AAH-194 Visual Culture in Communist China

A Union College Art History Course, Spring 2023

Author: Sophia Rothberg

Pan Yuliang Exhibition Theme

Pan Yuliang (1895-1977) was a female artist who remained active for most of her life. She created artwork during the May Fourth Movement (1919) and the Modernist movement (which lasted into the 1940s). These movements aimed to break free of traditional practices by calling for gender equality as well as incorporating Western-style paintings (i.e. color and oil). Out of these movements, Pan drew inspiration from Matisse’s (1869-1954) Impressionist style (which began in the 1860s) and use of bright colors. Throughout all of her paintings, she becomes vulnerable, sharing her experiences and longings as a Chinese woman in twentieth-century China.  

Throughout this exhibition, I will describe Pan’s longings, growth, and acceptance of herself and her experiences. As a female painter, Pan experienced enormous backlash. This was because Pan’s exploration of herself through nudity was not accepted in Chinese society. Traditionally, men were privileged with exploring the nude body while women were sheltered from this subject. Pan took this a step further by connecting her personal experiences to her paintings. Her exploration of this often disgusted viewers because they believed it was perverted, and that women were meant to create dainty images that did not contain self-exploration. 

This exhibition will include My Family (1931), Self-Portrait with Chrysanthemums (1940), Seated Nude (1953), Mother and Child (on the beach) (1961), and Self-portrait (1963).  The first two paintings: Figure 1 and Figure 2 are not nude portraits. Introducing the exhibition with non-nude portraits and then finishing it with nude portraits shows Pan’s shift from societal constraints to societal freedom. Pan’s critique of Confucius/traditional values become more prevalent throughout the years. To be more specific, Figure 1 subtly addresses passion over family through a portrait of her family. Figure 2 tackles beauty and tradition by displaying an inaccurate self-portrait with traditional Chinese symbols. The shift in Pan’s freedom can be seen in Figure 3 as it embraces the curves of the body but at the same time, shelters the body. This is to more openly explain Pan’s grievances on the body shaming she received. Pan becomes more daring in Figure 4 by showing a mother breastfeeding her baby in public. This was an extremely taboo subject, especially presenting it nude. She was also commenting on her longing of being a mother. Finally, Figure 5 portrays Pan (in her old age), content, alone, drinking, and fully embracing herself and free of social constraints. 

Figure 1. Pan Yuliang, My Family. Oil on canvas, (1931). Image source: Facebook post in Who Does She Think She Is?

 

Figure 2. Pan Yuliang, Self-Portrait with Chrysanthemums. Oil on canvas, (1940), 35 3/8” x
25 1/4″. Image source: “The Art of Pan Yuliang: Fashioning the Self in Modern China.”

 

Figure 3. Pan Yuliang, Seated Nude. Oil on canvas, (1953), 13″ x 18 1/4″. Image source: Great Women Painters 

 

Figure 4. Pan Yuliang, Mother and Child (on the beach). Oil on canvas, (1961), 99 x 80 cm. Image source: Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art.

 

Figure 5. Pan Yuliang, Self-portrait. Oil on canvas, (1963), 12 3/8″ x 10 1/8″. Image source: “The Art of Pan Yuliang: Fashioning the Self in Modern China.”

 

Bibliography

Hunegs, Simon, and Maia Murphy. Great Women Painters. Edited by Simon Hunegs and Maia Murphy. London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2022.

Ng, Sandy. “The Art of Pan Yuliang: Fashioning the Self in Modern China.” Woman’s Art Journal 40, no. 1 (2019): 21–30. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26746738.

Teo, Phyllis, et al. Rewriting Modernism: Three Women Artists in Twentieth- Century China: Pan Yuliang, Nie Ou and Yin Xiuzhen. Leiden University Press, 2016.

Wallace, Keith, ed. Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, 2010. http://yishu-online.com/wp-content/uploads/mm-products_issues/uploads/yishu_38_v09_03.pdf.

“Who Does She Think She Is?” Facebook, July 7, 2016. https://www.facebook.com/WhoDoesSheThinkSheIs/photos/a.77451845937/10153509411145938/?type=3.

Interesting Link About Pan Yuliang

Website: https://www.panyulin.org/categories.php?lang=tw

This link provides a short biography of Pan Yuliang, including a timeline of her life and an abundance of her paintings (and other works). The database of her paintings is beneficial when comparing and contrasting Pan’s ideas as she progressed through her career. It will also help with my exhibition because my goal for it is to discuss the representation and treatment of Chinese women through Pan’s personal experience. Although it does not contain all of her paintings, it contains enough information to gauge Pan’s art style (Modernism and Impressionism), medium (oil), and her appreciation of women and the human body.  The short biography mostly provides information on her schooling while the timeline provides her life events in chronological order. This helps establish what was occurring in her life at the time of her paintings, and it may also help explain why she painted what she did.   

