Chen Shih-Wen (1907-1984) and the Early Development of Tertiary Art Education in Hong Kong

In 1949, after the civil war, the cultural shift towards the south brought men of talent and cultural resources to Hong Kong from mainland China, which was becoming the base for continuing and achieving the modernization of Chinese art owing to its unique position in the Cold War. The Department of Fine Arts of the Chinese University of Hong Kong is the first institute offering tertiary art education in the city. Since its establishment in 1957, the department has nurtured a large number of art professionals for Hong Kong in the past six decades and has had a profound impact on the discourse of Hong Kong art. Chen Shih-Wen was the founder of the Fine Arts Department of the New Asia College. As one of the early Chinese artists who studied in France, he promoted European modern art in China through a new education system after returning to home. Using Chen Shih-Wen as an entry point, this essay explores the early development of tertiary art education in Hong Kong, and evaluates how Chen and the Department of Fine Arts of the New Asia College adopted and continued the concepts of art education advocated by Republican art educators by situating art education within the social, historical and cultural context of modern China.