By Xu Hong
It was only about a hundred years ago that women in China began to have access to school education. Prior to this time, girls were not allowed to study with boys in sishu, or traditional village schools. Women who came from wealthy families were tutored privately at home by their parents or brothers. They studied tracts on traditional morality and ethics, such as Nu Sishu (Four Classics for Women) and Lushi Guifan (Lu’s Rules), which served to stifle women physically and psychologically. While women of privilege might have learned the crafts of poetry writing, traditional painting, embroidery and sewing, that was nevertheless the full extent of their education, which was meant to gave them merely a little learning and no opportunity for significant achievement. This type of education was in keeping with the traditional Chinese adage that “ignorance is virtue for a woman.” Thus women painters were seldom mentioned in the written works of art history in China. Records of women artists began to emerge after the Song Dynasty, but the number of women painters amounted to only 1.7% to 3.2% of all painters recorded in ancient Chinese art history. Prior to the Song Dynasty, there was no mention of women artists in any written records; there were only legends about them. Of course, for women from families without means, even a limited education as described above was not available. Among the commoners, there were women engaging in paper cutting arts and embroidery. Their works, however, were completely lost in history.
From mid-Qing on, especially in late Qing, the Chinese feudal economy began to reveal its inherent problems and contradictions. The economic condition in the cities and the countryside was such that women could no longer afford to stay home, take care of the housework and wait on their men. Some intellectuals began to recognize the socioeconomic benefits of literacy for women. Between the end of Qing and the beginning of the Republican period, the leading reformer and man of letters, Liang Qichao, coined the distinction between “shengli” (wealth creation) and “fenli” (wealth sharing), a distinction that was the most representative of the time - the men were the creators of wealth in society, and the women at home were mere consumers of it. Thus, it was felt that women should not have just stayed home and merely consumed wealth. This type of attitude toward women was quickly supported by many people with insights.
Then Western missionaries began to open missionary schools and brought literacy education to the children of the poor. In 1842, girls’ schools began to emerge. According to some sources, from 1844 to 1890, there were 22 missionary girls’ schools run by European missionaries. The most well-known one was Ningpo Girls’ school, founded by Mary Ann Aldersey in 1844. More missionary girls’ schools were founded after 1886, including Beiman Girls’ school in Beijing, Yuying Girls’ school in Fuzhou, Saint Mary’s Girls school in Shanghai, Zhenjiang Girls’ school in Zhenjiang and McTyeire School for Girls in Shanghai. The Chinese gentry, living in both urban and rural areas, were quick to follow suit, and the Chinese modernizers were quick to encourage and praise the creation of girls’ schools. Many wives and daughters of the gentry took to either establishing girls’ schools or teaching in them. For example, Cai Yuanpei founded the Patriot School for Women in 1903, and his wife Huang Shizheng, who was skilled in calligraphy and painting, taught there. Yang Baimin founded Shanghai Chengdong Girls’ school, and his third daughter Yang Xuejiu, who was adept in traditional Chinese landscape painting, became the principal of the school after the death of her late father. The woman revolutionary and painter Zhang Mojun founded Shenzhou Girls’ school in Shanghai, which offered a major in arts and courses in painting and drawing, such as Chinese Ink Painting, Western Style Pencil Drawing, Charcoal Drawing, Watercolor, Pen Drawing, Oil Painting, Sketching, Portraits, Theory of Painting, and Method for Making Oil Canvas. It became the fashion of the day to establish girls’ schools, and from them many women acquired artistic skills, which later enabled them to become creators of wealth in society.
In 1907, the Qing government introduced an elementary school teacher training program for women. All girls’ schools opened courses in sewing, weaving, fabric dying and home economics. From then on women’s education was given a legitimate status in society, though inevitably girls’ schools were gradually replaced by co-education schools due to a lack of resources to establish girls only schools in rural China. In 1912, the newly established Ministry of Education notified all elementary and middle schools in China that they were permitted to adopt a co-education system. Later, in 1916, it further required that upper level elementary schools adopt the co-education system and that classes be divided into grades. It was after the May 4th Movement of 1919 that bona fide co-education schools came into existence, and it was also from this time on that records of women enrolled in higher education were found. For instance, in 1919, Pan Yuliang and Rong Junli were recorded to have been among the 11 graduates from Shanghai Chengdong Girls’ school who sought entry to the Shanghai Art School. In September of the same year, the school adopted the co-education system. In July of the following year, however, the school had to replace the system with a “one-school-two-systems” policy due to a controversy over the use of live models. It was not until 1923 that the co-education system resumed.