Bibliography:

“作品: 潘玉良 Pan Yu Lin.” 作品 | 潘玉良 PAN YU LIN. Liqing Culture and Education Foundation, 2015. https://www.panyulin.org/categories.php?lang=tw. 

Visual Analysis of Pan Yuliang’s, Self-portrait (1963)

 

Figure 1. Pan Yuliang, Self-portrait. Oil on canvas, (1963), 12 3/8″ x 10 1/8″. Image source: “The Art of Pan Yuliang: Fashioning the Self in Modern China.” 

Pan Yuliang’s last self-portrait, which she finished in 1963, encompasses her growth as an artist and showing her true self to the public. The oil painting, Self-portrait, is painted in bright, eye-catching colors of herself at the age of sixty-eight, wearing an open mandarin blouse that exposes her breasts, and with alcohol and cigarette buds in an ashtray on the table to her right. 

She was part of the May Fourth Movement of 1919. Its purpose was to break free of traditional practices, leading to the Modernist movement (until the 1940s). This incorporated Western-style oil paintings, included color, and rejected traditional ways. Her previous nude paintings break Chinese tradition because it was seen as an act of perversion and betrayal of art, however; this image takes it a step further by portraying a nude, old woman smoking and drinking alone. Elders were painted “…with respect and honour…” (Teo 2016: 97). Along with being painted in muted or calm colors to help emphasize their poise. Pan utilized bright and jarring colors to break free of the conventional way of painting elders. To specify, she painted the background red to help contrast the rest of the colors in the painting. The red not only creates an intense atmosphere but also highlights the green on her mandarin blouse which draws the viewer from her blouse to her nude body. This signifies to the viewer that she no longer cares about the social aspects of the crude representation of nudity. In doing so she completely sets herself free of social judgments.  

Another way Pan signifies her lack of care for social judgments is her somber expression that directs the viewer to the liquor and cigarette buds. This is extremely significant because alcohol and cigarettes “…were depicted as glamorous and joyful” (Ng 2019: 27). So to depict alcohol and cigarettes as a means of despair breaks the social constraints. This symbolizes Pan letting go of the social perceptions she experienced as an artist. To add, Pan uses this painting to express her deep sadness and loneliness after losing her husband, Pan Zanhua (1885-1960). Her ability to do this exemplifies her vulnerability as a person and artist.

Pan Yuliang’s Self-portrait is a means of freedom and sorrow. Although she was able to fully express herself in her artwork, she became isolated from the world. This was because of her background as a prostitute, orphan, and concubine, and the negative stigma around female nude painters. 

 

Bibliography:

Ng, Sandy. “The Art of Pan Yuliang: Fashioning the Self in Modern China.” Woman’s Art Journal 40, no. 1 (2019): 21–30. https://www.jstor.org/stable/26746738.

Teo, Phyllis, et al. Rewriting Modernism: Three Women Artists in Twentieth- Century China: Pan Yuliang, Nie Ou and Yin Xiuzhen. Leiden University Press, 2016.

Pan Yuliang Biography

-Pan Yuliang, Self-Portrait, 1945

Pan Yuliang was born in China on June 14, 1895, and died in France on July 22, 1977. The Qing dynasty was overthrown during her teenage years, bringing in a new era, the Republic of China. This caused China to be in political disarray allowing for change throughout the country, including art. Pan was involved in the May Fourth Movement, and the goal was to get rid of the old Confucian values and bring in new modern ways from the West. As part of this movement, she adopted the modernist style often infusing it with impressionism with a bright color palette. She was most known for being the first Chinese woman to explore nude paintings of women and her representation of feminism. Nudity was seen as a symbol of freedom in the West. However, due to it being a taboo subject in China, painting the nude was seen as a perversion and a betrayal of art. Along with this being a tough subject, Pan being a woman, her background as a prostitute, and being a concubine did not make her life in the art world easy. Although she won many awards throughout her lifetime, she was never seen as equal to her male counterparts.

Bibliography:

Teo, Phyllis, et al. Rewriting Modernism: Three Women Artists in Twentieth-          Century China: Pan Yuliang, Nie Ou and Yin Xiuzhen. Leiden University                    Press, 2016.

Sophia Rothberg

Hi, my name is Sophia Rothberg. I am a Visual Arts Major. After taking Chinese and China in The News, I wanted to learn more about Chinese Art which is why I am taking this class. I have always loved art and have drawn and painted ever since I was little. I really fell in love with art during high school. Besides art, I love to spend time with my pets and play video games. Recently, I have been playing Overcooked (which is the picture I included).

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