Wanling Xu: How did the London Art Fair 88 years ago create a "Chinese style" in the West?
After nearly 100 years, the Palace Museum has not only carefully kept the treasures of the royal palaces and old collections left over from the Ming and Qing dynasties, but has also greatly enriched its heritage collection in many ways, forming a precious collection of more than 1.86 million pieces in the fields of ancient paintings and calligraphy, ancient artefacts, palace relics and books and archives.
Over the years, the Palace Museum has continued its commitment to dialogue with the world through the exchange of cultural heritage and exchanges such as exhibitions, joint conservation projects and joint archaeology, allowing people from different countries and regions to appreciate the beauty of Chinese culture. It is a little known fact that the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, held 88 years ago, was the first exhibition of the Palace Museum's cultural treasures abroad and created a popular 'Chinese style' in the European fashion scene at the time.
For people today, looking back at the London Art Fair and understanding the origins and impact of this Chinese style can shed light on the value of traditional culture and promote exchange and mutual appreciation between Chinese and foreign civilisations.
Xu Wanling, PhD in Art, is a research curator. She is currently working at the Institute of Palace Studies of the National Palace Museum, mainly engaged in research on the history of the National Palace Museum and the history of modern Chinese museums. She is the director of the Institute for the Relocation of Cultural Relics to the South of the National Palace and has long been dedicated to research on the history of the Palace Museum, presiding over and participation in a number of National Social Science Foundation projects, and actively promoting the transformation of scientific research results.
British sinology community looking forward to exhibition of Chinese art
The International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London was the brainchild of Sir Percival David, a renowned British collector of Chinese porcelain, who visited Beijing in 1925 when the Palace Museum opened to the public. He made a donation to the Palace Museum in July 1929 for the renovation of the porcelain showroom in the Jing Yang Palace, and was hired by the Palace Museum as a consultant in August. These opportunities allowed him to be personally involved in the registration and exhibition planning of the Palace Museum and to come into close contact with a large number of Chinese palace relics. By 1931, the idea of an international exhibition of Chinese art, with a committee on Chinese art and archaeology at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, was gradually gaining ground in the British Sinological community.
In February 1934, David, together with several other collectors, signed a Memorandum of Understanding for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, which he asked to be forwarded to the then National Government. In the Memorandum, he detailed the close links between the International Exhibition of Chinese Art and the promotion of international political contacts, the enhancement of the country's cultural image and the improvement of its commercial and economic development, inviting China, in particular, to send works from the collection of the Palace Museum through the ages, as well as works from recent Chinese archaeological excavations, to be exhibited in Britain.
In September 1934, the Palace Museum's collection of art and culture representative of the country's selection list was drawn up. In October, the London International Exhibition of Chinese art preparatory committee was established, and various matters about holding the exhibition abroad were carried out in earnest.
Official letter from the Preparatory Committee for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London (1) Credit: The Palace Museum
Official letter from the Preparatory Committee for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London (2) Credit: The Palace Museum
Westerners get a glimpse of the great beauty of Chinese art
From 8 April to 5 May 1935, the "Shanghai Preview of the London Exhibition of Chinese Art" was held in the former premises of the Bank of China at the east entrance of Renji Road in the Shanghai Public Concession, where the Shang and Zhou dynasties, Song and Yuan paintings and calligraphy, Ming and Qing porcelains were displayed.
This preview is an integrated presentation of Chinese artworks, initially constructing a historical lineage of Chinese cultural development that has a unique place in the history of Chinese art.
The most important collections (both surviving and excavated) of China's major cultural institutions at the time, totalling 108 pieces. Of these, 96 bronzes from the old Qing Palace collection were selected by the National Palace Museum and the Antiquities Exhibition Institute; 12 bronzes were excavated from recent archaeological excavations, eight from the Henan Museum for the Xinzheng Yi Ware excavated in 1923, and four from the Anhui Provincial Library for the Shouxian Yi Ware excavated in 1933. The four pieces selected by the Anhui Provincial Library are "Chu-Ware" excavated in Shouxian in 1933. The porcelain collection is largely made up of porcelain from the official kilns of the Ming and Qing eras, and is restricted to the National Palace Museum, with a total of 352 pieces. The painting and calligraphy production is restricted to the National Palace Museum and the Antiquities Exhibition Hall, and as far as possible, works by important writers of all schools of thought have been selected, totalling 175 pieces.
