A Study on Photographic Art of Early 20th Century Cantonese Painter Groups: Focusing on the Lingnan School and Guangdong National Painting Research Society

This study aims t o investigate the influence of photography as a new medium on painterly creation and the formation of cultural identity in modern Chinese art by conducting a comparative analysis of how two major art groups active in the Guangdong art scene during the 1920s–1930s－the Lingnan School(嶺南畵派) and the Guangdong Chinese Painting Research Society(廣東國畫硏究會)－appropriated photographic art. Introduced to China in the late 19th century, photography emerged as a significant artistic medium in Guangdong by the 1920s. The province's early exposure to Western influences, owing to its status as a treaty port, facilitated the local art community's active engagement with this emerging medium. The two groups under examination exhibited distinct approaches to the use of photography: the Lingnan School strategically employed landscape photography as a visual tool for constructing national and political narratives, thereby contributing to the formation of a modern national image. In contrast, the Guangdong Chinese Painting Research Society focused on pictorialist photography, aiming to reconstruct the aesthetic principles of traditional culture and safeguard cultural subjectivity. This comparative analysis transcends the simplistic &quotinnovation versus conservatism&quot binary, offering a multidimensional perspective on the pluralistic modernity and artistic strategies of the Guangdong art scene as mediated through the new medium of photography. Furthermore, this study seeks to reassess the role of photography and its aesthetic reception in modern Chinese art history. By examining the regional art community's engagement with modernity, it aims to provide new insights into the diversity and complex developments within modern Chinese art.