ABSTRACT
The writer and essayist Lu Xun made a lasting mark on what Tang Xiaobing calls “the origins of the Chinese avant-garde.” 1 Lu Xun (1881–1936) was able to formalize the aesthetic criteria and judgments that would connect one part of Chinese art to social activism. 2 On a formal level, the much darker vision to which he wanted to give impetus brought about in him a determined interest in engraving. 3 In Lu Xun’s career and writing on art, the German artist Käthe Kollwitz occupied an absolutely crucial position. 4 Lu Xun literally imposed Kollwitz onto the history of Chinese modernity. Following the death of Lu Xun in 1936, Kollwitz remained a key point of reference. After the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949—which ushered in a radical transformation of artistic teaching and the issues attributed to art—the work of Käthe Kollwitz continued to be cited as an example.
