0 MODERNITY THROUGH SYNCRETISM AND ECLECTICISM: WU GUANZHONG’S ARTISTIC PRACTICE IN THE CULTURAL AND POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT OF THE PRC (1949 -1989) BY WENWEN LIU A thesis submitted to the Victoria University of Wellington in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Victoria University of Wellington 2019 Acknowledgments I wish to express my great gratitude to my supervisors Dr Luo Hui and Dr Dennitza Gabrakova for their wise guidance and full-hearted support. I also wish to express my great appreciation to Dr Rebecca Rice, Dr Ellen Soulliere and Dr Lidu Yi for their detailed and insightful comments on this thesis. I owe my special thanks to Professor Yiyan Wang, Professor Clunas Craig, Dr Keren Chiaroni, Dr Catherine Churchman, and Peter HaJecek for their helpful suggestions. This thesis is dedicated to my husband Liu Xin. Had it not been his love, this thesis would not have come to fruition. Abstract This thesis examines Wu Guanzhong’s 吴冠中 (1919-2010) art and art theory in the context of socialist and post-socialist China. Wu’s art came to maturation through a sophisticated syncretism of Chinese and Western painting styles and techniques. Aesthetic considerations notwithstanding, each of Wu’s artistic breakthroughs was also a direct response to the cultural policies of the Chinese Communist Party or to the larger cultural and political currents at important junctures of twentieth-century China. Mirroring the syncretistic style and political nature of his artwork, Wu’s art theory is characterised by an eclecticism that mediates between Chinese and Western artistic concepts and walks a thin line between creative agency and political correctness. By identifying the particular qualities of Wu’s art practice that captured the spirit of the 1980s and contributed to his phenomenal success during the ‘Culture Fever’ at the time, this thesis seeks to demonstrate how Wu’s unique blend of syncretism may exemplify an alternative path of Chinese artistic modernity, one that is forged by ‘official artists’ working within the system and shaped by the artists’ strategies of cultural politics as much as their aesthetic choices. Key Words syncretism, eclecticism, xiesheng, multiple perspectives, self-expression, literati painting, yijing, formal aesthetics, the aesthetics of abstraction Contents INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 1 .......................................................................................................................................... 23 TOWARDS A SYNCRETISM OF WESTERN AND CHINESE PAINTING (1936-1950) .............. 23 1.1 In Hangzhou: Exposure to Western and Chinese Painting ......................................................... 24 1.2 In Paris: the Absorption of Modernist Vocabulary ..................................................................... 33 CHAPTER 2 .......................................................................................................................................... 42 ARTISTIC CHOICE AS RESPONSE TO THE CULTURAL POLICIES OF THE PRC (1950-1976) ............................................................................................................................................................... 42 2.1 Socialist Realism and the PRC’s Cultural Policies as Context ................................................... 44 2.2 The Relaxed Political Environment and the Xiesheng Movement in the 1950s ........................ 49 2.3 Multiple Perspectives and Wu Guanzhong’s Xiesheng Practice ................................................ 56 2.4 Change to Ink in the 1970s ......................................................................................................... 64 2.5 Wu Guanzhong and Zao Wou-ki: Same Ingredients, Different Syncretism .............................. 71 CHAPTER 3 .......................................................................................................................................... 78 ARTISTIC MATURATION: MODERNISING LITERATI PAINTING IN 1980s CHINA ............... 78 3.1 Literati Painting and Self-Expression ......................................................................................... 80 3.2 Wu Guanzhong’s Modern Interpretation of YiJing .................................................................... 90 3.3 The Realisation of YiJing through the Motif of Hometown ....................................................... 96 3.4 Treescape and the Importance of Subject Choice ..................................................................... 106 CHAPTER 4 ........................................................................................................................................ 110 THE AESTHETIC & POLITICAL DIMENSIONS OF WU GUANZHONG’S ART THEORY ..... 110 4.1 The Political Rhetoric in Wu Guanzhong’s Formal Aesthetics ................................................ 112 4.2 Political Correctness in Wu Guanzhong’s Formal Aesthetics .................................................. 119 4.3 Painting as Political Balancing Act ........................................................................................... 129 CHAPTER 5 ........................................................................................................................................ 133 PATRIOTISM THROUGH ECLECTICISM ..................................................................................... 133 IN 1980S CHINESE CULTURAL DISCOURSE .............................................................................. 133 5.1 Wu Guanzhong’s Aesthetics of Abstraction ............................................................................. 134 5.2 The Reception of Wu Guanzhong’s Aesthetics of Abstraction ................................................ 144 5.3 Patriotism through Eclecticism ................................................................................................. 150 CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................................... 159 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................................... 164 APPENDIX 1 ...................................................................................................................................... 180 APPENDIX 2 ...................................................................................................................................... 181 1 INTRODUCTION Research Question I was not familiar with Wu Guanzhong’s 吴冠中 (1919-2010) work until I was commissioned to write an article upon his death in 2010 for Art and Design Magazine in BeiJing. During my research to acquire information to better understand his art style, I began to feel refreshed by the ethereal colouring and modern-style composition of his ink landscape paintings. For me, Wu’s ink style was fundamentally different from any other style that I had seen in classical Chinese ink paintings. His paintings looked modern, yet not overtly abstract, to the extent that sometimes audiences had difficulty recognizing the artwork’s connection with reality. It seemed that Wu’s art was leading me to a bridge, that he had subtly built, with his own vocabulary, between Chinese ink painting and Western modernist art. It was just an inkling that I had, while browsing Wu’s exhibition catalogues. This planted the seed of my doctoral research. While I was rethinking modern Chinese art history from this perspective, the subtle tonality of Wu’s ink paintings came to mind. Then, during my exploration of the literature about him, I started to realize the challenges in choosing him as a research subject. At a first glance, Wu was not an artist who had the most dramatic life and career. He never experienced the seismic career ups and downs of someone like Shi Lu ⽯鲁 (1919-1982). Wu never had extensive connections with art theorists and did not leave behind intriguing records for scholars to study, in the manner of Huang Binhong 黄宾虹 (1865-1955) and his friendship with Fu Lei 傅雷 (1908-1966). In terms of reputation, Wu did not in his lifetime gain the same heights of critical accolade or official endorsement as those gained by Lin Fengmian 林风眠 (1900-1991), Xu Beihong 徐悲鸿 (1895-1953) or Pan Tianshou 潘天寿 (1897-1971). And yet, Wu appeared to be one of those Chinese artists who experienced almost every political turbulence of the 20th century and happened to survive. He seemed to be one of those artists who failed to show any individualism strong enough to gain the 2 interest of art historians and critics, and this prevented his artistic journey from passionate critical appraisal or rigorous scholarly investigation. As I began to think about Chinese art more from the perspective of its subtlety, I sensed that a mine like Wu may not look bountiful at first sight, but still could be worthy of some digging. During the process of literature review, a fuller image of the artist gradually began to emerge. My preliminary research revealed a few interesting prospects. First, Wu’s art style came into fruition after a long gestation period. He began with a singular passion for art but with a stronger interest in Western modernist-style figure painting in oils. As his career developed, however, what gained him considerable reputation were his landscapes in ink and colour. What kept him from pursuing the path of the Western