Chinese Painting from the May Fourth Movement to the first National Art Exhibition (1919 – 1929)

Abstract

By 1929 the New Art Movement has become strongly rooted in the world of Chinese art, and even showed certain variations. Artists educated in Europe gathered within the environment of Nanjing University and together searched for academic realism in art. In Hangzhou Lin Fengmian林風眠 represented a modern Western style. The influence of Japan-educated artists diminished, and in Beijing and Shanghai more progressive artists suggested a political alternative for Chinese art. Most importantly, all the artists shared a rudimentary conviction that new art should be created to depict the present. This decade, thus, provided the basis of knowledge and understanding, further developed in the following periods.