II
The early 20th century Chinese women painters in urban China can be divided into three groups: the traditionalists, modernists, and those educated abroad. In general, the traditionalists were the strongest group, both in number and in influence. However, in Shanghai, where the presence of Western culture was widely felt, all three groups of women painters were similarly active.
The majority of the traditionalists either came from families of artistic lineage or social prominence or married men of respectable status. Chen Xiaocui (1907-1968) and Li Qiujun (1899-1972) were among those who came from socially prominent families. Wu Shujuan and Wu Qingxia (1910-?) were from artistic families. These women had been immersed in traditional culture and were particularly adept in poetry, calligraphy and painting.
In this new historical context, where the promotion of women’s independence was a new trend, the wives and daughters of the reformers were the first to leave home. Among this group of women were He Xianning, Chen Xiefen (the daughter of the Su Bao Newspaper chief Chen Fan), Huang Shizheng (also named Huang Zhongyu, Cai Yuanpei’s second wife), and Zhang Mojun (principal of Shanghai Shenzhou Girls’ school). Women from traditional families desired likewise to adjust to this new trend in society, and to continue their studies and work in their beloved and familiar discipline of traditional Chinese painting. By then a new cultural landscape had been created: those women began to adopt Western manners and wear Western style clothing. They had also acquired, to some extent, an understanding of Western culture. Nevertheless, in their approach to painting and literature, they were still tirelessly treading the path of tradition.
The modernists were the beneficiaries of the girls’ school phenomenon. These girls’ schools created a bright future for women to enter the labor force. Under the influence of the reformers who were advocating the employment of women, society was ready to encourage them to enter the work force. Many modernists of the time held that a woman’s work could rightly fall within the realms of painting, sewing and embroidery (or related craft work), and any other types of work which were traditionally related to women. Painting was regarded a highly prestigious occupation, sewing and embroidery being ordinary jobs. However, this distinction was not based on a value judgement that the one was superior to the other, but on the fact that painting required more knowledge and education, to which not many women had access, whereas handicrafts such as sewing and embroidery were generally accessible.
This can be illustrated by the examples of two successful women artists living in the early Nationalist period. The first artist is Shen Shou (1984-1921), an embroidery master from Suzhou. In 1907, Shen was sent to Japan by the Qing government for two months to survey the art education scene there. Upon her return, Shen was appointed chief instructor at an art and embroidery institute established by the Qing government through the Women’s Embroidery Division of the Ministry of Engineering. Shen integrated the real color and three-dimensional effects of photography and Western realistic painting with Suxiu stitching techniques, creating a new style known as “Fine Arts Embroidery.” Her portrait of Queen Elena of Italy won her first prize in the 1909 Nanjing South Seas Exhibition. She also won a Distinction Award and the most prestigious, world-class Excellence Award in the 1911 World Fair in Turin, Italy. The second artist is the woman painter Wu Shujuan (also named Wu Xingfen 1853 - 1930), a native of Anhui, whose father made his living by selling paintings. As early as the age of 10, Wu was accompanying her father about in his business in Shanghai. In the 1910 World Fair in Turin, Queen Elena of Italy purchased over a dozen of her paintings at rather handsome prices.
The majority of women painters of the modernist school had basic training in both Chinese and Western painting. While some of them started out in traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy, inevitably they came under the influence of Western painting to varying degrees once they attended school. Most of them took courses in watercolor sketching and did scenic and still life drawings or paintings. Many art critics of the day considered the discipline of watercolor drawing a style that integrated Chinese and Western elements, for a brush - a Chinese drawing tool - and water were used in connection with a Western approach to color and composition. Some traditional women painters also incorporated the techniques of watercolor sketching into their creative repertoires of traditional ink painting. Upon graduation, some of these women stayed on in their home institutions as instructors or taught art courses elsewhere on the recommendations of their former teachers and other alumni. Others were employed in the business sector or in the publishing world as designers and art directors. These were all promising occupations at the time.
In early 20th century Shanghai, women artists - whether traditionalists or modernists - were both open and active in mind and in style. They participated in exhibits, established huahui (painting or artistic societies), engaged in artistic exchange, and took part in various charitable causes (such as fundraising events). In the 1920s and 1930s, there were over a dozen huahui active in Shanghai, and women artists were involved in some of them as well, such as Tianma Society, which was organized by the instructors of the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts. Other artistic societies with women artists’ involvement include the Chenguang Fine Arts Society, established in 1920 in Shanghai, and Baie Painting Society, established in 1924. The best known of these artistic societies was the Chinese Women’s Calligraphy and Painting Society, which was founded in 1934 by a group of traditionalist women artists in Shanghai. The activities of the society attracted women from all over the southeastern provinces, including the woman revolutionary and poet He Xianning. The society expanded from Shanghai to Jiangsu and Zhejiang and then to other regions of the country. In its heyday, the society had over 200 members, and remained active for 15 years. It organized four major exhibitions and published four issues of the Journal of Women Calligraphy and Painting. The success of the society illustrates the open cultural atmosphere of Shanghai in the early 20th century and the social stability of the time, allowing many women art lovers to break into the art world and establish their cultural identities.
