Republic Sculpture Dynasty

During the late Qing and early republic period, the active introduction of the Western sculpture artendows the sculpture art of that period the appearance of traditional and Western sculpture techniques.When it comes to the early republic of China, the traditional large and medium-sized religion andmausoleum has become withered. In contrast, the small desk decorative sculpture is still prosperous. Anumber of active folk artists, whose works are characteristic of the decorative style, are specialized instone, wood, bamboo and ivory carving. On the other hand, the overseas artists and their studentsintroduce the western realism sculpture home, contrasting and complementing the traditional techniques.The differences in various aspects, including identity, ideology, art philosophy and education background,etc. leave room for the two camps of artists to develop independently. However, judging from thecategory in the three Republic exhibitions, we can easily see that this state experiences some changeswhen it comes to the middle period of the Republic of China. With the increasing emphasis on thesculpture on the part of the government of the Republic of China, the mainstream sculpture style iscompletely taken over by the introduced western realistic style. After the second art exhibition, thetraditional Chinese folk sculpture is classified into the art category, indicating the fact that the sculpture ofthis style withdraws from the official mainstream sculpture art stage......The national art exhibition reflects the development level of that period. The present study willanalyze the development of the national sculpture art from the sculpture works in the three national artexhibitions. Because of the social turmoil at that time the three national art exhibitions are held farbetween, which results in the big differences in terms of the participating artists and outlook. Thus, thethree art exhibition becomes the turning point in the development process of the sculpture art. The presentstudy will discuss the sculpture in the three stages respectively which is coincident with the time of thethree art exhibition. The development status of sculpture in the early Republic of China is that thetraditional and modern sculpture goes halves, which is reflected in the first exhibition. When it comes tothe second exhibition, the traditional folk sculpture is classified into the art process, which indicates thatthe folk sculpture has been spared from the mainstream sculpture. Due to the war, the participatingsculptors are almost entirely from the rear. It is easily seen that the Chinese sculpture art is staggeringforward in the age of turbulence. Even though, a number of good works are born in that difficultenvironment. Those artists encourage people with the art, leaving numerous works worth studying andreferring to.The present study is composed of two parts. The first part, that is the first chapter, focuses on theholding of the national art exhibition. The second part is divided into three chapters, which elaborates theworks as well as the artists in the three exhibitions, and analyzes the development outlook of thesculptures during that period.After the founding of New China, a number of sculptors, such as Liu Kaiqu, Hua Tianyou, CengZhushao, and Wang Linyi are well-known as the founder of the Chinese sculptures. Due to the socialunrest and the wars, some artists of that time were forced to change the work to make a living, some diedfrom the war, while others escaped abroad. Among them are some renowned artists. At that time, they are well-known home and aboard, while they are rarely known now. All these result from the political andhistorical reasons. Now, with the enlightening cultural policy, some historical data and precious archivesgradually surface. Many little-known Republican sculpture masterpieces and historical events in thecontemporary time enable us to know the achievement and development of sculpture in that period. Thesemasterpieces and historical events provide the first-hand data for us to study the sculpture art of thatperiod, which draws the outlines.The present study reviews more than70kinds of articles, including the relevant historical works,available magazines, newspapers and other records. Although I spare efforts to restore the historicalappearance, it is inevitable that there are some errors. I hope this study can provide some help for thefuture research, and sincerely expect more colleagues to pay attention to this issue, driving its deepdevelopment.