Preview of the London Chinese Art Exhibition in Shanghai. Credit: Shanghai Library
After the Shanghai preview, the exhibits left Shanghai on 6 June 1935, loaded by a British government cruiser, and sailed west around the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, arriving in Portsmouth port on 25 July. The exhibition was opened at Burlington House on 28 November. It is arranged in a sequence of Chinese dynasties, with artefacts from the Shang, Zhou, Warring States, Han and Wei, Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties being displayed alongside each other, including bronzes, calligraphy, paintings, sculptures, ceramics, jade and embroidery.
Poster for the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London. Credit: The Royal Academy of Arts
The Times particularly praised the layout of the exhibition, which not only considered the exhibition as a whole, but also organised the individual rooms in a way that was intrinsically linked to showcase the distinctive artistic features of each dynasty. Particularly noteworthy is the importance attached to the emperor's throne, classified as 'Furniture', by the British experts and by the Western public: the emperor's throne, screen and scholar's objects were placed at the entrance to Hall 9 of Burlington House, and were the subject of sustained attention and coverage in the major British newspapers.
The Emperor's Throne and Screen on display at the International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London. Credit: The Royal Academy of Arts
Chinese style at London Art Fair
The International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London, the first exhibition of the Palace Museum's cultural treasures abroad, has created a strong 'China style' in the European fashion scene. The motifs of Chinese Buddhism, the lines of calligraphy and the colours of porcelain are all seen as important elements of Eastern culture and are widely used in fashion clothing design and personalised accessories.
Prior to the opening of the exhibition, Vogue magazine devoted a full page on 30 October 1935 to a survey of some of the impending influences on fashion that were predicted to be brought about by the decoration of the clothes of Chinese Buddhas and the floral colours of ceramics. After the opening of the London Art Fair, European fashion designers rushed to Burlington House to visit the exhibition in the hope of finding inspiration for their fashion designs. A spring fashion dress was inspired by a standing statue of the Bodhisattva in Chinese white jade from the Tang dynasty that was on display. The statue's graceful pose, the beautiful and delicate necklace and the light, soft dress caught the designer's eye.
Spring fashion maxi dresses inspired by the exhibition. Credit: The Royal Academy of Arts
The exhibition started a new fashion trend in Europe. The designers produced silk mid-length bodice dresses with prints on fabrics inspired by the lines and colours of Chinese calligraphy, large inlays on a single piece of fabric and a preference for darker colours, giving these garments a sense of sophistication and mystery. A number of the new dresses and hats were inspired by paintings on display in the exhibition, such as the cloth dresses and hats in literati paintings and the official hats in court dresses in palace paintings. Over time, European royalty and aristocrats have made owning a fashion item with Chinese elements a symbol of status and fashion taste.
The silk mid-length bodice dress that led the way for the new European fashion trend was inspired by the exhibition. Credit: The Royal Academy of Arts
The International Exhibition of Chinese Art in London was an international art exhibition of historic proportions. Sir William Llewellyn, then President of the Royal Academy of Arts, hailed it as the "most wonderful and comprehensive" exhibition of Chinese art, demonstrating "the perfection of all kinds of Chinese art from different periods".
National engagement and cultural interaction has always been a key concern of international exhibitions. Exhibitions in a particular historical time are not pure and neutral, whether it is Chinese civilisation or Chinese art, and the judgements and intentions of the exhibition are always revealed by which objects are selected and in what way they are arranged for display. A consistent thread through the London Art Fair is that both Chinese and British experts measure and interpret Chinese art in the context of historical memory and cultural identity, including the significance of the court collection in the development of Chinese culture, and the place of the testimonies and artworks of Chinese civilisation in the aesthetics of world culture and art.
The National Palace Museum has been in existence for more than 600 years, and looking back on these historical experiences is still an important reference for people today to explore Chinese cultural values, promote the exchange and mutual appreciation of civilisations and foster people-to-people ties.
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