NOTE TO USERS This reproduction is the best copy available. ® UMI Building Nation and Self Through the Other: Two Exhibitions of Ch in ese Painting in Paris, 1933/1977. by Anik Micheline Fournier Department of Art History and Communications McGill University, Montreal October, 2004 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Master of Arts. © Anik Micheline Fournier 2004 Library and Bibliothèque et 1+1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Ottawa ON K1A ON4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 0-494-12718-X Our file Notre référence ISBN: 0-494-12718-X NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l'Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans loan, distribute and sell th es es le monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, électronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriété du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author's permission. ln compliance with the Canadian Conformément à la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privée, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont été enlevés de cette thèse. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. ••• Canada Abstract This thesis investigates Western exhibition practices and the problems that arise when they involve cross-cultural encounters. Two exhibitions of Chinese painting in Paris that were co-planned by French curators and Chinese artists will serve as case studies in this regard. The first exhibition is Exposition de la peinture chinoise held at the Musée du leude Paume in 1933. The second show is Quatre artistes chinoises contemporaines held at the Musée Cernuschi in 1977. Using archivaI material, 1 will reconstruct the planning of the exhibitions and reveal diverging French and Chinese agendas. An examination of the press reviews of the two shows will demonstrate that location is key in the public reception of an exhibition. The analysis of the encounter of self and other underlying the two exhibitions willlead to a probing of Western exhibition practices and bring issues of power, authenticity and identity-making to the fore. Résumé Cette thèse interroge les pratiques d'exposition occidentale et les problèmes qu'elles soulèvent lorsqu'elles impliquent une rencontre interculturelle. Deux expositions à Paris, organisées par des conservateurs français en collaboration avec des artistes Chinois, vont nous servir de cas d'étude. La première exposition, Exposition de la peinture chinoise, s'est tenue au Musée du Jeu de Paume en 1933. La seconde, Quatre artistes chinoises contemporaines a été présentée au Musée Cernuschi en 1977. Une reconstruction de la planification des deux expositions à partir des matériaux d'archives exposera la divergence des agendas et stratégies chinois et français. L'examen des revues de presse des deux expositions va révéler que le lieu reste un facteur majeur pour ce qui concerne la réception de l'exposition. L'analyse de la rencontre du soi et de l'autre qui souligne les deux évènements va nous amener à mettre en perspective, les pratiques d'exposition occidentale, ainsi que les registres du pouvoir, d'authenticité et d'identité qui les sous-tendent. Acknowledgements 1 wouid like to ex tend my deep gratitude to the following people whose enthusiasm, support and help made the research and writing process a great experience and without whom 1 could not have brought this thesis to completion: Many thanks to the personnel at the Archives des Musée Nationaux in Paris for aIl their help in gathering the archivaI material for the Exposition de la peinture chinoise. Likewise 1 will never forget the generosity and patience of Ms. Frémaux at the Musée Cernuschi who retrieved the exhibition files of Quatre artistes chinoises contemporaines from a storage crate and who allowed me to work in the kitchen oftheir temporary location while the Museum edifice was under renovation. 1 would like to thank Le Fonds Québécois de la recherche sur la nature et les technologies as well as the Department of East Asian Studies at McGill for providing me with funds to perform primary research in Paris and China. To Prof. Ting Chang, whose constant guidance and encouragement lead to job and academic opportunities that developed skills that were indispensable to my thesis research, thank you for all your help! A very big thank you to Kevin Bao and my brother Deryk in London, without whom 1 would not have any images for the Exposition de la peinture chinoise. To my support and revision dream-team consisting ofmy father, mother and brother Stefan, thank you so much for being there. My dear Samuel, thank you for making me feel at home in Paris and making me feel as if 1 were elsewhere here in Montreal. Most importantly, to Prof. Francesca DaI Lago: the very topic of my thesis would have completely escaped me had 1 not been taken in by your enthusiasm for your field during the last year of my undergraduate studies. Thank you for constantly realigning my scattered thoughts, for forcing me to reconsider how 1 think and write and for sticking in there with me until the very end. Thank you for being a great teacher. Table of Contents Introduction: Show and Tell." .................................................................. 5 Chapter One: Exposition de la peinture chinoise ........................................... 16 Chapter Two: Quatre artistes chinoises contemporaines ................................. 60 Chapter Three: Messages and Audiences: Agendas of Display and their Public Reception .......................................................................................... 100 Conclusion ................................................................... """"" .... , .. "... """ ... 111 Bibliography ....................................................................................... 116 List of Illustrations ............................................................................... 123 Introduction: Show and Tell Exposition is always also an argument. Therefore, in publicizing these views the subject objectifies, exposes himself as much as the object; this makes the exposition an exposure of the self. Such exposure is an act of producing meaning, a performance. 1 - Mieke Bal This thesis examines Western exhibition practices specific to art museums and the problems that emerge wh en the art on display is non-Western. 1 have chosen to look at two exhibitions of Chinese painting in Paris. The first exhibition is the Exposition de la peinture chinoise that was held at the Musée du Jeu de Paume in 1933. The second exhibition, titled Quatre artistes chinoises contemporaines, was held at the Musée Cernuschi in 1977. What is most important and interesting about these two exhibitions is that they were co-planned by French institutions and Chinese artists. A close investigation of the planning and reception of the two exhibitions reveals the dynamics and tensions that arise as a result of the confrontation of representing other and representing self via Western exhibition strategies. Show and tell ln Double Exposures, Mieke Bal explains that the Greek root of the noun exposition [exhibition] and its derivatives, exposing and exposure, conjures three interlaced meanings: This verb refers to the action of "making a public representation" or "publicly demonstrating". It can be combined with a noun meaning opinions or judgments and refer to the public presentation of someone's views; or it can refer to the performing of those deeds that de serve to be made public? The basic strategies underlying exhibition practices, as developed in the West since the late eighteenth century, involve the simultaneous action of showing and telling, that is to say, putting objects on public display and inscribing them within a narrative. 1 Mieke Bal, Double Exposures: The Subject of Cultural Analysis (London: Routledge, 1996) 2. 2 Bal 2. 5 Bal defines narrative as "a discursive mode that affects semiotic objects in variable degrees.,,3 In an exhibition, objects become inscribed as signs within a narrative of which the museum/curator is the author, and which is read by the visitor as she progresses through the exhibition spaces. In this manner, the object is silenced and cornes to mean something else; it is made complicit as visible sign in the statement about itself. However, whereas