A new exhibition at the Ashmolean in Oxford features representation of Women in Chinese Art over the last 100 years  There is a symposium on 16 June and a guided tour on 11 July.

No, not the Chinese script, but historical figures ancient and recent, in BBC’s radio series Chinese Characters.  – from the female Emperor Wu Zetian to Bruce Lee and many more!

Chinese Lady photo by John ThompsonChina and Siam – Through the Lens of John Thomson
13 April – 23 June 2018, Brunei Gallery SOAS, University of London

This is the first London exhibition devoted
to photographs of Asia by legendary Scottish
photographer and writer John Thomson
(1837-1921).  Between 1862 and 1872, he
made many journeys to Siam, Cambodia
and various provinces of China.

St Martin-in-the-Fields in London is organising an occasional series of art talks focusing on aspects of Chinese Art. The second lecture in this series will be on ‘Chinese Art for Western Interiors’ and will be given by Colin Sheaf on Thursday 7 June 2018.

Colin Sheaf has been Head of Asian Art at Bonhams since 2001, and Chairman of the Sir Percival David Foundation, the world’s finest private collection of Imperial Chinese porcelain.

The talk will be held in St Martin’s Hall, within the Crypt of St Martin’s, and will begin at 6.30pm for one hour. Tickets for the event are free by registering at the Eventbrite page for this talk: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/chinese-art-for-western-interiors-tickets-44645371508.

Professor Dai Honghai is visiting UK.  You can see more of his elegant work here.

He will hold a lecture on Chinese painting art from 12.00 pm to 13.00 pm on May 29th at Confucius Institute of Liverpool University.   Members of CBPS  are welcome to attend, and of course anyone else with an interest in CBP.

Professor Dai is available for lectures or workshops while he is in the UK, May 26th and June 8th: if you are interested, please contact Yezi Dai: Yezi.Dai@liverpool.ac.uk

Contemporary Chinese Works on Paper is the largest exhibition of contemporary Chinese works on paper outside of China. It explores the rich diversity of contemporary practice in Chinese drawing, printing and painting on paper in the 21st century at Ipswich Art Gallery. 28th April  – 17th June 2018.

Li Wang, will give the Curator’s Introduction on 2nd May will explore how contemporary Chinese artists are combining calligraphy, stamping and painting with new techniques and materials

Good to see Chinese art getting attention in the BBC series “Civilisations“.

The wonderful Mary Beard viewed the Terracotta Warriors in episode 2, and Simon Schama rhapsodised about landscapes, including the  the turbulent peaks of Wang Meng, in episode 3.  There were good close-ups of the ink work and also some lovely shots of the Yellow Mountains and the Qingbian Mountains.

David Olusoga highlighted the work of Japanese artist Maruyama Okyo  – wonderful screens of “Bamboo in wind and rain”, and the stunning masterpiece “Cracked Ice”!  Just a few brush stroke in varying tones to show the essence of imperfection and impermanence.

The final programme included a large new work by Cai Guo-Qiang, who used giant papercuts with his usual gunpowder to create ghostly flowers and misty impressions by fun and chance!

The Terracotta Warriors are in Liverpool until October!

An exhibition at the World Museum of the life-size soldiers who guarded the tomb of China’s First Emperor, Qin Shi Huang.  There are four short introductory videos an including elegantly inky one.

Have a look at these photos of how a dog can enjoy Chinese ink!  (ignore the adverts).

From 21 May, Turner Contemporary, Margate, presents exhibitions by Yin Xiuzhen and Duan Jianyu as part of NOW: A dialogue on female Chinese contemporary artists.

The NOW programme includes exhibitions at Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (Manchester), Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art (Middlesbrough), Nottingham  Contemporary (Nottingham) and Turner Contemporary (Margate), an artist film series at HOME (Manchester) and a symposium hosted by Tate Research Centre: Asia (London).

The art is not traditional CBP, but should give an insight into how modern Chinese women see the world.