III
In the modern history of Chinese arts, many young women pursued their education overseas - a phenomenon that significantly influenced the development of Chinese arts. The earliest record of such an occurrence is dated back to 1870, in which European missionaries took a six-year old Chinese girl named Jin Yamei out of the country in order for her to study medicine one day, and - as the story goes - the girl grew up, completed her medical training and eventually returned to China. Between 1899 and 1902, over a dozen Chinese women studied in Japan. These women, often from well-to-do families, generally went abroad in order to be with their fathers, brothers or husbands. The woman revolutionary and painter He Xianning, who accompanied her husband to Japan, was a good case in point. In 1905, there were 20 women from Hunan studying in Japan, the oldest being 53 years of age and the youngest 14. In 1913, the government announced that women were allowed to compete with men for government scholarships. By 1931, according to the statistics by the Education Ministry of the Nationalist government, there had been over 10,000 women studying overseas since the beginning of the Republic period.
The Chinese government and the public were supportive of women pursuing their education abroad. Nevertheless, from late Qing to the Beiyang period, there were clear restrictions concerning eligibility and academic specializations for women who intended to study in Japan. The academic disciplines that were open to prospective overseas women students were primarily those in keeping with traditional notions of the feminine disciplines, such as fine arts, handicrafts, home economics and education. These academic disciplines were considered conducive to their career development upon their return to China.
In leaving their country, these 20th century women desired to find a new life for themselves and sought to integrate into the culture of a new era. They not only had to endure the pressure that stemmed from conventional prejudices, but also had to cope with various daily inconveniences. Jiang Biwei was such an example. She “eloped” with her husband Xu Beihong abroad and endured great hardship and poverty. The success these women enjoyed after their return to China, along with the independence they gained, was in a very real sense due to their determination, courage and wisdom. They persisted in their artistic efforts regardless of the circumstances in which they found themselves. For example, Pan Yuliang, who returned to China from her studies in 1929, was teaching in Shanghai and Nanjing while pursuing her painting at the same time. The conventional prejudices of her day brought her slander, forcing her into exile to Paris, where she lived alone and continued her creative endeavors until the end of her life. Then, there was also Fang Junbi. Those who knew her well had this recollection of her in Paris: “All year round and regardless of the time of the day, she always had a brush at hand. As long as she had a moment, she would sit down with her brush and canvas. A meal she could skip, but she wouldn’t miss an opportunity to paint...” Fang’s husband, Zheng Zhongming, later became a confidant to Wang Jingwei, an important leader in the puppet government supported by the invading Japanese. Thus, ever since the start of the Sino-Japanese War, Fang was seldom mentioned by the Chinese media; only specialized works on Chinese art history made any reference to her. It was not until after the 1980s that people in China began to learn of her artistic activities from news abroad. In addition, there was also the woman painter Cai Weilian. According to the recollection of Shen Congwen, when the Sino-Japanese War broke out, Cai and her husband, Lin Wenzheng, uprooted their family and relocated to the southwestern China with their young children. Due to a controversy in her school, she was not allowed to teach. Although life was difficult for Cai who had children to look after at home, she never stopped painting. As Shen recalled, “The walls of Cai’s home were plastered with small, beautiful sketches she had made for her children.”
Among the women who studied art abroad in the early part of the 20th century were such names as He Xianning, Guan Zilan, Jin Qijing, Qiu Ti, Fang Junbi, Cai Weilian, Zhang Liying, Pan Yuliang, Fang Zhaolin, Rong Junli, Zhang Qianying, Su Xuelin, Xiao Shufang, and Zhang Mojun. This group of women, who were all active in the Shanghai art scene, left behind clear, distinct footprints in the early period of artistic exchange between China and the West. Their artistic activities belong in a chapter in Chinese early modern art history, a chapter that should not be overlooked.
