THE IMAGE OF WOMAN AS A REFLECTION OF CHANGE IN CHINA反映中國變化的女性形象
The article argues that the image of women in Chinese art functions as a "thermometer" of cultural and political transformations from the end of the Qing dynasty to the communist period. The author begins from the observation that, under Confucian ethics, the artistic representation of women was rel...
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| Published in: | Review of Culture |
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| Format: | Articles |
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Instituto Cultural de Macau
2014
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| Online Access: | https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40045/2407 |
| Summary: | The article argues that the image of women in Chinese art functions as a "thermometer" of cultural and political transformations from the end of the Qing dynasty to the communist period. The author begins from the observation that, under Confucian ethics, the artistic representation of women was relatively rare, dominated as it was by narrative and landscape themes and, when present, frequently tied to the male gaze and to codified bodily idealizations (for example, nineteenth-century visual practices). With the modernization of the early twentieth century and the circulation of artists trained in Europe, new techniques and modes of representation emerged that displaced the female figure into private spaces and, at times, toward nudity or translucent garments, articulating "beauty" and formal experimentation.
Methodologically, the text offers a comparative reading of specific works and visual motifs, observing changes in composition, costume, scenography, and iconographic function. It concludes that, under the communist regime, women came to be systematically integrated into propaganda and the national project: their presence expanded in paintings and mobilization posters, frequently associated with youth, discipline, and productive/military labor. The author further shows how artists combined local aesthetic principles with foreign influences and, above all, how female iconography was reconfigured to educate the public and legitimize women's participation in the new society. |
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| ISSN: | 1682-1106 |