“The young companion” is known to be one of the most sought-after magazines in China in the early years of the 20th century, not only because of its unique content, but also its distinctive feature right from the eye-catching cover. The covers of the magazine are the images of beautiful and active modern girls, which are new objects appearing on the cover of the magazine because before that, feudal ideas suppressed their appearance. In issue 45, published in 1930, the magazine cover features an image of Guan Zilan, she is a real figure in modern Chinese history, a painter who is famous for introducing Fauvism to China. In the green background picture, she is holding a mandolin, a traditional Chinese instrument. She was one of the most impressive female characters chosen to put on the cover of the magazine because Guan Zilan was the first artist to bring “Fauvism style” to China. This portrait is one of her selected published works taken from an exhibition of her after graduating from China Art University. Her beauty represents a Chinese woman who is both traditional, deep and modern, attracting any audience. Originally, the phrase “modern girl” was used for modern Japanese women at that time, but Guan Zilan, with her successful career in Japan, attracted the media in this country and became a beauty model at the time. The picture shows the spirit and goals the magazine wants to aim for: women who enjoy life through daily life activities and exude a feminine, modern beauty. To show her beauty right from the cover, the editor used an effective presentation that we call “kaleidoscopic”. This technique allows the main character to stand out clearly and “create the impressions of changes without disruption” (Paul, Kuiyi, Yingjin 2013), attracting readers not only by the beauty of the character but also the harmony eye-catching color.
References:
- Paul G. Pickowicz, Kuiyi Shen, Yingjin Yang – Liangyou, Kaleidoscopic Modernity and the Shanghai Global Metropolis, 1926 – 1945 – Published 2013 – Page 3.
- Hong Kou Bao – Article”Lan Zhihui’s heart is far away” – Published 2012 April 16. http://hongkouweekly.xinmin.cn/html/2012-04/16/content_4_9.htm
Your post interested me as it was about females being new subjects of paintings and art. My artist Chen Yifei began painting portraits of western women after the death of Mao and before I read your post I was unsure of how to mention the significance of this. I had not thought of the fact that the portrayal of women in art was new as it was not very common before in traditionalist-style art.
I found your post very interesting as Guan Zilan is one of the artists I am studying for my project. I knew that she became very popular but it is cool to see that she was featured on such an influential magazine, especially because of how rare it was for female artists to be promoted in the 1930s. I am curious if any of the other women featured in the magazine were also artists as I might be interested in including them in my project.