Artists around the world and across the ages have drawn on literature as inspiration, re-telling narratives through painting, calligraphy and objects. Chinese artistic tradition often integrates painting and calligraphy within the same surface, combining visual and verbal traditions of storytelling. Yet for those unfamiliar with China’s expansive literary traditions, the tales told in Chinese painting can be inaccessible.

Join art expert Dr Malcolm McNeill, as he unpicks this complex tapestry of words and images. In this talk, Malcolm will help you ‘read’ Chinese art, introduce the most popular tales told in Chinese painting, and explore how visual narratives continue to contribute to Chinese literature into the modern period.

Dr McNeill is Chinese Paintings Specialist at Christie’s. Malcolm was formerly an Assistant Curator in the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Asia Department, and a researcher on the British Museum exhibition ‘Ming: 50 Years that Changed China’. He holds a PhD from SOAS, University of London in the history of Chinese painting.

This is a free event. Please register to let us know you are coming.

In partnership with The Meridian Society.

China in Context is organised by China Exchange and Cypress Books.