Space And Structure Of The Beijing Art Market In The Early 20th Century (1911-1937)

This paper takes the Chinese art market in the early 20 th century(the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China)as the research object,mainly from the perspective of Beijing,to investigate the spatial and structural relations of the Chinese art market at that time,and to explore the characteristics and scope of the art market in different regions,as well as the communication and connection between them.From the perspective of time dimension,the early 20 th century is an important transition from tradition to modernity in China's art market.During this period,there were drastic changes in the creation,dissemination and trading of Chinese art,with the emergence of more independent and professional art intermediaries,open appreciation,and global art flow.From the perspective of spatial dimension,the art market in Beijing also has different art trading mode and art ecology from other regions,presenting a unique appearance.In this study,the author tries to avoid the shortcomings of the traditional "time narrative" method of historical research.Instead,from the perspective of regional history research,the author uses methods such as metrology,narrative and text interpretation to study whether there are spatial and regional divisions in the Chinese art market in the early 20 th century.Is there a hierarchical relationship between art markets in different regions? Whether there are distinct personalities in different art markets,and whether those personalities influence each other.It can be seen that,on the one hand,artists,works of art and antiques from all over China are gathering in Beijing in various ways,forming a rich supply of works of art.On the other hand,Beijing has also become a hub for Chinese artworks to be exported to the world.The huge purchasing power from the United States,Japan and Europe has driven the prosperity of the art market in Beijing.In such trans-regional national and global commercial activities,the flow of artworks also brings the integration of appreciation and creation concepts,and forms a new knowledge system.Therefore,in the early 20 th century global art trading network,Beijing has a unique and important position.