"Gudao" Climate And "Shanghai-style" Temperament

“Gudao” period, from November 12 th of 1937 to September 8th of 1941, is a special space-time in Chinese modern history. Because of the war, a large numbers of artists moved inside. Shanghai lost a very favorable environment for film, drama, opera, fine art and music to flourish, and isn’t the national arts center any longer like the “Golden Decade” in prewar. However, with the development of time, on the contrary, the climate of political unrest and abnormal economic prosperity had created a unique and prosperous art space in “Gudao” that are different from the rest of the nation. Japanese troops failed to occupy the whole city of Shanghai due to politically-neutral International Settlements and French Concession, so there still were some artists and people chose to stay in the concession, living within Shanghai rent inside the boundary, which was called “Gudao”(a isolated island). The various art creation and art activities of Cultural workers in “Gudao” had greatly enhanced Shanghai’s culture, that are all reflected in the art periodicals published during “Gudao”. Accompanied by“Gudao” climate and “Shanghai-style” temperament, the art periodicals embodied the unique survival strategy and state of development.By studying the art periodicals published during “Gudao”, we can not only investigate the character, style and social influence of the art periodicals faced with the complicated political, economic, social and cultural environment, but also find the historical and cultural significance of the special cultural works and entertainment art periodicals during the war. Meanwhile, the answer of these questions could prompt us to rethink the relationship between war and art, politics and culture, and try to respond to Shanghai urban culture modernity, the public culture of the citizen stratum and the problem of judging art history with a political standard. Therefore, objectively recording the art periodicals during “Gudao” and carefully examining the historical situation which they produced can play an important role in making up the shortfall in the research of art history, art periodicals and “Shanghai-style” culture, both in China and abroad.The first chapter of this dissertation mainly describes the political, economic, social and historical situation which art periodicals produced during “Gudao”, and briefly introduces the general trend of their development. The second chapter mostly discusses the relationship between the modernity of art periodicals in “Gudao” and “Shanghai-style” Culture. It takes the modern vernacular, classic composition and aesthetic images in the “Gudao” art journals as the research starting-point, clarifies the theories of modern enlightenment and intellectual demands through the various art journals and sketches out a clear clue of the progress of the modern art theories, in order to dig out the open and modern characteristics of the “Gudao” art journals and “Shanghai-style” culture. The third chapter focuses on the entertainment consumption of the “Gudao” art journals and commercial characteristics of “Shanghai-style” Culture. National aspirations and commercial intention in art journals are mixed with each other. The cultural workers at that time on the one hand condemned the mercantilist art atmosphere, but on the other hand unconsciously revealed a lot of emotional needs in their works of art, and that complexity and ambivalence accentuated on the “Gudao” art journals. During the “Gudao” period, entertainment magazines occupied more than 40 percent of whole art periodicals, which not only reflects the strong commercial characteristics of“Shanghai-style”culture, but also shows the special construction of public entertainment space. The fourth chapter focuses on the diversified value proposition of the art periodicals, and the tortuous development of “Shanghai-style” Culture. Overall, some journals insisted on anti-Japanese idea, some used art theories-based strategy, but some promised to meet the public demand for entertainment, this formed a cultural space independent of the mainstream ideology, such as rear area or the revolutionary base. Finally, the epilogue re-establishes the status of “Gudao” art journals in the whole of art history by studying the Interactional relationship between the art journals and “Shanghai-style” culture.This dissertation studies the relationship between“Gudao”art periodicals and “Shanghai-style” culture, deepens the understanding of how“Gu Dao” art periodicals had influenced the growth of modern Chinese art periodicals and city culture,Above all, this research has theoretical value, historical value and realistic value.