The role of art universities in the traditions of regional schools of easel painting in contemporary China

The article is dedicated to the study of the artistic evolution of Chinese easel painting at the contemporary stage, which has manifested itself in the work of artists representing various artistic schools that develop in different regions of China. In many of them, academies and institutes play a key role in shaping the art landscape, which possess academic and ethnocultural characteristics regarding the training of future painters: the Central Academy of Fine Arts, the China Academy of Art, the Xi'an Academy of Fine Arts, the Sichuan Institute of Fine Arts, and others. In light of this, the artistic evolution of traditional Chinese easel painting in the early 21st century is seen as the object of study. The subject of research is the influence on the creative orientation of contemporary Chinese painters of regional academic traditions. Methodologically, the article relies on approaches developed for analyzing various aspects of the existence of the Russian artistic school, its formation, and evolution. The works of D.V. Sarabyanov, G.G. Pospelov, A.N. Benois, and others allow for an analysis of contemporary Chinese easel painting, the creative practices of key artists, and their visual language as components of a single phenomenon. The novelty of the work lies in the presentation of the process of development of Chinese painting in the multi-dimensionality characteristic of it at the present stage, as well as an attempt to delineate it into regional directions and movements, revealing certain similarities in the views of representatives of Chinese painting with the orientations in the activities of specific institutions of professional artistic education. In accordance with the targeted setting, an analysis of the artistic features of contemporary Chinese easel painting has been conducted; the specifics of the development of artistic education have been studied in relation to it, the relationships of creative orientations of students and masters who underwent academic training at major art universities have been examined; a circle of artists formed among academic masters and representing new creative trends in their work has been identified. The main conclusion is the assertion that Chinese educational institutions transmit regional artistic traditions, define the nature of the country's contemporary art space, while demonstrating different artistic aspirations.