Zhang Daqian, Wu Hufan and the Story of Sleeping Gibbon
A Famous Forgery Case in Chinese Painting
CLARISSA VON SPEE
Zhang Daqian (1899-1983) and Wu Hufan (1894-1968) were among the most prominent personalities active in the Beijing and Shanghai art scene during the 1920s and ‘30s. Both shared a close personal friendship. Highly productive as a painter, Zhang’s oeuvre includes excellent imitations of ancient paintings.From Zhang’s lifetime to the present day, these imitations have caused confusion and controversy among collectors and connoisseurs. The lecture will explore the forgery case surrounding the painting, ‘Sleeping Gibbon’, discuss Wu Hufan’s role in the controversy and retrace how two versions of this work found their way into Western collections
Clarissa von Spee is curator of the Chinese paintings, prints and the Central Asian collections at the British
Museum. She received her Ph.D. from Heidelberg
University. She is the author of Wu Hufan: A Twentieth Century Connoisseur in Shanghai (Berlin 2008), The Perfect Brush – Chinese Paintings from 1300-1900 (Museum of East Asian Art Cologne 2010) and editor of the exhibition catalogue The Printed Image in China from the 8th to the 21st Centuries (British Museum Press 2010).
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