Art Amidst Turmoil: Chinese Women Artists and the Second Sino-Japanese War

Art created in response to war offers a powerful lens through which to examine not only the destructive forces of conflict, but also the lived experiences of those who endured it. While wartime works by prominent male artists in China have received considerable scholarly attention, the contributions of women artists during the Second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945) remain largely overlooked. Focusing on women artists working across different political zones and in a range of artistic styles and media, this lecture explores how their works responded to war as a condition of violence, displacement, survival, and social transformation. Through a gendered lens, it considers the themes, forms, and visual strategies of their artistic production, while also situating these works within the political, cultural, and historical circumstances that shaped their creation. Rather than treating women artists as peripheral figures, the lecture argues that they offer a crucial perspective on the artistic, emotional, and ideological dimensions of wartime experience. Expanding beyond the scope of the Chinese context, this lecture also places these Chinese women artists in dialogue with their Western counterparts who responded to conflict during the same era, considering how gender, war, and artistic expression intersected across different cultural contexts. By bringing these lesser-known works to light — and into comparative view — this lecture contributes to a fuller understanding of women's art in twentieth-century global history.

The fifth seminar:

Tuesday 12th May 2026, 5–6:30pm, Vivien Stewart Room

Speaker:

Dr Tianyi Zhang

Title:
Art Amidst Turmoil: Chinese Women Artists during the Second Sino-Japanese War and Beyond

The seminar is supported by the Global Humanities Mobility Scheme.

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