City of Others: How Asian Artists Shaped Paris' Golden Age of Modernism

Tokyo Weekender

5 days ago

There are few periods in modern art history as revolutionary and prolific as the one spanning the 1920s to the early 40s in Paris. Beginning with
les années folles
— 'the crazy years' — the epoch saw an explosion of experimental art, music, literature and film. Writers and painters from around the world flocked to the city in pursuit of creative freedom and collaboration, forming the École de Paris (School of Paris): a community of French and foreign-born artists associated with intersecting avant-garde movements.
For decades, the legacy of this cultural zeitgeist has largely been filtered through a Eurocentric lens — Pablo Picasso's fragmented geometric creations, Salvador Dalí's psychological landscapes and Marc Chagall's lyrical, azure canvases permanently etched in our popular imagination. Moving beyond this dominant narrative, the National Gallery Singapore provides a kaleidoscopic window into the vibrant network of Asian artists in Paris, who contributed immensely to global modernism in their own ways through an extraordinary stylistic and cultural hybridity.
Titled 'City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s–1940s,' the comparative exhibition consists of six thoughtfully curated thematic sections, paying tribute to the artists' visions, lived experiences and nuanced self-reflexivity. The displays draw from over 50 lenders from around the globe and include works by Tsuguharu Foujita, Georgette Chen, Lê Phổ, Yun Gee and many more luminaries.
At the heart of 'City of Others' is the question of how these artists, romanticized yet peripheral in a foreign land, shaped complex visual languages within dual spheres — one populated by a Parisian public with preconceptions of 'Asian' aesthetics and the other shaped by the increasingly cosmopolitan, rapidly shifting notions of modern art back home.
List of Contents:
Portraits of Self as Other
Art Deco and 'Asian' Influence
Colonial and Anti-Colonial Agendas
The Promise of Prestige
A City of Artistic Freedom and Exchange
About National Gallery Singapore
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Pai Un-soung.
Self-Portrait (Atelier). Early 1930s. Oil on canvas, 60.5 x 51 cm.
Collection of Centre culturel
Français de Daejeon
Georgette Chen. Self Portrait. c.1923. Oil on
Canvas. 35 x 27 cm. Collection of National Gallery
Singapore.
Portraits of Self as Other
The exhibition opens with a set of self-portraits by the artists featured throughout the exhibition, focusing on how they dealt with a new and shifting identity as 'other' while shaping their public image. Pan Yuliang, one of the few Asian female artists in Paris during the 1930s, casts a quietly confident gaze upon the viewer, rejecting exoticized portrayals of Chinese women. Korean artist Pai Un-soung appears solemn and professional in his portrait, dressed in a coat and tie. Vietnamese painter Mai Trung Thứ, on the other hand, playfully adopts the trope of a modern artist-bohemian, smoking a cigarette with an eyebrow cocked.
Foujita Tsuguharu. Autoportrait au chat (Self-Portrait with Cat). 1926. Oil, pen and ink on canvas, 80.4 x 60.2 cm. Gift of the artist in 1927. Collection of Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon. © Fondation Foujita / ADAGP, Paris, 2025. Image © MBA Lyon – Photo Martial Couderette. B 1435.
In his self-portrait, the aforementioned Foujita, a prominent figure of the École de Paris, illustrates his stylistic duality as a foreign-born painter, using an innovative technique of fine black sumi ink lines on a ground of chalky white. 'Self-Portrait with Cat' (1926) sets the tone for his skillful fusion of modernism and Japanese painting traditions throughout the exhibition.
Art Deco and 'Asian' Influence
One of the main fields in which Asian artists wielded significant influence was the decorative arts, especially pertaining to the art deco movement. Art deco (short for arts décoratifs) is often characterized by rich, bold colors, geometric shapes and material splendor. Lacquerware and lacquer art were particularly in vogue and essential to the flourishing aesthetic — and many of these luxurious ornaments were crafted by Vietnamese and Japanese artists.
'Japanese prints that have circulated in Paris for centuries set a certain audience expectation [about Japanese aesthetics],' says Phoebe Scott, lead curator of the exhibition. 'What's different about this period is that it's not just art objects coming from Asia … artists, designers and workers arrived in large numbers and actually participated in the ateliers of the decorative arts.'
