What are the top Art Universities and Design Schools in China? – an overview.
After seeing so many artists in China I must say that education in art and design is really amazing. There is a huge quality of students in all kinds of arts. Especially when it comes to technic you will find surprising perfection. You can find young students that paint like Picasso, Van Gogh or old masters like Rembrandt and so on. Most likely this is due to the fact that there are a lot of top art universities and design schools in china throughout the country. These schools provide hard training to get to perfection, however perfect craftsmanship is just the optimal base for creativity.
So when looking for talents we are frequently checking the background of the artist for their education. In doing so you can find amazing emerging artists when visiting the top art universities and design schools for their regular shows. But for most people, this is not easy because of the language barrier and the simple fact that these Art Universities and design schools are scattered across a huge country. This overview of the top art universities and design schools in china I have compiled after discussion with friends so that people who are interested can have a quick overview without researching too much. If you are interested in details please check the English section of the schools via the provided link or contact them on Facebook (I included a link at the end of each section if applicable!).
1. Central Academy of Fine Art Beijing
The Central Academy of Fine Arts or CAFA is an art academy managed by the Ministry of Education of China. According to the Manila Bulletin, the school is “China’s most prestigious and renowned art academy”. It is considered one of the most selective schools in the country and turns away more than 90% of its applicants each year.
The history of National Art School in Beiping (国立北平艺术专科学校) dates back to the founding of National School of Fine Arts in Beijing in 1918, advocated by the educator Cai Yuanpei. It was the first national school of fine arts in China, and also the beginning of Chinese modern education of fine arts. The academy was founded in April 1950, as a result of a merger between National Art School in Beiping and the department of fine arts at the third campus of North China University. Mao Zedong wrote the school name.
The academy comprises six specialty schools: School of Fine Art, School of Chinese Painting, School of Design, School of Architecture, School of Humanities, and School of Urban Design. A post-graduate education school and a high school of fine arts are also affiliated. There are 534 teachers and staffs for 3,800 undergraduate and graduate students, and over 100 international students at school.
The new CAFA Art Museum opened in October 2008, for the University’s 90th anniversary, designed by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki. It is located at the northeast corner of CAFA campus at No.8, Huajiadi Nan Street, Wangjing. The tickets are 10 RMB.
2. China Academy of Art Hangzhou
China Academy of Art (Chinese: 中國美術學院), also translated as China National Academy of Fine Arts, is a fine arts college under the direct charge of the Ministry of Culture of China. It was founded in Hangzhou in 1928 by the government of the Republic of China and the renowned educator Cai Yuanpei. It was the first art university and first graduate school in Chinese history. At the time, China Academy of Art’s goal was to promote fine arts education as a replacement for religion in the then war-torn China. Fine arts has been held as equal to a religion at the institution for almost eight decades.
China Academy of Art is the most influential academy of fine arts with the most complete range of degree offerings and programs of study in China. It houses a diverse pool of artistic talent, has a distinctive structure integrating theory and practice, focuses on human care and social needs, and combines modern technical and cultural disciplines with traditional artistic ones. The academy features the study of theories and offering Ph.D., Master’s and bachelor’s degrees of fine arts, design, architecture, film and new media.
If you are interested in more information about Chinese Art check our artbook page.
There are 7,000 undergraduate and graduate students in three campuses with a faculty and staff of 800. Undergraduate students typically spend one year in general education courses in the Department of Foundation and then three years in the core courses of their particular majors. Graduate courses are typically three years long and include experience in the studio and research with mentoring faculty.
3. Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts Chongqing
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute (SFAI) (Chinese: 四川美术学院) is a public fine arts university in Chongqing, China. The traditional campus was in the district of Jiulongpo, in Chongqing. The new campus was built in Huxi District, Chongqing in 2005.
Sichuan Fine Arts Institute, with a history of over 64 years, is one of the four most prominent art academies in China and the only one in the southwest China. In the 1950s and 1960s, the institute was symbolized by handcraft arts and in the 1970s, it was sculpture, especially the most famous group statues, the “Rent Collecting Courtyard”. In the 1980s it was oil painting, such as SFAI’s president Luo Zhongli’s masterpiece “My Father”.
