Abstract

Australian and New Zealand Journal of Art, 2021, vol. 21, no. 1, 5–40 https://doi.org/10.1080/14434318.2021.1934773 The Role of Visual Evidence in a New Perspective on Chinese Art History: A Study of Omura Seigai’s Two Histories of Chinese Art Goto Ryoko, translated by Olivier Krischer The Formation of Chinese Painting History and Reception of Chinese Painting in Japan A systematic history of Chinese painting was first established at the beginning of the modern era in Japan. Considering the long history of Sino–Japan relations, this was effectively the first time Japan changed its role from being a receiver to an ori- ginator of intellectual discourse. Japan’s modern era also marked a turning point in the country’s reception of Chinese painting. In considering the relationship between these two phenomena, the role of Japanese art historian Omura Seigai 大 村西崖 (1868–1927) is particularly interesting. As a graduate of the inaugural year at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, Omura had studied art history from Ernest Fenollosa (1853–1908) and Okakura Tenshin 岡倉天心 (ne Okakura Kakuzo
覚三, 1863–1913). He would go on to become an art historian who applied the principles he learnt from the modern discipline of art history to his research on the