Institut für Kunstgeschichte Ostasiens Pu Quan's International Artistic Network: The Ashmolean Collection of Modern Chinese Art

The lecture introduces the Ashmolean Museum’s rich holdings of modern Chinese painting, with a special focus on the work of Pu Quan (1912–1991). A cousin of Pu Yi (1906–1967), the last emperor of the Qing dynasty, Pu Quan was celebrated for his mastery of both ink painting and meticulous fine-line color. The talk will also consider the work of his student Katherine Talati (1922–2015), who lived and trained in Beijing during the 1940s. In addition, the museum is home to the renowned collection assembled by Michael Sullivan (1916–2013), whose acquisitions in wartime Chongqing offer a rare window into artistic creativity during the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Prof. Dr. Shelagh Vainker holds joint appointments with the Ashmolean Museum as Alice King Curator of Chinese Art and University of Oxford where she is Associate Professor of Chinese Art. Shelagh has published widely on Chinese art including books on ceramics and silk, articles on many aspects of the material culture of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127) and a series of collection and exhibition catalogues on modern Chinese painting.

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