Guan Zilan (1903-1986), a native of Nanhai, Guangdong, graduated from Shanghai University of Chinese Art in 1927, majoring in Western painting. Her teacher was Chen Baoyi. She went on to Japan the same year to further her studies and was admitted to the Fine Arts Department of the Tokyo Academy of Culture. On numerous occasions, she participated in the Nikkakai Art Exhibition. The venue was highly influential in Japan during that period as a forum for exhibiting modern works. Guan was associated with artists such as Kigen Nakamura (1992-1972) and Ikuma Arishima (1882-1974), who introduced Western modern art to Japan. It is clear from her style that Guan was influenced quite heavily by the Fauvist style, which was characterized by intense colors, rough outlines, crisp strokes, and a strong sense of subjectivity. In her time, many Chinese artists who studied abroad believed in “science as a means of national salvation” and had a desire to import the realism of Western painting into China. Guan was one of the artists responsible for the propagation of Western modern painting in China. From a current perspective, one can clearly appreciate the striking colors of her paintings. Many that have seen her Portrait of a Young Woman collected at the China National Museum of Fine Arts have been astonished by the fact that it is so markedly different from other Chinese paintings of the same period. Even back in her time when few Chinese knew anything about oil painting, some praised her for mastering the real secrets of oil painting in her works. Many of her paintings are now held by the China National Museum of Fine Arts in Beijing.
Fang Junbi (1898-1986), a native of Fuzhou, Fujian, was a sister of Fang Shengdong, a member of the revolutionary party in the early days and one of the “72 martyrs of Huanghuagang.” In 1912, when she was 14 years old, she moved to France with her sister Fang Junying (former head of the assassination division of the revolutionary organization Tongmenghui) and sister-in-law. There she received her education. In 1920, she became the first Chinese woman to be admitted to the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. In 1924, her works were selected for the Paris Art Exhibition, making her the first Chinese woman artist to have her works exhibited in the venue. Photographs of Fang and her works appeared in various Paris newspapers, where she was called “a distinguished woman painter from the orient.” Fang went back to China in 1925 and returned again to Paris in 1926, where she studied for a while with the Nabis master Pierre Bonnard at his studio. After her return to China in 1933, she actively participated in exhibits and quickly won the recognition of the artistic circle in China, and her exhibited works too received rave reviews in artistic publications of the time. Fang also worked in Chinese paintings, in which she sought to incorporate elements of Western painting, namely, the use of perspective, anatomy and color. In the 1930s, the artistic magazine Yifeng published a review that was critical of Fang’s effort to branch into Chinese painting: “Fang Junbi’s oil paintings After a Bath and Portrait of a Child were indeed excellent,” wrote the reviewer, “but I suggest that Miss Fang not give up oil painting for Chinese painting.” It is apparent from her works that Fang’s achievement in oil painting was considerably greater. Fang immigrated to the United States in 1949 and later moved to Switzerland, where she died of an injury from a fall she suffered while climbing up a mountain in Geneva to work on a painting.
Pan Yuliang (1902-1977), originally named Chen Xiuqing, was a native of Zhenjiang, Jiangsu and born in Yangzhou. She changed her name first to Zhang Yuliang and then again to Pan Yuliang when she married Pan Zanhua. Orphaned at an early age, Pan was brought up by her uncle. At the age of 13, she was sold to a brothel in Tongcheng, Anhui. Three years later, she was redeemed by Pan Zanhua, a member of the revolutionary party. The two got married and settled down in Shanghai. Pan took up painting due to the influence of her neighbor, Hong Yeying, who was an instructor at the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts. After two years of studying, Pan passed her entry examination to the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts. Upon her graduation from the academy, she went on to France to further her studies at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, first in Lyons and later in Paris. Her teacher was Simone Dion. In 1925, she was awarded a scholarship to Rome for her distinguished academic achievements and studied oil painting at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Rome under Canelo Marti. She was the first Chinese female student to attend the royal academy. Then she was accepted by Professor Giovanis from the Sculpture Department as a student for two years. In 1926 and 1927, Pan received awards in Italy for her works. In 1928, she returned to China and held her first personal exhibit, which featured over 80 paintings she completed in Europe. The exhibit attracted much public attention. In 1929, the Department of Education under the Nationalist government organized the first National Art Exhibition, to which she submitted two gouache paintings. Again she received excellent reviews. The women magazine Funuzazhi published a special issue on the National Art Exhibition that year, which included a column on young women artists. In the column several dozen of women painters were introduced, including Cai Shaomin, Chen Xiaocui, Fang Junbi, Feng Wenfeng, Gu Qingyao, Li Qiujun, Wang Jingyuan, Wu Qingxia, Yang Xuejiu, Tang Wenyu, Cai Weilian, Wang Yiru, and Pan Yulian. Of this group of painters, Pan Yuliang received the most public attention. The magazine featured in full color Pan’s exhibit submission Guying (Gazing At One’s Own Shadow) on the first page. Commenting on the painting, the review said, “The contour is accurate; the colors, passionate...the brush strokes, rich with an oriental flavor...the best painting featured in this exhibit.” Another critic even likened the facial expression of the woman in the painting to Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa. The magazine also ran a column called “Artists First Person,” which featured an article by Pan Yuliang, entitled “Learning to Paint With Gouache: My Experience.” In the article, Pan wrote of her love for music, sculpture and art, especially the colors used in painting, of which she said, “Once I was hooked on them, music and sculpture became something that I had to sacrifice.” Although she had not been back in China long, she was already very well-known and was highly regarded by almost all her fellow painters.
