他者印象:广州外销画对中国形象的建构

Image of the Others:Export Painting as Impression of the West on China

18世纪中叶,广州成为一口通商之地,外销画作为一种采用西方画技展现中国社会各场域的纪实性绘画形式应时而生,这种全景式的图像资料成为西人理解中国的视觉蓝本。尽管外销画本身存在程式化创作、对西式画技的过度效仿以及西人订制的问题,然而有限的偏差不足以影响外销画的整体写实性。开放包容的广州口岸文化更赋予外销画创作者运用直白通俗的视觉图像实现跨文化语境的交流,建构起西方对中国形象的深入认知。

In the middle of eighteenth century,export painting emerged when Canton port became the only seaport for commercial interactions within China. With the function of image recoding,it helped to understand how Western people look at Chinese social changes. Although the export painting itself has deviations because of stylized creation,excessive imitation and customization,the limited deviations were not enough to affect the feature. It can be seen as an important medium for the first impression of the West on Chinese society.