………………………….….. 196 28. Qiu Deshu, color ink on rice paper, “Shanghai Miro” (1980) ………..…… 197 29. Yu Youhan, oil on paper, “Portrait of Shen Fu” (1973) …………….….….. 198 30. Yu Youhan, acrylic on canvas, “Circle 1984-12” (1984) …………..….….. 198 31. Yu Youhan, acrylic on canvas, “Circle 1985-5” (1985) ………….….……. 199 32. Yu Youhan, acrylic on paper, “Abstraction 1983-6” (1983) ………..…….. 199 33. Ding Yi, oil on canvas, “Taboo” (1986) …………………………..….…… 200 34. Ding Yi, acrylic on canvas, “Appearance of Crosses 1” (1988) …..…..…... 200 35. Ding Yi, acrylic on canvas, “Appearance of Crosses 1989-4” (1989) ……. 201 36. Ding Yi, acrylic on canvas, “Appearance of Crosses 1989-7” (1989) ….… 201 vi VITA EDUCATION Doctor of Philosophy, University of California, San Diego (2014) Art History, Theory, and Criticism Focus on Art of 20th century East Asia Master of Arts, Ewha Woman’s University (2010) Art History Focus on Modern and Contemporary Art Bachelor of Fine Arts, Ewha Woman’s University (2006) Painting and Printing PUBLICATIONS “Searching for the modern wife: 1930s Shanghai and Seoul Pictorials,” in Kaleidoscopic Shanghai, Contending Modernities, and the Liangyou Pictorial in Republican China, eds. Paul Pickowicz, Kuiyi Shen, and Yingjin Zhang. Leiden: Brill Publishers, 2013. pp. 179-199 “Abstraction in 1980s Shanghai: Li Shan’s abstract paintings,” Journal of History of Modern Art, no. 33 (June, 2013): 27-48 vii “A Meeting Place of the West and East: the work of Yoo Young-Kuk,” Misulsahakbo, no. 39 (December, 2012): 397-425 M.A dissertation, “A Meeting Place of the West and East: the Work of Yoo Young- Kuk” Seoul, Korea: Ewha Womans University, 2010 “Government Power and Museum: Museum of Contemporary Art in Korea”, The 20th Ewon Academic Dissertations, Ewha Womans University Graduate students’ Association, November 2008 CONFERENCES April 2013 “Li Shan’s Abstract Paintings,” Korean History of Modern Art (KAHOMA), Seoul, Korea February 2013 “Chinese Communism and Abstraction: Qiu Deshu’s Works,” College of Art Association (CAA), New York, New York May 2012 “Searching for the Modern Wife,” Visualizing Asia in the Modern World, Visualizing Cultures, Princeton University, New Jersey June 2011 “Liu Xiaodong,” Asia Rising and the Rise of Asian America, Association of Asian Studies on the Pacific Coast (ASPAC) and the Western Conference of the Association of Asian Studies (WCASS), Pomona College, Claremont, California June 2011 “Searching for the Modern Wife,” Popular Print Media, Visuality, and the Zigzag Road to Modernity in the Shanghai Global viii Metropolis, 1926-1949, International Graduate Research Conference, University of California, San Diego November 2008 “Museum of Contemporary Art and Korean Politics,” 20th Ewon Academic Dissertations, Ewha Womans University Graduate students’ Association TEACHING EXPERIENCE University of California, San Diego Visual Art 127C (Winter 2014) Reader Art of Modern China Visual Art 22 (Summer 2013) Teaching Assistant Formations of Modern Art: Circulations of Modernity Visual Art 21B (Winter 2013) Teaching Assistant Introduction to Asian Art Visual Art 127P (Fall 2012) Reader Arts of Japan ix Visual Art 127N (Spring 2012) Reader Twentieth Century Art in Japan and China Visual Art 22 (Winter 2012) Teaching Assistant Formations of Modern Art Visual Art 127C (Fall 2011) Reader Art of Modern China Visual Art 20 (Spring 2011) Teaching Assistant Introduction to Art History Visual Art 22 (Winter 2011) Teaching Assistant Formations of Modern Art Visual Art 127B (Fall 2010) Reader Arts of China x ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Abstract Art in 1980s Shanghai by Ha Yoon Jung Doctor of Philosophy in Art History, Theory, and Criticism University of California, San Diego, 2014 Professor Kuiyi Shen, Chair My dissertation, “Abstract Art in 1980s Shanghai,” examines political, conceptual, historical, and formal aspects of abstract paintings produced in Shanghai from 1976 to 1989. This study argues that Shanghai abstract paintings were xi formulated in the unique historical and sociopolitical context of post-Mao Shanghai and, thus, have unique characteristics that do not always fit the conventional definition of abstract art. More specifically, it studies what kind of ideological meaning that abstract art held in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), how the 1980s Chinese art circle defined abstract art, which cultural and historical background existed that allowed 1980s Shanghai abstract art to blossom, and how five select Shanghai artists, namely Li Shan (李山 b. 1942), Zhang Jianjun (张健君 b. 1955), Qiu Deshu (仇德树 b. 1948), Yu Youhan (余友涵 b. 1943), and Ding Yi (丁乙 b. 1962), each expressed their own understanding of abstract art through their paintings. Through this study, I ultimately aim to reveal that there are multiple versions of abstract art that are incongruent with its institutional description, thereby expanding our understanding of abstract art. This dissertation consists of five chapters. The first chapter, an introduction, establishes the problem with the canonization of the term, “abstract art,” and the single narrative of its history; provides a historical background of 1980s China; explains the modern art history of Shanghai; and locates this study in the broad range of scholarship. The four subsequent chapters focus on the ideological meaning of Chinese abstract art constructed by China’s socialist identity; the discourses of abstract art in 1980s China; the unique cultural history of Shanghai; and the artworks of five representative