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.