Women of Chinese Modern Art

Winner of the SECAC Award for Excellence in Scholarly Research and Publication

Bringing to light the largely overlooked female participation in domestic and international art worlds, this book offers the first comprehensive study of how women embroiderers, traditionalist calligraphers and painters, including Shen Shou, Wu Xingfen, Jin Taotao, and members of Chinese Women’s Society of Calligraphy and Painting, shaped the terrain of the modern art world and gender positioning during China’s important moments of social-cultural transformation from empire to republic.

Drawing on a wealth of previously unexhibited artworks, rare artist’s monographs, women’s journals, personal narratives, diaries, and catalogs of international expositions, Doris Sung not only affirms women’s significant roles as guardian and innovator of traditionalist art forms for a modern nation, but she also reveals their contribution to cultural diplomacy and revaluation of Chinese artistic heritage on the international stage in the early twentieth century.

Doris Sung, Institut für Kunstgeschichte, University of Alabama, USA.

"This captivating book illuminates the lives and works of a remarkable group of reform-minded female artists .　.　.　Doris Sung offers a crucial corrective to the double marginalization of these figures as women and traditionalists in the history of modern Chinese art." – Aida Yuen Wong, Professor of Fine Arts, East Asian Studies, and Women's, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brandeis University

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"A fascinating study of important women artists in early twentieth-century China .　.　.　Especially illuminating is the author’s focus on how traditional art forms such as embroidery, ink painting and calligraphy were creatively employed by the women artists as valid resources for responding to modernity." – Hu Ying, Professor of East Asian Studies, University of California, Irvine

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"Richly illustrated and rigorously researched, this important study of key women artists in China’s transition from empire to republic retrieves a range of fascinating works and their interlinked makers. It argues convincingly for the value of paying attention to art which was typified as ‘traditionalist’ (but which never lacked a global dimension), and is a major contribution to understanding the art world in early twentieth-century China, as well as the challenges faced by women artists of the time." – Craig Clunas, FBA, Professor Emeritus of the History of Art, Honorary Fellow of Trinity College, University of Oxford

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"Drawing on a wide range of primary materials, Doris Sung skillfully crafts an intricate and nuanced narrative of the history of modern Chinese art from the perspective of female subjectivity and agency. Focusing on the first half of the twentieth century, a period when gender became intricately intertwined with discourses on nationalism and nation-building, Sung’s book provides rare insights into the experiences and artistic practices of Chinese women artists and their personal journeys in the local and global art scenes. Sung effectively brings their voices to the forefront and challenges the male-centred narratives of Chinese modern art. With meticulous research and a captivating narrative, Women of Chinese Modern Art is an indispensable resource for scholars of gender, China studies, and modern art." – Pedith Pui Chan, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Arts, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

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"Doris Sung makes a clear and powerful argument for the influential contributions made by women embroiderers and traditionalist painters during the 1900s to 1930s, which shaped national and international developments at a critical juncture in China’s history. This book is an enlightening read for all who are interested in learning about the pioneering women artists of this time period, and it will undoubtedly serve as a critical resource for scholars and teachers of Chinese art." – Christina Yuen Zi Chung, University of Washington