The institute enjoys great prestige domestically and internationally. The excellent artwork has become milestones in contemporary Chinese art. Since the 1990s, many teachers and students have gained nationwide and international awards. They got opportunities to make their work exhibited to the world.
- Paper Landscape Collages by He Jian
- Surprise of becoming a photo artist – Interview with Li Zhang
- Tradition, Provocation, and Liminality in Contemporary Ink Wash Art – A Interview With Dou Jianyong 窦建勇
- Yu Linhan 于林汉: Abstraction in Medical Art
- Zhé Wang 王哲: From Chinese Script to UFOs
The university’s philosophy is “close to life, to serve the people; knowledge as equally important, new incentives; open-minded and keeping up with the times”. Overall development objective is to provide the highest level of art education in the western region of China.
Programs of study at SFAI include craft art, oil painting, sculpture, design, architecture, print making, art theory, and traditional Chinese painting.
4. Tianjin Acadademy of Fine Arts Tianjiin
The Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts (Chinese: 天津美术学院) is a university in Tianjin, China under the municipal government. Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts was founded in 1906 with the original name of Beiyang Female Normal School, which has a long history and it is also a comprehensive college providing a wide variety of subjects.
Beiyang Women’s Normal School was founded in 1906 by Lü Bicheng although Fine Art was not established at the school until 1926. In 1929 it became the Hebei Provincial Women’s Normal Academy. 1949 men were admitted to the facility and it was renamed the Henei Normal Arts Academy. In 1959 the part that dealt specifically with Fine Art became the Henei Academy of Fine Art.
The academy consists of the Arts Design School, Plastic Arts School and Contemporary Art School. Also, there are the Departments of Chinese Painting, Art History, Art Theory and the Adult Education School. The academy offers 17 sub-majors including Chinese Painting, Oil Painting, Graphic Art, Sculpture, Visual Arts Design, Decorating Design, Industrial Design, Environmental Design, Fashion Design, Dyeing & Weaving Design, Arts Education, History & Theory, Multimedia, Digital-media, Photograph Arts, Public Arts, Compositive Arts, etc.
The academy has 367 art teaching and administrative staff, among whom are nearly 200 full-time teachers including 95 professors and associate professors. TAFA has 3391 undergraduate students and 259 graduate students.
5. Academy of Arts and Design of Tsinghua University Beijing
The Central Academy of Arts & Design (CAAD) was established in 1956 to meet the country’s demand for art design professionals. As New China’s first academy of art design, CAAD had the country’s best fine art educators, outstanding researchers in the field of national and folk art, and artists and designers who had returned to China after receiving their education overseas. Nearly 40 years since then, CAAD remained the only independent academy of art and design in China. In November 1999 as China began restructuring its institutions of higher education, CAAD merged with Tsinghua University and changed its name to the Academy of Arts & Design, Tsinghua University.
Currently, there are 1,157 undergraduate students, 473 postgraduate students and 104 doctorate students studying at the Academy. In addition, there are 148 international students from 20 countries. Almost 3/4 of the Academy’s students are taking Art and Design Courses.
The Academy has 198 full-time teachers, of whom 60 are professors (32 are supervisors of students studying in a PhD program), 93 are associate professors, 43 are lecturers and two are teaching assistants.
6. Sichuan Conservatory of Music Chengdu
The Sichuan Conservatory of Music (SCCM, Chinese: 四川音乐学院), founded in 1939, is one of the leading music institutions in China and one of the largest conservatories in the world. It is an interdisciplinaryhigher education institution boasting comprehensive art subjects, excellent teaching staff, well-equipped teaching facilities, and distinguished teaching achievements. SCCM is one of the select conservatories authorized by the State Council to confer graduate degrees to its music and fine arts majors.
SCCM runs its own symphony orchestra, philharmonic orchestra, concert wind orchestra, Chinese traditional orchestra, college choirs, and pre-college ensembles. The conservatory holds hundreds of concerts throughout the year and regularly invites distinguished guest artists and teachers from around the world.
