Modern Sketch stands out among the nearly 20 illustrated humor and satire magazines that proliferated in mid-1930s Shanghai. One can point to the remarkable openness and eclecticism of its content, and its inclusion of work by young artists who went on to become leaders in China’s 20th-century cultural establishment. Most intriguing, however, is the kaleidoscopic window onto the past that Modern Sketch provides. Without doubt the illustrations populating its pages lend blunt visual force to the major crises and contradictions that define China’s 20th century as a quintessentially modern era.
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