Since the opening of treaty ports in modern China, the ideology of discarding obsolescence and forging innovation has evolved into an overwhelming intellectual current that has shaped the trajectory of Chinese history. The development of the fine arts was similarly embedded within the social trend of abandoning the old and pursuing the new. When Kang Youwei lamented that "Chinese painting has truly declined", Cai Yuanpei put forward a reform proposal stating that "in our study of painting today, we ought to infuse it with the methodologies of scientific research". All these instances demonstrate that, in tandem with social transformation, a new form of fine arts—distinctly different from its predecessors—was on the verge of emergence.

What constitutes "New Fine Arts"? Artists across different eras have offered divergent interpretations of this term: some refer to it as new Chinese painting, others as Western-style painting, new woodcut, new realism or new democratic fine arts, and among other designations. Such terminological variations mirror the pluralism of artistic concepts, the complexity of historical contexts and the inherent ambiguity of the concept itself. The connotation of "new" extends beyond the expansion of artistic genres and shifts in concepts, concurrent with these developments were the formation of supporting new mechanisms, including art academies, exhibitions, publications, artistic societies and art markets. All these phenomena collectively demonstrate that "pursuing innovation" emerged as the most vivid and central aspiration in the transformation of modern and contemporary Chinese fine arts.

In the first half of the 20th century, Guangdong assumed a pivotal role in the construction of "New Fine Arts". With the increasingly close cultural exchanges between China and the West and the unfolding democratic revolution, Guangdong fine arts stepped onto the historical stage, forming a tripartite structure alongside Beijing and Shanghai, becoming one of the most prominent practical fields in the transformation of modern Chinese fine arts. The establishment of art societies served as a pivotal mechanism and vehicle for Guangdong artists to advance the "New Fine Arts" movement. Art societies rallied under a shared banner functioned not merely as platforms for artists' communication and interaction, but more crucially as the core driving force behind the renewal of artistic concepts, the implementation of diverse exploratory practices, and even the construction of a modern art education system. It is precisely against this backdrop of understanding that this exhibition selects four art societies and institutions—Chunshui Painting Academy, Chishe (Chishe Art Research Society), Modern Woodcut Society, and Renjian Art Association—as analytical entry points. It seeks to reconstruct the developmental trajectory of the "New Fine Arts" movement in Guangdong and Hong Kong during the first half of the 20th century, examining dimensions such as new Chinese painting, new Western-style painting, new woodcut, and new democratic fine arts. While these art societies and artist groups pursue independent explorations within their respective fields, they exhibit notable interactions and intertextuality in terms of media practices and artistic concepts. The participants are also far from being limited to those from Guangdong. Amidst the sustained and profound interplay between artistic expression and social reality, explicit ideological trends and implicit undercurrents mutually stimulate and permeate each other, collectively propelling and enriching the holistic landscape of the "New Fine Arts" movement as a historical artistic phenomenon.

The title of this exhibition draws its inspiration from the grand vision of "Establishing New Fine Arts" articulated by the Renjian Art Association on multiple occasions. Constrained by various factors, the artworks and documents selected for this exhibition represent only a highly limited fragment of the intricate and rich historical landscape. Nevertheless, they still allow us to glimpse the multifaceted artistic ecology and its evolutionary trajectory. Reflecting on the past while contemplating the present, we contend that "Establishing New Fine Arts" is not merely a historical retrospective of that transformative era, but also embodies an expectation for how contemporary fine arts in its ongoing development should be imbued with new values.