Images of Yunnan National Minorities in Chinese Painting of the 20th–21st Centuries: Formation and Expression of Ethnic Identity

This article examines the imagery of Yunnan's ethnic minorities in Chinese painting of the 20th and 21st centuries in terms of the formation and expression of ethnic identity. The relevance of this study lies in the fact that, amid social transformations, cultural reconfiguration, and renewed artistic thinking, ethnic themes in Chinese art are increasingly becoming significant not only as objects of aesthetic representation but also as an important mechanism for the visual construction of cultural memory, regional specificity, and national identity. Yunnan, as one of the most multiethnic regions of China with a distinct cultural identity, provides Chinese painting with rich visual material, which has led to the persistent presence of images of Yunnan's ethnic minorities in artistic practice of the 20th and 21st centuries. The purpose of this study is to identify the evolution of these images in Chinese painting and determine how they contribute to the formation and expression of ethnic identity. This study utilizes a historical, cultural, and art historical approach, allowing the pictorial image to be considered not only as an artistic but also as a cultural and semantic expression. The study established that in the 20th century, images of Yunnan's ethnic minorities were primarily formed within the framework of a typified and ideologically determined representation, linked to the goals of national unity, political mobilization, and the affirmation of a positive image of a multinational state. In the 21st century, these images have become more complex, multidimensional, and subject-oriented: artists increasingly draw on individual experience, cultural memory, local knowledge, and the inner spiritual life of ethnic communities. The author concludes that images of Yunnan's ethnic minorities in Chinese painting of the 20th and 21st centuries serve as an important visual medium for ethnic identity, and their development reflects a shift from external typification to a deeper cultural understanding, in which painting becomes a means of preserving collective memory, conveying ethnocultural meanings, and constructing a contemporary image of multinational China.