Eighteenth International Conference on the Arts in Society

Abstract

Recently in Taiwan, the National History Museum (NHM) published its 3-volume archive of the ROC’s (Republic of China, Taiwan) participation in the São Paulo Biennial from 1957 to 1973. With similar ambition of building up diplomatic relations through art, the Biennial took the model of Venice Biennial and was inaugurated in 1951. In NHM’s archive, the ROC was invited to exhibit its modern art in the name of “orthodox China”. While reporting the invitation to the Ministry of Education, the ROC’s ambassador in Brazil Li Jun-Di emphasized in the letter that the “Radical New Style” of art was strongly recommended, a term invented by him. The Style Taiwan’s ambassador recommended might be traced back to the Bauhaus, whose post-war members such as Josef Albers and Max Bill had given lectures in Brazil in the 1950s. Their curriculum had been then adapted by the Brazilian activists for their socio-historical context. During that time. among the counties of the “free camp”, abstract art from Brazil, Taiwan and Germany might have signaled the freedom of expression in contrast to the communist ideology. It was in fact an illusion for Taiwan which was under the Nationalist’s rule of Martial Law (1949-1987). This paper tries to answer the origin of the “Radical New Style” regarding the art historiographic question. At the same time, this study is highly interested in looking into art history in a broader scope of international relations, especially during the Cold War, when the interpretation of art was deeply intermingled with ideologies.