美展特刊 Mei zhan te kan/ The National Fine Arts Exhibition of 1929 (2 Vols.)
上海市 (Shanghai): 正藝社 (Zheng yi she), 1929. Second edition. Softcover. Folios. Approx. 15x10". Unpaginated. "Modern" volume with 3 preliminary pages of index and 8 pages of prologue. "Ancient" volume with 2 pages of prologue and 1 page of index at the front. Grey patterned cloth portfolio, with black lettering over a white label on the front cover. Light blue-grey silk wrappers with light blue string-tied bindings. Red lettering in English and Chinese over a tan silk label on the front covers. This is the "November 1929" printing.
The work is an exhibition catalog from The National Fine Arts Exhibition, held in Shanghai in April of 1929 which was organized by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China, headed at the time by Cai Yuanpei. It is considered the first Chinese fine arts exhibition in modern history. The exhibition was a monumental retrospective with more than 2000 pieces of art from throughout Chinese history, starting from the Five Dynasties period (the 10th century), up through the contemporary period. The event brought together the work of countless Chinese artists, photographers, and architects, and also included the work of six Japanese artists.
The catalog includes some 400 pieces of the artwork featured in the exhibition, divided into a "modern" volume and an "ancient" volume. The artwork is printed in b/w offset photographic reproductions and collotypes. Also included in the "ancient" volume are seven works in color (with both Chinese and English language titles on protective tissue guards) a few of which are beautifully printed color lithographs. The "modern" volume contains a printed calligraphic prologue written in by Cai Yuanpei. The "ancient" volume includes works from some artists as The Four Wangs, Wu, and Yun from Qing Dynasty, Four Monks of the Early Qing Dynasty (Bada Shanren, Shitao, Hong Ren, and Kun Can), Lan Ying, and Gong Xian. The "modern" volume contains works from Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Wu Hufan, Liu Haisu, and Lin Fengmian, among many others. Both volumes contains extensive indexes of the artwork. Text in Chinese.
Portfolio with boards broken but present. Wrappers with some light smudges and scratches and a few minor creases. Some sunning along the top and bottom edges of the covers. Interiors with sunning to the edges and a few sporadic minor smudges. Images mostly unaffected. Portfolio in poor, wrappers in good+, interiors in very good- condition overall. poor to vg-. Item #41261
Price: $2,500.00