The Chinese painter and calligrapher Wang Yiting (1867-1938) was also an entrepreneur, philanthropist, and Buddhist devotee who became deeply involved with Japan. He was a central participant in a number of important efforts at Sino-Japanese economic, religious, and cultural cooperation that took place from the 1910s through the early 1930s. These projects, like Wang's own art and biography, were largely forgotten in the years following China and Japan's war of the later 1930s and 1940s. This dissertation seeks to contribute to the understanding of early twentieth-century East Asian art and Sino-Japanese cultural interaction by documenting and interpreting Wang's engagement with Japan.
This dissertation will argue that Wang Yiting applied traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy to social ends and expanded the visual, discursive, and social ranges of these art forms to include Japan. Wang's early career in international business enabled him to organize artistic, religious, and philanthropic projects that aimed at cultivating friendly ties between China and Japan while also furthering the interests that Wang held dear, such as the strengthening of China as a nation, the preservation and development of China's traditional art, the promotion of Buddhism as a means of universal salvation, and the relief of the unfortunate. Wang pursued these projects while privately cultivating ties with many influential Japanese, making traditional painting and calligraphy the basis of many of his exchanges with them. Wang thus combined interests in commerce, art, religion, and philanthropy, becoming an artistic entrepreneur who was not only an accomplished painter and calligrapher but also an influential organizer of commercial, charitable, religious, and artistic projects.