Wang's reputation as a connoisseur of ancient Chinese painting has overshadowed his own artwork, creating a dearth of research on his artistic development. Using public and private sources, this dissertation applied stylistic analysis to track this development. The analysis reveals an artist's lifelong endeavor to establish a style that would lift the Chinese painting tradition into a modern era, an endeavor inspired by modern Western art ideas and a desire to play a role in the larger movement of elevating Chinese painting. The argument is made that these efforts establish Wang as an influential twentieth century Chinese ink painter.
To clarify Wang's role within the broader movement of Chinese diaspora painters, this dissertation employs a comparison study of Wang with such established twentieth century ink painting artists as Zhang Daqian, Liu Guosong, and Yu Chengyao. It is
asserted that the 1949 diaspora forced this cohort of artists to adjust their style and to transcend traditional Chinese painting by integrating newly-salient ideas from Western art, particularly the abstract movement. Meanwhile, the essential Chinese identity in their art collectively became more significant. The solidarity of purpose and identity is a distinctive part of the answer this group of twentieth century Chinese diaspora painters proposed to their generation's inherited challenge of enriching the tradition.
The impact traditional East Asian design has had on modern-day East Asian design has not been extensively researched. This paper examines the relationship traditional East Asian architectural design has with more modern styles of design in order to determine and compare the extent to which Western-style influences have had an impact in Eastern societies. This research specifically focuses on the country of South Korea and explores various case studies and articles dating from the Joseon dynasty (1392-1910) till present day. By comparing factors related to South Korean culture, the environment, religious philosophies, etc., to architectural trends within the country, we are able to explore the distinct and changing architectural values the society has prioritised over the centuries. This research aims to provide a clearer and more solidified timeline of Korean architectural history which in the past has lacked to address the question revolving around the impact tradition has had on ongoing design trends. I then compare South Korean culture and architecture to other case studies on both East Asian and Western societies in order to determine similarities between past and present architectural styles. The introduction of Western-style architecture in East Asian societies occurred at different critical periods of time and has pushed architectural modernisation to evolve at various speeds and in different directions. By comparing case studies on Japan, China and Korea/South Korea, we are able to explore the various interpretations and the extent to which Western-style design has had influence in this countries. While certain symbolic elements in traditional East Asian architecture have been lost during the modernisation phase of design, there continues to be a link between past and present styles through the emergence of new and improved modern features that have acted as replacements for previous ones. Currently trending in South Korean society is the want to revive and reincorporate traditional architectural features in the city landscape. Perhaps a new vision will emerge where past will become the new modern, and this will encourage an even greater extent of traditional influences on modern architecture in East Asia.