Lijin Lecture on Asian Art
Seeing and Being Seen: Some Thoughts on Women and Chinese Art
The 2025 Lijin Collection Distinguished Lecture on Asian Art features Claire Roberts, Professor of Art History, School of Culture and Communication, The University of Melbourne. Originally established as the University of Oregon Museum of Art in 1933 following a gift by Gertrude Bass Warner (1863-1951) of a rich collection of historic Asian art, in memory of her late husband Murray Warner (1869-1920). The addition in 2018 of the Jack and Susy Wadsworth Collection of Contemporary Chinese Photography strengthened and diversified the university’s holdings creating opportunities to consider differences and continuities in collecting Chinese art over time. Gertrude Bass Warner was also a photographer and a collector of photography. Using art works from the JSMA’s collection as a starting point, this talk will consider ways of seeing in Chinese art and the important roles that women play as artists, co-practitioners and curators. Claire Roberts is an art historian and curator with an interest in modern and contemporary Chinese art, and cultural flows between Australia and Asia. She is Professor of Art History in the School of Culture and Communication at The University of Melbourne. Claire was awarded a PhD from The Australian National University and in 2015 was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities. Claire’s current research explores the international contexts of modern and contemporary Chinese art. Her publications include Fairweather and China (2021), Ian Fairweather: A Life in Letters, edited with John Thompson (2019), Photography and China (2013) and Friendship in Art: Fou Lei and Huang Binhong (2010). She was previously Senior Curator of Asian Arts and Design at the Powerhouse, Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences, Sydney (1988-2010) and Curator at the Museum of Chinese-Australian History, Melbourne (1986-1988). The Lijin Collection Distinguished Lecture Series present artists and scholars to share their views and knowledge of Asian art with the student, faculty, staff, and the entire JSMA community.