The Establishment and Transition of the Design Education in Early Twentieth Century China

• Main Authors: Chih-yang Kou, 顧志揚
• Other Authors: Prof. Fang-cheng Wu
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2013
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/98702133412955936654

碩士 === 國立中央大學 === 藝術學研究所 === 101 === This thesis aims at exploring the establishment and changes of the design education in modern China from various perspectives regarding the application of general education, the effects of the exhibitionary fever, the influence of the industry-prone atmosphere, and the emergence of schools of fine arts. The argument starts with the impact of western culture that modern China encountered. And due to the phenomenon that the demand for consumption goods gradually took a share of the initial demand for heavy industrial products, the applied arts gained its access to common people’s daily life, which induced the corresponding design instruction within general education. China modeled her new education system and teaching method after Japan, and this gave nutrition and a gestation environment to the birth of design education in China. As a matter of fact, throughout the early twentieth century, several forces, including the exhibitionary effects which China began to value and the prevalence of the pragmatistic point of view intervened in the above environment. Meanwhile, with a more flexible image-making ability and a better acceptance from the viewers regarding their visual habits, the folk painters stood as a potential threat and challenge to the design education in schools. On the other hand, the schools of fine arts rose appropriating the pragmatistic ideology, attempted to incorporate the design education into their curricula. Moreover, design education itself was seemed to be utilized as an approach to justify the hierarchy within the fine arts education, so as to expand the territory of the system of the academy of fine arts. The design learners who had pursuded further study in Japan returned around early 20’s. They not only interpreted and introduced for China the latest design study and information in Japan, but also seemed to manage to integrate them into the Chinese context. As for the students who accomplished further study in France and returned around late 20’s, they brought another prosperous moment to the design education in the academies of fine arts. Nevertheless, at the very same period, the applied nature of “design” and the two-sided identity of “designers” appeared to blur the distinction between the design education inside and outside the system of the academies of fine arts. And the once strong connection between the design education and the academies of fine arts was hence weakened. Therefore, owing to the fact that design as applied art would come to interact more lively with the market demand, this enables design eventually step out of the Utopia formed by the academies and got to engage more with social activities, which indirectly realized the common claim about art for people’s sake of the Art World then.