Zhou Xiang And Shanghai Early Art Education

Zhouxiang was a pioneer of early art education in Shanghai, he was also an enthusiast of introducing western oil painting to China. Zhouxiang established multiple art school such as "Art school of Painting", "Short-term training program in painting", "Shanghai Oil Painting Academy", "School of Western and Chinese paintings", "Training institute of Background painting", "Western Oil Painting Institute", and "The Fine Art College of China" etc. The time that Zhou lived was an important starting period for Chinese art education. More importantly, those art schools Zhou had established had great connections with a group of influential in the field of art education in China. The experiences he had starting those schools served as positive models of early Chinese art education. It also shows how important he was in the history of Chinese art and art education.The purpose of this thesis is to study the relationships Zhou had with the early Chinese art education system in order to clarify some of the issues we face when studying him. This study gives us a more extensive understanding of the early history of art education in China. To be more specific, based upon past studies, this thesis focuses more on Zhou and the practical aspects of his education. There are six chapters in this thesis, each dedicated to the study of Zhou's life experiences, his painting practices and theories, his educational model, magazines he published, and processes he went through in the early stage of Shanghai art education development. Then lastly, the influences he had on early art education in Shanghai.