Cross-Cultural Visual Representations of the “Chinese Restaurant” Motif in Artworks of the Ashcan School and Others

Key Points

Visual representations of Chinese restaurants highlight three modes of cross-cultural encounters, including exoticism and intimacy-based sharing.
The representation of these restaurants sheds light on historical motivations and dynamics often overlooked by art historians.
Analysis of artworks provides insight into the structure of intercultural communication and its implications for understanding culture.
Contextualizing Chinese restaurants in North America enhances appreciation for their artistic representation and cultural significance.

Abstract

Abstract By exploring the history of Chinese restaurants in North America, on the one hand, this article contextualizes the history, motivations, logics, and dynamics of the production of artworks representing Chinese restaurants, a motif that has long been ignored by art historians and critics. On the other hand, this article also addresses three basic modes of cross-cultural encounters carried in these visual presentations, namely, the representation of exoticism, surface contact, and intimacy-based sharing (or partial sharing), in order to understand the structure of intercultural communication.

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Cross-Cultural Visual Representations of the “Chinese Restaurant” Motif in Artworks of the Ashcan School and Others

Key Points

Abstract

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