Diversity on display: a study on gentry-class women and their painting practice in the Jiangnan region of High Qing China

Abstract

At the peak of the Qing Dynasty, the most affluent Jiangnan cities witnessed an expansion of the market for artworks and services from artists. This thesis will explore the diversity of female painters’ art practice within a specific “High Qing” time frame. A close study will mainly focus on two not only related but sometimes overlapping groups of gentry-class women active in “High Qing” Jiangnan cities like Suzhou, Hangzhou and Changzhou: Prominent poet Yuan Mei’s 袁枚 (1716-98) female disciples and the female painters followed the style of one of the most renowned Qing Dynasty painters Yun Shouping’s 惲壽平 (1633-90). The first challenge of studying women’s paintings lies in the relatively few samples available for examination by each focused artist. And even for those few samples, it is not guaranteed that the women actually made them. I applied literature and social history studies methodologies to visual and literary sources. The paintings produced by and for the women delivered more than just personal aesthetic preferences; they were necessary for certain social exchanges and self-demonstration.

By the end of the eighteenth century, the West Lake gathering between Yuan Mei and his female disciples was a spectacle of the time. The renowned old poet specifically commissioned the painting Thirteen Female Disciples Seeking Instruction at the Lake Pavilion to commemorate the occasion. The artwork provides a glimpse into this memorable moment in those privileged women’s lives and indicates Yuan Mei’s ambiguous attitude towards his female disciples. As an outstanding member of Yuan Mei’s disciples, Qu Bingyun (1767-1810) actively used portraiture to demonstrate herself. Her case suggests that the most literate women had the ability and confidence to play with their identity in flexible pictorial languages.

The most prevalent subject for women’s artworks was flowers, and a prominent figure of this genre was Yun Bing 惲冰 (possibly active in the early Qianlong period). Yun Bing’s fame was genuine, but some of the works under her name were not. Fake works of female painters circulating among the literati community were signs of the popularity of women’s paintings. The prevalence of forgery also raised questions about the accessibility of women’s paintings in High Qing China. This problem regarding authenticity did not only affect prominent painters like Yun Bing but had an impact on the overall perception of women’s painting capability.

This dissertation shows that women could play with their identities through words and images like their male counterparts. Generally, they preferred flower painting, but they were also familiar with other genres. Like all other painters from the same period, a woman’s painting practice was influenced by social, cultural, and economic factors. The main task of this dissertation is to demonstrate the exceptional diversity in their artistic preferences and practices.