Title

British interest in Chinese painting, 1881-1910 : the Anderson and Wegener collections of Chinese painting in the British Museum

Document Type

Journal article

Source Publication

Journal of the History of Collections

Publication Date

6-23-2010

Volume

22

Issue

2

First Page

279

Last Page

287

Publisher

Oxford University Press

Abstract

In 1881, the British Museum made its first major acquisition of Japanese and Chinese paintings from Dr William Anderson. Among more than 3,000 pieces of Japanese art which Anderson brought from Tokyo to London, 114 pieces of Chinese painting came to form important examples for British understanding of Chinese pictorial art. When Laurence Binyon took charge of the acquisitions and exhibitions of Oriental painting at the Museum, a second significant purchase of 145 Chinese paintings from Frau Olga-Julia Wegener was made in 1910. It came to form a catalyst for boosting British understanding of Chinese painting. One collection having been imported from Japan and the other from China, a comparison of the Anderson and Wegener collections will be made in order to explore changes in British taste and the growth of knowledge of Chinese pictorial art between 1881 and 1910.

DOI

10.1093/jhc/fhq009

Print ISSN

09546650

E-ISSN

14778564

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2010 The Author

Access to external full text or publisher's version may require subscription.

Full-text Version

Publisher’s Version

Language

English

Recommended Citation

Huang, Y. L., Michelle. (2010). British interest in Chinese painting, 1881-1910: The Anderson and Wegener collections of Chinese painting in the British museum. Journal of the History of Collections, 22(2), 279-287. doi: 10.1093/jhc/fhq009

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