本文通过将“美术”看作一种能动的知识话语，放在晚清至“五四”的历史文化语境中同与它竞争或互动的概念范畴联系起来考察，着重讨论了“文学”之“美”的确立、从广义“美术”中出走的“文学”、“图画”如何“美术”，以及中国画“略逊”还是“进步”的价值危机等问题。认为现代意义的“美术”的语义生成及其学科化，内在于晚清至五四时期文学改良与革命的公共性社会文化思潮中，其在整体上体现为一种自觉与传统文化决裂的现代性价值诉求，以此深化我们对“美术革命”与五四新文化运动之关系的认识。

Considering "art" as a dynamic discourse, this paper contextualizes the concept in the period of the late Qing dynasty through the May Fourth period in connection with its competitive and interactive notions. The emphasis will be laid upon issues such as the establishment of literary beauty, literature independent of arts, the relationship between picture and art, and the value crisis of Chinese painting. Rooted in the social current swinging between reform and revolution during the late Qing dynasty and the May Fourth period, the formation and disciplinization of "art" in the modern sense embodied a modern appeal of anti-traditionalism, which signifies a deeper relationship between art revolution and the New Culture Movement.