Fashioning Identity: Hua Yan (1682--1756) and Art Production in Eighteenth-Century Hangzhou and Yangzhou

This study examines the works of Hua Yan (1682--1756), an artist and poet who began his career in the sophisticated city of Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, and became a pivotal figure in the flamboyant commercial center of Yangzhou, Jiangsu province, during the mid-eighteenth century. In both Hangzhou and Yangzhou, Hua Yan distinguished himself as an artist by adapting classical styles and themes along with a lyrical approach to subject matter. Hua Yan initially developed this visual approach in his hometown of Hangzhou; there, he associated with a network of Zhejiang poets and artists committed to reviving classical modes and to engaging in scholarly investigation of their local cultural heritage. Upon moving to Yangzhou to market his works, Hua Yan transformed his art in order to appeal to the local audience while maintaining the pictorial and poetic values of his Zhejiang circle. In so doing, Hua Yan encoded his poems and paintings with commentary about artistic production and cultural values in eighteenth-century Hangzhou and Yangzhou.;This study demonstrates that Hua Yan's works were neither created solely as products intended for recognition in the market, nor purely for circulation among his peers, but rather as the nuanced expression of an artist living between the two cultural landscapes of Hangzhou and Yangzhou. In this context, the lyricism and classical flavor seen throughout Hua Yan's works served a dual purpose: first, it associated him with his lifelong circle of eminent Zhejiang poets and painters; second, it lent an air of literary elegance and sophistication sought by his Yangzhou audience. By examining Hua Yan's visual mode in light of the major transitions in his life, this study re-contextualizes Hua Yan, previously seen as a marginal artist active in Yangzhou, and reveals the subtle expression of his inner values and creative contributions as an artist from Zhejiang.;Therefore, this study charts Hua Yan's artistic career through the analysis of his pictorial and poetic approach. Drawing from Hua Yan's own writings and from those of his contemporaries, Chapter One details the relevant aspects of Hua Yan's biography in order to establish his innermost values as the foundation for his artistic identity. Focusing on Hua Yan's figure and landscape paintings in Chapter Two, I examine his early works in Hangzhou as visual representations of his erudite interests and, consequently, position his works within the Zhejiang artistic lineage. Shifting to Hua Yan's development of bird-and-flower subjects, in Chapter Three, I explain the transformation of his works after his move to Yangzhou and demonstrate how his symbolic words and images evoke his unique view as an artist from Hangzhou. In Chapter Four, I examine Hua Yan's second decade in Yangzhou, when he expanded his garden imagery to appeal to a broader base of patronage. During this period, he also subtly mocked the ideals and spectacle of Yangzhou culture through his extensive vocabulary of symbols and metaphors. In Chapter Five, I discuss the landscapes Hua Yan painted upon his return to Hangzhou as a retrospective endeavor highlighting the biography, cultural ideals, and scholarly learning that together characterized his lifelong artistic practice. One finds that throughout his life and works, Hua Yan continually negotiated his values and transformed his identity in order to bend with the shifting tides of artistic production in eighteenth-century Hangzhou and Yangzhou.