(From left to right) Hamanaka Katsu. six-panelled screen with mythological scene. 1939, Composition. c. 1930, Panels. c. 1925. Installation view, City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s–1940s, National Gallery Singapore, 2025
Katsu Hamanaka, a prominent Japanese lacquer artist, was acutely aware of the French appetite for exotic motifs and textures, as evidenced by his sumptuous and elaborate pieces; yet, he avoided reductive 'Oriental' imagery by drawing from a variety of visual references. 'The era of simply introducing 'things Japanese' is over. We must create products that fit into European lifestyles, items that fulfill practical needs rather than being exotic curiosities. This is the only path forward,' he claimed.
Hamanaka's rarely seen 'six-panelled screen with mythological scene' (1939), composed of lacquer and gold leaf, is a particularly striking example of his engagement with classical mythology, rendering what appears to be the Three Graces on a deep crimson backdrop. Hamanaka had no previous training in lacquer when he arrived in Paris in 1924, but the surge in demand for lacquer at the time enabled him to establish a workshop with a team of artisans, once he learned techniques from compatriot and master lacquerer Seizo Sugawara.
Jean Dunand. La forêt (Forest). 1930. Gold and silver lacquer and hinges; 12 panels, total 300 x 600 cm. Collection of Mobilier National. Image courtesy of Mobilier National; photo by Isabelle Bideau, GME-7196-000.
While certain Vietnamese artists, like Phạm Hậu, exhibited lacquer paintings under their own names, many Vietnamese artisans remained uncredited for their expertise. For instance, the studio of Jean Dunand, a preeminent Swiss-born lacquer artist, saw enormous growth upon employing expert workers from traditional lacquer-producing regions of Vietnam. The exhibition honors and credits some of these invisible artisans for the first time, with a rare record of their names from the French national archives.
View of the Pavilion of Indochina at the International Colonial Exposition, 1931, photographed by M. Cloche. Reproduced from M. Cloche, 60 Aspects de l'Exposition Coloniale (Paris: Éditions arts et métiers graphiques, 1931), unpaginated. Collection of National Gallery Singapore Library & Archives, gift of Adrian Jones.
Colonial and Anti-Colonial Agendas
Although the population of Vietnamese artists in Paris was relatively small compared to those from Japan or China, their art gained prominence in the cultural sphere, partially to promote French colonialism. Paris was the site of the International Colonial Exposition of 1931, where European powers showcased their empires through art from the colonies and grand reproductions of native architectural styles.
'It was felt that the broad French public had disconnected a bit from the idea of colonialism, and the intention was to re-engage them with an excitement about the colonial setting,' Scott explains. Some eight million people visited the exposition.
Activists from both France and Indochina, including Ho Chi Minh, resisted the valorization of colonialism through political cartoons, satirical images and text. Also contesting the Colonial Exposition were surrealist intellectuals and artists like André Breton and Yves Tanguy, who established an anti-colonial 'counter exposition' titled 'The Truth About the Colonies'
in union with the PCF (the French Communist Party)
.
Lê Phổ. L'ge heureux (The Happy Age). 1930. Oil on canvas, 126 x 177 cm. Private American collection. Photo: © Aguttes.
For many Vietnamese artists, like Lê Phổ and Vũ Cao Đàm, however, the exposition presented a complex 'politics of achievement,' as Scott notes. Vietnamese modern art had its first international exposure there, allowing its constituents to forge their careers in Paris.
The Promise of Prestige
'City of Others' further delves into the intricacies of how Asian artists strategically positioned themselves within the competitive Parisian art scene, discussing the kinds of works that received interest and the platforms that launched careers. Navigating the practical and cultural boundaries of salons, museums and commercial galleries was no simple task; it meant balancing issues of personal and national identity, along with public appeal.
(From left to right) ink works by Chen Shuren, Wang Yachen, Qi Baishi, Gao Qifeng, Zhang Daqian, Xu Beihong. Displayed at the Exhibition of Chinese Painting, Musée du Jeu de Paume, Paris. 1933. Installation view, City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s–1940s, National Gallery Singapore, 2025
In response to the city's surge in artists from around the world and audience interest in foreign styles, a space dedicated to foreign modern art was established. The Musée du Jeu de Paume exhibited and collected the art of 'contemporary foreign schools' throughout the 1920s and 30s, showcasing Japanese and Chinese paintings among others.
