Rewriting Modernism: Three Women Artists in Twentieth-Century China (Pan Yuliang, Nie Ou and Yin Xiuzhen)

Phyllis Teo’s Rewriting Modernism deals with three modernist women artists in 20th century China….

This study offers a fresh, alternative reading of modernism from the perspective of three women artists – Pan Yuliang, Nie Ou and Yin Xiuzhen – who were professionally active at different political stages of twentieth-century China. Through empirical micro- and macrohistories, the research undertaken investigates the ways in which these women have negotiated their identities in circumstances that have made their positions distinct, that is, being women artists as well as living in modern China. Providing relevant narratives and historical events, this book seeks to understand how the conventional perception of gender in Chinese society can be shown to be at work in the visual arts. Its juxtaposition of artists of different generations thus constitutes a deliberate attempt to create new opportunities for comparative studies of female artists in China, and to produce a dynamic reading of modern Chinese art from a different perspective.

Phyllis Teo is an art historian and writer based in Singapore. She lectures, publishes and writes reviews on contemporary art, Chinese art and Asian visual culture. She received her PhD in Culture and Art History from the University of Queensland.