The Artification of the Nude: A Symbolic Revolution in the Art Field of Republican China (1912–1937)

The nude is a long-established category in western art, but in pre-modern China, images of the naked body were not art and carried the stigma of obscenity. This article uses the paradigm of artification to examine the transplantation of the nude into the Chinese art field during the Republican period (1912–1937). By analysing the discourses of key players and historical materials of Republican art institutions, the article discusses the production, dissemination, intellectualisation and legitimation of the nude, as well as its criticism and appropriation, in the institutionalising and modernising art field. The intense challenges faced by proponents of the nude suggest that conflict and struggle are crucial components of the artification process of a foreign cultural form. The artistic transformation of the nude was intertwined with the process of modernisation in China, and its effects extended beyond art and its field. This article argues that the artification of the nude was not only the establishment of a new category of art, but also prompted a revolution in artistic conventions, a reordering of aesthetic hierarchies, a restructuring of the art field and a modernisation of ways of seeing the body.