'It's interesting to see that in these two exhibitions, the organizers had many choices of what to present of Japanese or Chinese art, but they purposely, unconsciously, I think, chose to focus on works done in ink,' remarks senior curator Lisa Horikawa. 'What the French audience expected to see from artists from Asia was important for the organizers.'
The French audience's preconceptions of Asian art were also on the artists' minds. Xu Beihong, one of China's famed modern painters, gravitated toward oils and academic realism in the 1920s but initially chose to present his traditional ink works in Paris. 'This [duality in oil and ink] represented not only the two distinct threads in Xu's practice, but also the trends of Chinese artists in Paris in general,' curator Teo Hui Min explains.
Itakulla Kanae.《赤衣の女》(Woman in Red Dress). 1929. Oil on canvas, 116.8 x 80.3 cm. Collection of Matsudo City Board of Education. Image courtesy of Matsudo City Board of Education.
'Their time in Paris was not intended to be for good. The artists had a limited time in Paris, perhaps a few years, and it was important for them that they find an opportunity to exhibit their work in Paris,' Horikawa says.
Household names like Kanae Itakulla (also spelled 'Itakura'), Pai, Chen and Liu Kang were among the sea of hopefuls competing for their works to be selected for large-scale, juried salon exhibitions at places like the Salon d'Automne — having their names published in salon catalogs or winning awards became an important stepping stone toward exhibiting at commercial galleries.
Liu Kang (right) and Fu Lei (back row, right) with friends in Paris 1930. Collection of the family of Liu Kang © Liu Kang Family
A City of Artistic Freedom and Exchange
Many Asian painters, like Xu and Itakulla, found success through figurative and academic styles, which coincided with the
rappel à l'ordre
('return to order') movement in Paris at the time — a renewed interest in the classical ideals of the Greco-Roman tradition, emphasizing realism, balance and harmony.
Others experimented with more avant-garde styles and Western techniques, crafting singular and beautiful modernist masterpieces. The École de Paris did not have a uniform style and celebrated a variety of new informal and progressive methods, further encouraged by the presence of independent art academies in the area.
various works by Liu Kang, 1929-32. Installation view, City of Others: Asian Artists in Paris, 1920s–1940s, National Gallery Singapore, 2025
Much of this experimental spirit stemmed from the free, bohemian environment in Montparnasse, the famous artistic hub located on the Left Bank of Paris' Seine River. 'Such a community … is not composed solely of Parisians, and indeed one can find people of over 50 nationalities,' Foujita, one of Montparnasse's most famous foreign residents, mused. 'It is no wonder this environment fosters unconventional ideas and creativity.'
'The artists didn't arrive in Paris with a blank slate, but brought their own artistic trajectories that they built in their home country or elsewhere,' Horikawa notes, highlighting Chinese American modernist Yun Gee, who lived and worked in Guangdong, San Francisco, Paris and New York City, as an example. 'Place Maubert' (1929), a swirling, dreamlike rendering of a glowing Parisian night, captures his expressionist and surrealist influences.
Yun Gee.《莫伯特广场》Place Maubert. 1929. Oil on canvas, 73 x 60 cm. Private collection. Image courtesy of Tina Keng Gallery.
Kigai Kawaguchi, a key figure in Japan's Western-style painting tradition, likewise demonstrates his cubist influences in 'Still Life, Mandolin' (1927–31). The work's title and subject matter reference Picasso's 'Still Life with a Mandolin' (1924), while its geometric abstraction takes inspiration from the synthetic cubism of Picasso and Chagall.
As the site of such unprecedented and generative cultural exchanges, Montparnasse itself — and Paris by extension — became a muse for the artists who infused it with texture and life through their brushstrokes. While the aftermath of World War II brought an end to the city's cultural prestige, visual languages and many Asian artists' Parisian tenures, their love letters to 'the crazy years' immortalize its electric atmosphere and boundless creativity.
photography by Lisa Knight
courtesy of national gallery singapore
About National Gallery Singapore
National Gallery Singapore
is home to the world's largest public collection of Singaporean and Southeast Asian art and endeavors to recontextualize the region's artistic contributions within global narratives. The institution is celebrating its 10th anniversary in 2025.
Beyond its extensive permanent collection and thoughtfully curated special exhibitions, the gallery embodies Singapore's unique history through its architecture. It is housed in two national monuments — the City Hall and the former Supreme Court — making it an iconic cultural landmark.
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