Painting Display:An Anthropological Study On Chinese Academic Realistic Oil Painter

Since the establishment of the discipline of anthropology,art has always been one of the important objects of anthropological culture and social studies.Anthropologists’reflection and criticism of art has become an important supplement and enlightenment of contemporary art system and art practice.The study explains the process of Chinese contemporary oil painters’ learning and inheritance through the core practice of their artistic life,painting display,and reveals the "master culture" of the academic oil painter group,which enriches the understanding of oil painting practitioners’ art career meaning.The fieldwork of this study was mainly carried out at the Chinese Academy of Oil Painting,Chinese National Academy of Arts.Through the research methods of participant observation,interview,and life histories,the significance of the painting display to the oil painting practitioners is revealed.The "patrol-watching" and the"gather-watching" in the studio of academy,and the art practice of visiting,teaching and copying in painting exhibitions indicate the master culture of the academic oil painters who cannot open their mouths without citing masters.They regard the basic characteristics,the quality,and the height of art revealed by master’s works as their own artistic activities’ pursuit.They are enculturated by the "master culture" and form cultural intuition in the process of continuous viewing and painting training.The oil painters exhibiting and contributing in the painting exhibitions and other art activities,reveal the tension between oil painting practitioners’ artistic pursuit under the influence of master culture and their professional competition and the pressure of life among the practitioners.There are six chapters in the dissertation.The first chapter is a review of anthropological art research,and an introduction of field overview and research methods.The second chapter takes the oil painter Lin Jianshou’s solo exhibition as a case study,discusses the social and learning functions of painting exhibition to oil painters.The third and fourth chapters explain the academic oil painting practitioners’painting practice in the studio and in the countryside,combined with their watching practice,which demonstrates the specific causes and cultural detail of master culture.The fifth chapter,with the oil painters’ resume,interprets the relevant meanings of the painter’s art exhibition practice and their artistic life.The last chapter summarizes the full research.The painting display is the core practice mode of academic oil painting practitioners in the artistic pursuit process.In the process of watching and painting practice,they are influenced by the master culture within the group.Their social interaction,art inheritance,and art practice are carried out under the influence of master culture.The main innovation of this research is to expand the scope of anthropological art practitioners’ research,which is a rare anthropology study on the elites of art culture in China.Meanwhile,in the process of field study,the master culture unique to the oil painter group was discovered,which is instructive to further research on other aspects of the group.