CBPS AGM weekend 7 & 8 November 2026
All events of the CBPS AGM will be held by Zoom. All events are free to CBPS members.
Saturday 7 November 11am – 12.30pm: AGM and Open Forum discussion
Saturday 7 November 2pm – 3.30pm: talk by William Beswick, Christensen Fellow in Chinese Painting
the Ashmolean Museum – Painting Differences: National Identity and Chinese Painting
In the 19th and early 20th century, with the introduction of oil painting and other Western approaches to pictorial representation, ink brush painting began to be reimagined for the first time as a national painting tradition. Indeed, the very idea of a ‘nation’ was new to China at this time. Previously, China was an ethnically diverse empire representing the power of an emperor; as a nation, it had to be reimagined as a state which represented a single people (nation). Who were the people, and what was the relationship of ethnic diversity to national identity? This talk will consider how these questions were asked, answered, and asked again in Chinese painting throughout the 20th century. It will focus on works from the Ashmolean’s collection, but also draw on works from further afield, to show how the idea of a ‘nation’ was central to modern artistic innovation.
Sunday 2 November 2-3.30pm: painting demonstration
Watch or paint along as CBPS Member teacher KC Chan demonstrates plum blossom and birds.
Further details will be sent by email to members.
