Introduction: Locating the woman artist. Women artists and modern Meishu ; Woman artist: the other talented woman (Cain|) ; N|gong: women's work -- Elite art: calligraphy and painting ; Woman artist: an identity and a profession ; Methodology and sources -- Part one: The artist-embroiderer. Chapter 1: A female embroiderer in the Qing Court. Shen Shou - the goddess of needle ; Embroidery revamped ; The thread of lineage ; Educating court women ; Learning about the West via the East ; Portrait of the Italian queen -- Chapter 2: From Nantong to the world. The portrait of Jesus (Ecce homo) ; Painting, photography, and embroidery ; Shen Shou and company -- Chapter 3: Discourses on embroidery. Treatise on embroidery by Xueyi ; Portrait of an American actress ; A legacy of women's work -- Part two: The new female scholar-painters. Chapter 4: Family, lineage, and learning. Family ties ; Social networks -- Chapter 5: Art and scholarship. Wu Xingfen ; Jin Taotao ; The joy of the fish -- Chapter 6: Professional networks and global experience. Women in the popular press ; Art societies ; Global audience and cultural diplomacy ; Art for sale ; A legacy for the next generation -- Part three: The new talented women. Chapter 7: An all-women collective. Feng Wenfeng ; Li Qiujun ; Yang Xuejiu ; Women's society membership -- Chapter 8: Exhibitions and critiques. The Shanghai art world ; From Shanghai to the world ; The critical approach to "women's art" -- Chapter 9: Artists, philanthropists, and educators. Art for power ; Art for philanthropy ; A fellowship of educators ; Women artists writing ; The legacy of a collective gendered identity - Conclusion. Western art education at home ; Art education abroad ; Returning to China ; Catching up with the past ; The paradox of Chinese modern art ; Women artists' voices ; Epilogue -- Appendix A: Chinese and Japanese characters for names and terms -- Appendix B: Relations of key figures -- Appendix C: Jin family lineage chart
Summary:
"Bringing to light the largely overlooked female participation in domestic and international art worlds, this book offers the first comprehensive study of how women embroiderers, traditionalist calligraphers and painters, including Shen Shou, Wu Xingfen, Jin Taotao, and members of Chinese Women's Society of Calligraphy and Painting, shaped the terrain of the modern art world and gender positioning during China's important moments of social-cultural transformation from empire to republic. Drawing on a wealth of previously unexhibited artworks, rare artist's monographs, women's journals, personal narratives, diaries, and catalogs of international expositions, Doris Sung not only affirms women's significant roles as guardian and innovator of traditionalist art forms for a modern nation, but she also reveals their contribution to cultural diplomacy and revaluation of Chinese artistic heritage on the international stage in the early twentieth century."-- Provided by publisher
