Guo Xuehu's Early Career and Paintings
In comparison to a figure such as "migrant," which instantly evokes spatial imaginaries, the figure of an artist is less obviously defined in spatial terms. However, it is well documented that many artists traveled or resettled in search of art education, subject matter, or art markets. More importantly, place plays an important role in landscape and figure painting. It is also evoked through references to an artist's country of origin, nationality, or ethnicity. Art historians, often un-selfconsciously, mobilize these spatial categories when working within an established canon.
This pathway examines Guo Xuehu's early career to illuminate how the artistic infrastructures of the Japanese empire influenced his early development as an artist, and how in turn, his work shaped the boundaries of nihonga and tōyōga. Moreover, by using Guo Xuehu as an example, it reconstructs the figure of an artist in the 1920s and 1930s East Asia.
Questions:
- How would Japanese modern art history look like if it featured Guo Xuehu as one of its protagonists?
- Why would art historians of Japan include him in their history? Or shouldn't they (we)?
- What are the points of convergence and the respective silences in the histories of modern Taiwanese and Japanese art?