Post 3: 20th Century Artist
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| Self-Portrait 1945 |
Born in 1899, Pan Yuliang became an award-winning Chinese painter and well-known for being the first woman in China to paint in the Western style as well as her extraordinary life. Her story was very unique, which helped her in her artwork. Yuliang became an orphan when she was a child and was sold to a brothel. She later met Pan Zhanhua, who made her his legal concubine and encouraged her to take up oil painting. The article in Chinadaily.com explains that Zhanhua took her to Shanghai where she "entered Shanghai Art School to learn western painting from Wang Jiyuan [and] after graduating...she went to France to study in Lyons and Paris" with the help of Zhanhua (Xinhua). "In 1929, Liu Haisu invited her to teach at Shanghai Art School while she was in Rome" (Xinhua).
Even though Yuliang had support from Zhanhua, he was not able to help her through the societal conditions that she had to battle. During the 20th century, she was creating Western-style oil paitings when the norm in China was "traditional styles, using ink. Yuliang emphasized on individual expression, including the eroticism contained in the naked female figure" (The Guerrilla Girls 72). She was painting many nude paintings of herself along with other women, which was seen as pornography and was forbidden in a very conservative China, which was run by communism, where women were not supposed to paint and if they did they were supposed to be painting traditional Chinese art, not Western art, which was despised.
Also, many people harassed Yuliang because of her past as a prostitute. In the article, A Lonely Legacy of Pan Yuliang, the author states that "[Yuliang] was forced to leave China [because]...someone tore up a piece depicting a strong man moving a stone to let a small flower under it grow up, and wrote: 'This is a prostitute's carol to a whoremonger'" (A Lonely Legacy of Pan Yuliang). When she taught at the Shanghai Art School, she was faced with harsh comments and criticism from people all around her, where they brought up her past in the brothel and they denied her paintings, calling her a prostitute along with other viscous names.
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| Fan Dancing 1955 |
Even though Yuliang was faced with many harsh criticism, it did not stop her from creating art. "Her works combine both oriental and Western painting styles, and are full of her own spirit. She has contributed much to modern art with her depiction of the world with hints of Chinese calligraphy and painting" (A Lonely Legacy of Pan Yuliang). Even though Yuliang is well-known for completely adopting Western art, she attempted to instead combine Western and Chinese art to create her own masterpieces, such as Fan Dancing. In this painting, one can see how Yuliang introduces colors and hard lines to create the humans along with their expressions as seen in Western art while still keeping Chinese characters and traditions as well as "using
traditional Chinese brushes" (Favreau).
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| Gazing at One's Shadow 1929 |
Similar to Western art, Yuliang painted numerous nudes in her art, yet her works were very different from the traditional Western nude paintings. Instead of displaying the nude women in a sexual position with only one facial expression, Yuliangs' women "are clothed with an abundance of attitudes, movements, emotions and curves. Whether it be standing, turning aside, reclining, squatting or sitting...For Pan Yuliang, the body is synonymous with postures and gestures" (Favreau). One can see this in Gazing at One's Shadow, where the heavy women is not sitting in a sexual position, but it seems as if she is sitting with an expression of satisfaction in herself giving the viewer a sense of independence. Yuliang attempts to place great significance on independence, because she is incorporating her own story into her art by stating that she wants to be separated from her past and to be treated with respect and the only way she can be respected is if she has respect for herself along with independence even though the public has knowledge of her entire past, hence her nude characters.
Pan Yuliang had a lasting influence on contemporary artists. She introduced a new form of combining two or more artforms into one. She also went against the norm in China to create nude paintings of women not for the enjoyment of men, but painted them with powerful roles of independence and individualism. Yuliang also taught the artists to never back down and fulfil every dream even when one barely has any support.
Works Cited
"A Lonely Legacy of Pan Yuliang - - China.org.cn." A Lonely Legacy of Pan Yuliang - - China.org.cn.
China Daily, 5 Sept. 2007. Web. 19 Nov. 2012. <http://www.china.org.cn/english/culture/223285.htm>
Favreau, Elsa. "The Nude in the Art of Pan Yuliang." Elsa Favreau. N.p., 2006. Web. 19 Nov. 2012
<http://elsafavreau.com/paintings.htm>
The Guerrilla Girls. The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art. New York:
Penguin, 1998
Xinhua. "Pan Yuliang's Painting of Bathing Nudity." Pan Yuliang's Painting of Bathing Nudity. China
Daily, 14 Nov. 2006. Web. 19 Nov. 2012.
<http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/photo/2006-11/14/content_732470.htm>
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