Cai Weilian (1904-1939), daughter of Cai Yuanpei, was born in Shanghai. Her mother, Huang Zhongyu, was an open-minded woman who opposed the practice of foot-binding as a young girl. When she married Cai Yuanpei, their wedding ceremony took place in the middle of an academic debate. Huang was adept at painting and had sold her works for charity to assist refugees. After she got married, she assisted Cai Yuanpei in the Patriot School for Women. Unfortunately, she died early due to the strain of years of strenuous work. In 1914, Cai Weilian followed her father to Europe, and travelled back and forth between Shanghai and Europe numerous times. She studied at both the Brussel Academy of Fine Arts in Belgium and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyons. After her return to China, she was appointed professor in the Western painting department of the Hangzhou Academy of Fine Arts. Cai was rather simply dressed and quiet. As a teacher, she was conscientious and always spending time correcting her students’ works. She married Lin Wenzheng, a French-educated art theorist, and had a family of six children. During the Sino-Japanese War, the whole family moved to the southwestern China, where she led a life of hardship. In 1939, she died of puerperal fever at the age of 35. She painted quite a few portraits and historical paintings, most of which were lost during the war. Her portraits can be found in some publications. Her style closely resembles Fauvism.
Qiu Ti (1906-1958), a native of Fujian, was a graduate of the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, and went on to study in Japan. After her return to China, she joined the Research Institute of Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts, specializing in the Western painting. In 1932, an artist named Pang Xunqin, who had studied art in Paris, was holding a personal art exhibit in Shanghai. In that exhibit, Qiu Ti and Pang Xunqin met and later fell in love. Qiu immediately became a member of the first modernist artistic association of China, the Storm Society, which was initiated by such artists as Pang Xunqin and Ni Yide. In the second exhibition organized by the society, her paintings won her the only “Storm Society Award” given. The award was presented by the prominent scholar Li Shizeng, the first person to advocate that Chinese students support their studies in France through part-time work. After their marriage, Pang and Qiu moved into a small home, which they decorated in a style that was characteristic of the Parisian artists of the time. With roses lined along the windows, their home could be seen from afar. At the time, they were known in the Shanghai artistic community as a couple who prominently reflected the taste of modern Western art. However, their happiness was short-lived. When the Sino-Japanese War broke out, they were forced to flee Shanghai for the southwestern border regions. Qiu Ti was gifted with artistic talents, but the war and the revolution prevented her from fully realizing her potentials. She, along with Pang Xunqin, relocated from the south to Beijing after 1949, and became an instructor in the Central Academy of Arts and Design. During the Anti-Rightist Movement, Pang Xunqin was branded a rightist while Qiu Ti died of an illness. In her last word to Pang Xunqin, she said, “Your life will be hard from now on. I don’t want to get you in trouble.”
The women painters introduced above were all influenced to varying degrees by the Western artistic style of modernism. This influence is attributable partly to personal temperament and partly to the cultural and artistic climates of Shanghai. At the time, Shanghai was a truly multicultural city where Chinese people and foreigners were in constant contact. Different types of cultural arts from a variety of places were able to survive in this environment. Western modern art found its first Chinese appreciators in Shanghai. Avant-garde artistic societies, such as the Storm Society, were active in Shanghai. Women painters who returned to China from overseas all had the disposition and courage to break out of the mold of tradition. They were apt to remain open-minded in their approach to art and select painting styles that suited their individual temperament to study. It was the cultural climate of Shanghai that allowed them to take advantage of the spirit of the time, which was favorable to women artists, and fully realize their talents.
In spite of their diverse backgrounds, these women painters were among the outstanding artists in Old Shanghai. They were different from the women poets and women painters of ancient China. They lived in an environment where tradition and modernity met, and where the cultures of China and the West dynamically converged. With their talents and sensibilities, they enriched the Shanghai of their time with a warm, perceptive glow of humanity. The integration of Chinese and Western arts - an important cultural theme in Chinese society at the time - allowed women a chance to compete with men on an equal footing, and their achievements were inspiring.