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Réussir à Shanghai : Ren Bonian

Yang wrote the section introduction essay and entries on the work of Ren Bonian (1840-1895), the most important and prolific artist in modern Chinese painting. Building on previously unpublished archives, the essay provides a unique insight into the cultural life of the artist. The entries further explore the complex of interactions between foreign connections and more established painting traditions in Shanghai during 1840-1911. As the first ever catalogue and exhibition on the Shanghai School in mainland Europe, this catalogue provides a comprehensive selection of paintings of Shanghai School and is a significant research contribution on modern Chinese art.

This chapter focuses on Ren Bonian’s artistic development and influence in multi-cultural Shanghai during 1840-1895. Resisting negative characterisations of the commercial orientation of the Shanghai School, it argues that Ren’s emphasis on ‘xie’ brushwork was derived from antiquarian approaches in both calligraphy and object collecting in mid-Qing, which later inspired Nationalist movements in the twentieth-century. Referring to the selected works in the exhibition as examples, the entries further argues that, in the context of considerable foreign and domestic changes, artists in Shanghai sought to find a balance between tradition and modernity, and to maintain a system of life through art.