DONG, LIHUI
(2017)
THE WAY TO BE MODERN: EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI’S PORTRAITS OF THE
LATE QING DYNASTY.
Doctoral Dissertation, University of Pittsburgh.
(Unpublished)
Abstract
This dissertation discusses portraits of the Empress Dowager Cixi, including her early traditional portraits from the 1860s through the 1890s, oil paintings and photographic portraits during the New Policy Reforms (1901-1908), with the approaches of working on the social political contexts, materials, functions, audiences, transcultural dissemination and circulation of the portraits.
I contend that Cixi’s early masculine portraits were produced as a part of her struggles for power within the inner court after her husband’s death, when another Empress Dowager not only exceeded Cixi’s status, but also somewhat threatened Cixi’s motherly identity. When the inner court situation and Cixi’s concerns changed, especially after 1900, the masculine features were reduced and much more feminine features were shown in Cixi’s portraits. In the early 20th century, during the New Policy Reforms, Cixi changed her image strategies, potential audiences and the functions of her portraits. If the early images of Cixi in Chapter 1 were part of her struggles for imperial power, which were still an inner court issue, in Chapter 2 and Chapter 3, I explored how the production and circulation of Cixi’s personal portraits were upgraded to elements of national strategies or even international cooperation, and how and why Cixi would change her mind not to show her portraits fully with masculine features after 1900.
These portraits not only visually manifest the female leader’s changing project of her image design, but also help to explore the complicated issue related to how China was to become modern at the turn of the 20th century. This was not a passive, isolated, nor one-sided procedure, but was intertwined within interactive international affairs and entangled benefits.
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Details
| Item Type: |
University of Pittsburgh ETD
|
| Status: |
Unpublished |
| Creators/Authors: |
|
| ETD Committee: |
|
| Date: |
23 September 2017 |
| Date Type: |
Publication |
| Defense Date: |
8 May 2017 |
| Approval Date: |
23 September 2017 |
| Submission Date: |
18 June 2017 |
| Access Restriction: |
No restriction; Release the ETD for access worldwide immediately. |
| Number of Pages: |
212 |
| Institution: |
University of Pittsburgh |
| Schools and Programs: |
Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences > History of Art and Architecture |
| Degree: |
PhD - Doctor of Philosophy |
| Thesis Type: |
Doctoral Dissertation |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: |
PORTRAITURE, EMPRESS DOWAGER CIXI, LATE QING DYNASTY, MORDERNITY |
| Date Deposited: |
24 Sep 2017 01:27 |
| Last Modified: |
24 Sep 2017 01:27 |
| URI: |
http://d-scholarship.pitt.edu/id/eprint/32468 |
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