Li Shutong and the Dual Legacy of Impressionist Oil Painting

This paper examines Li Shutong, an early Chinese art educator in Japan, who systematically learned Impressionist oil painting at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Upon returning to China, he localized and transformed the art form through creative practice and education, integrating his sketching-light and color-atmosphere pedagogical system into art education and driving a paradigm shift in modern Chinese art pedagogy. Adopting the approach of “Western techniques as the means, Chinese intent as the essence,” he fused Eastern subjects with Impressionist language in his creative practice. He elevated art to the realm of aesthetic education and spiritual cultivation, accomplishing a cultural translation from technique to belief. Thus, he became a dual transmitter of Impressionism’s eastward progression.