Laurence Binyon : a pioneering and authoritative curator of Chinese painting in early twentieth-century Britain
Document Type
Journal article
Source Publication
Museum History Journal
Publication Date
2015
Volume
8
Issue
1
First Page
41
Last Page
58
Keywords
Laurence Binyon; British Museum; Chinese painting; curator
Abstract
A dedicated curator of Oriental Prints and Drawings at the British Museum, Laurence Binyon devoted much effort to the acquisition, exhibition and publication of the pictorial arts of Japan, China, India, and Persia from the 1900s to the 1930s. His pioneering scholarship of Chinese painting impressed the collectors, artists, and scholars of his time. Binyon’s study of Chinese painting in the former part of his career relied on Japanese and Western collections and publications. He had not gained first-hand experience in China or come into direct contact with Chinese scholars until the late 1920s, when his scholarship in Asian painting matured. However, the assistance of Arthur Waley and Chinese scholars in the English translation of Chinese texts, as well as Chiang Yee’s writings on Chinese painting and calligraphy amplified Binyon’s vision of Chinese connoisseurship in the late 1920s and 1930s.
Considering Binyon’s role as a pioneering curator in shaping the knowledge of Chinese painting in early twentieth-century Britain, this article illuminates the way he formulated and disseminated his ideas of Chinese painting to the general public. It also examines Binyon’s connections with Chinese artists in London and their cultural exchange in the 1930s that affirmed his achievement as the authority on Chinese painting through Chinese eyes.
DOI
10.1179/1936981614Z.00000000038
Print ISSN
19369816
E-ISSN
19369824
Publisher Statement
Copyright © W. S. Maney & Son Ltd 2015.
Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.
Full-text Version
Publisher’s Version
Language
English
Recommended Citation
Huang, M. Y.-L. (2015). Laurence Binyon : a pioneering and authoritative curator of Chinese painting in early twentieth-century Britain. Museum History Journal, 8(1), 41-58. doi: 10.1179/1936981614Z.00000000038