The phenomenon of “rustic realism” in the work of the painters of the Southwest China

Abstract

The paper examines the direction of “rustic realism”, the political and sociocultural factors, affecting its origin and processes of reception in Chinese fine art in the last third of the 20th – beginning of the 21st centuries. Multidimensional study of the “rustic realism”, which has become a litmus test reflecting the atmosphere of the epoch, the peculiarities of the world-view, including the dialogue between Eastern and Western cultures, is relevant for both Chinese and Russian art history at the present stage. However, the phenomenon of the “rustic realism” has not yet received an exhaustive understanding. The article is the first attempt to comprehensively consider “rustic realism” in the work of the painters from south-western China as a landmark phenomenon in the country's artistic culture of the 20th century. The author investigates the genesis of “rustic realism” and its role in the history of modern Chinese fine arts, based on systematisation of information dispersed in Russian, Chinese and English sources. The author also considers the socio-political and socio-philosophical aspects of this art direction, the dynamics of changes in artistic and expressive means and iconographic system, and analyses the convergence of Western and national styles on the example of representative paintings of leading of “rustic realism” of Southwest China, who headed the direction.