Full Description
In A Modern Miscellany: Shanghai Cartoon Artists, Shao Xunmei's Circle and the Travels of Jack Chen, 1926-1938 Paul Bevan explores how the cartoon (manhua) emerged from its place in the Chinese modern art world to become a propaganda tool in the hands of left-wing artists. The artists involved in what was largely a transcultural phenomenon were an eclectic group working in the areas of fashion and commercial art and design. The book demonstrates that during the build up to all-out war the cartoon was not only important in the sphere of Shanghai popular culture in the eyes of the publishers and readers of pictorial magazines but that it occupied a central place in the primary discourse of Chinese modern art history.
Contents
Acknowledgements
Note on the Illustrations
List of Illustrations
Notes on Romanization and References
Notes on Sources
Introduction
A Modern Miscellany
The Cartoon as Part of the Modern Art Scene in Shanghai
The Manhuahu
i
Part 1: The Beginnings of the Modern Chinese Cartoon
Chapter 1: Manhua Artists in Shanghai
Marc Chadourne and Paul Morand
Vanity Fair
Western Models of Art and Literature in Shanghai manhua
English Decadence in Shanghai
The Modern and the Decadent—The Cubist Shanghai Life, Lust, and Snake and Woman
Conclusion
Chapter 2: Shao Xunmei and his Circle
Shao Xunmei and Pictorial Magazines
Shao Xunmei and Salon Culture
The Yunshang Fashion Company
The Zhang Brothers—Designers
A Depiction of Shao Xunmei by Wang Zimei
A Letter to Emily Hahn
Part 2: Adoption of Foreign Models in Art and Literature
Chapter 3: Miguel Covarrubias
Covarrubias Goes to China: 1930
Covarrubias Goes to China Again: 1933
Covarrubias's Illustrations to Chine (China)
Chinese Artists and the Covarrubias Style
"Impossible Interviews"
Large-scale Group Caricatures
Ding Cong and the Mexican Muralists
The Legacy of Covarrubias
Chapter 4: The Chinese Cartoonists and George Grosz
The Art of George Grosz in Shanghai
George Grosz and China
Proponents of the "Grosz-style"
A Foreigner's View of the Grosz Imitators
Cai Ruohong: China's "New Grosz"?
The Chinese View of Grosz's Work
Conclusion
Part 3: The Dissemination of Chinese Political Art
Chapter 5: Jack Chen in China
Chen Arrives in Shanghai
The Cartoons of Jack Chen in Shanghai
Chen and Soviet Socialist Realism
The Letters of Jack Chen
From China to Moscow and London: The Beginnings of Chen's World Tour
Anthony Blunt: A Champion of Chen's Cause
Chapter 6: The First National Cartoon Exhibition
A Suitable Venue: The Sun Company Building
The Exhibition
News in the Shanghai Press
Jack Chen: The Only Foreign Exhibitor
Portraiture: A Genre for Political Persuasion?
The Paintings of Hua Lu: Lacking a Political Message?
Surrealism: Modern Art and the Manhua Artists
Cai Ruohong Remembers
Foreigners on Manhua: Two Contrasting Views
A Review by Jack Chen
An Anonymous Critique
Zhang Guangyu's Cover Design for Manhuajie
Manhua: An Art for China's Future
Chapter 7: Chinese Art and its Part in the Worldwide Fight against Fascism
Hong Kong: First Port of Call
Guangzhou: Caught in the Air Raids
Chen is Sent to Europe and America
Hu Kao: A Shanghai Cartoonist
Hu Kao and Jack Chen go to Yan'an
Hong Kong: Last Port of Call
Epilogue
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
