Guangzhou Academy of Fine Art – connections to Japan

Researcher: Xiaoya Fang, M.A.

CHINACADEMY will take the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts as a case study for the work of what might be called art academies with a regional focus. The project will investigate the relations between the national metropoles and provincial centres on the one hand and the role of regional traditions in the work of the academies on the other. The latter are particularly strong in Guangzhou, which has a long history as a trade port and close artistic ties to Japanese art centres. During the Republican period, Guangzhou was also an important centre for left-wing woodcut artists, and this became part of the school tradition. CHINACADEMY will study how local schools and artistic movements with their global connections shaped the work at the academy and which role regional identities played in the classrooms and the academy’s self-representation. It will investigate the relations between local characteristics and cross-regional networks, and especially the impact of national administrative directives and cultural politics on local practices.