Chinese and Other Asian Modernisms: A Comparative View of Art-Historical Contexts in the Twentieth Century

Abstract

Using a comparative analysis approach, this article examines the development, characteristics and issues concerning the discourse of modern Asian art in the twentieth century, with the aim of bringing into picture the place of Asia in the history of modernism. The wide recognition of the Western modernist canon as centre and universal displaces the contribution and significance of the non-Western world in the modern movement. From a cross-cultural perspective, this article demonstrates that modernism in the field of visual arts in Asia, while has had been complex and problematic, nevertheless emerged. Rather than treating Asian art as a generalized subject, this article argues that, with their subtly different notions of culture, identity and nationhood, the modernisms that emerged from various nations in this region are diverse and culturally specific. Through the comparison of various art-historical contexts in this region (namely China, India, Japan and Korea), this article attempts to map out some similarities as well as differences in their pursuit of an autonomous modernist representation.