Every two years, the school hosts an intensive international piano festival, where students work with world-renowned artists such as Gary Graffman, John O’Conor, John Perry, and Boris Berman.
7. Nanjing Universtity of the Arts Nanjing
Nanjing University of the Arts (Chinese: 南京艺术学院), also known as the Nanjing Arts Institute, is a university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in fine arts, design, and related subjects. History begins in 1912, with the foundation of the Shanghai Chinese Art College. Later the name was changed to the Shanghai Academy of Fine Arts of in 1930. The amalgamation of several universities in 1952 produced East China Arts College, situated in Wuxi. In 1958, the East China Arts College relocated to Nanjing, and in 1959 it acquired its present name. The lyrics to the school song were written by Cai Yuanpei and the university’s partnerships include programs with the University of Dayton and Hokuriku University.
8. Luxun Academy of Arts Shenjang
Established in 1938, Luxun Academy of Fine Art (LAFA) is founded and primarily focusing on education of talents in painting, sculpture and photography, as well as fashion garment, industrial product design and environmental architect. With its campus located in Shenyang, a prime metropolitan city in north east of China, LAFA has its second campus established at a beach side area in the municipal of Dalian, a harbor city in the same province of LAFA’s main campus. With a history of 70 years, LAFA is well recognized as one of the top-three art academies in China, along with the Academy of Arts and Design at Tsinghua University and China Central Academy of Fine Arts.
There are 395 faculty members, among which there are 44 professors, 112 associate professors, along with a group of experts from foreign countries. As of 2011, there are 4718 students of different levels in the academy, among whom there are 3475 undergraduates of M.F.A. and 42 foreign students.
9. Guangzhou Academy of fine Arts
The Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts(GAFA; Chinese: 广州美术学院) is a Chinese national university based in Guangzhouwhich provides Fine Arts and Design Doctoral, Master and bachelor’s degrees . Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts established in 1953 as the Central South China Fine Arts School, which consisted of the South China Literature & Arts College, Central South China Literature & Arts Institute and the Fine Arts Department of Guangxi Art Institute. It was initially based in Wuchang, Hubei Province, and then relocated to Guangzhou and renamed the Guangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in 1958.
The undergraduate course was offered in 1958 and the postgraduate courses were subsequently offered in 1978. The postgraduate M.F.A. degree course was established in 1982. GAFA is one of the first authorised institutions to award M.F.A degrees in the whole of China. In 1986 it started to enroll students from foreign countries and overseas Chinese students and students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. 2005, it was one of the first academies in China to offer the Master of Fine Arts. The Academy consists of School of Traditional Chinese Painting, School of Fine Arts, School of Architecture and Allied Arts, School of Industrial Design, School of Visual Communication and Media Design, School of Art Education, School of Arts and Humanities, College of Continuing Education, and Section of Political Science.
10. Shandong College of Arts Jinan
Shandong University of Arts is located in Jinan, a famous historic and cultural city with many springs, and is the only comprehensive arts institution of higher education in Shandong Province. Established in 1958, formerly known as the shandong art college, it has developed into a comprehensive arts institution of higher education and changed its name into Shandong University of Arts approved by the state council in Dec 1978. The university consists of Jinan Wendong and Changqing campuses, with over 8000 full-time undergraduates and professional training students.
Shandong University of Arts has deep cultural level, complete majors, high educational level and outstanding educational conditions. The university consists of 13 schools/departments, including School of Music, School of Fine Arts, School of Theatre, The Normal School of Music, School of Design, School of Art & Culture, School of Dance, School of Traditional Opera, School of Adult Education, School of Vocational Education, School of International Art Exchange, School of International Originality and Design, Modern Technical Education Department. Foreign students are accepted since 1995, until now over 100 students have studied here. The university accept international students in all categories apart from Chinese training courses.
- Paper Landscape Collages by He Jian
- Surprise of becoming a photo artist – Interview with Li Zhang
- Tradition, Provocation, and Liminality in Contemporary Ink Wash Art – A Interview With Dou Jianyong 窦建勇
- Yu Linhan 于林汉: Abstraction in Medical Art
- Zhé Wang 王哲: From Chinese Script to UFOs
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