Surrealism in China initially gained a foothold in Shanghai’s former French concession during the early 1930s, disseminated by returning Chinese students who had directly encountered the movement in Paris and Tokyo. Shanghai surrealism adopted a dialectical form, resonating with the modus operandi of the Parisian movement as well as China’s traditional belief system of Daoism. Reconciling the thought of Freud and Marx, Surrealism subsumed the multiple contradictions that divided Republican Shanghai, East and West, colonial and cosmopolitan, ancient and modern, navigating the porous boundaries that separate dream and reality. Shanghai surrealists were not rigid followers of their Parisian counterparts. Indeed, they commingled Surrealist techniques with elements of traditional Chinese iconography. Rather than revolving around a centralized group with a leader, Shanghai Surrealism was a much more diffuse entity, disseminated across copious different periodicals, avant-garde groups, and the entire gamut of political ideology, ranging from Nationalist party supporters to Communist sympathizers. Ultimately, the pervasive presence of Surrealism in Shanghai can be attributed to a wide range of factors: a yearning for national renewal, the stagnancy of the guohua genre, anticolonial protest, the rise of Western individualism, circumnavigating censorship and experimentation in search of a unique artistic voice. This is the first English-language book dedicated to introducing Chinese Surrealism, using periodicals and other primary sources to reveal the mutual cultural influences between China and Western avant-garde, and broaden the scope of Surrealist studies beyond Eurocentric prisms.
Price: £28.00
Pages: 152
Publisher: Hong Kong University Press
Imprint: Hong Kong University Press
Publication Date:
08 November 2024
Trim Size: 7.00 X 5.00 in
ISBN: 9789888842919
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
ART / Asian / General, ART / History / General
‘The case for Surrealist art as a significant part of Chinese art history, until recently had seldom been proposed. With Lauren Walden’s book we have the first dedicated study to address the subject. In doing so, it takes a thoroughly scholarly approach, while at the same time remaining clear, concise, and informative in its presentation. Altogether this book is a pleasure to read.’
—Paul Bevan, research associate, School of Oriental and African Studies, London; associate, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Oxford
Acknowledgements . vi
Introduction 1
Pang Xunqin and the Storm Society . 24
The Storm Society . 47
The Chinese Independent Art Association 64
Chinese Interpretations of European Surrealist
Works 80
Xiandai [Les Contemporains]: All Surrealism
under Heaven . 89
Surrealist Photography in Shanghai: Shidai
Manhua [Modern Sketch] . 97
Surrealist Photography in Shanghai: Lang
Jingshan (1892–1995) . 106
Conclusion . 126
Appendix I: The Storm Society Manifesto
(1932) . 131
Appendix II: Manifesto of the Chinese
Independent Art Association (1935) 134
Appendix III: Biographies . 136
