Orientalist painting was one of the many genres of the 19th Century art. Thomas Allom (1804-1872) was a well-known British illustrator in the 19th Century. In Allom’s publication — China Illustrated, there are 75 steel engravings of original sketches of Chinese social habits, scenery and architectures. Orientalism shaped how Allom depicted about things and what Allom understood about Chinese society. Jenny’s talk will refer to art historian Linda Nochlin’s groundbreaking essay The Imaginary Orient to discuss orientalism in Thomas Allom’s engravings.
When: 23 August 2018; 1-1.30pm
Where: Fisher Library, Level 2, Seminar Room
Speaker: Jenny Zhijun Yang
Rare Bites is a series of informal and entertaining 30 minute lunchtime talks held monthly during semester. “Orientalism in Thomas Allom’s Engravings” is the fourth talk in Rare Bites 2018 series.
If you want to learn about some of the treasures and lesser-known gems within Rare Books & Special Collections at the University Library, this is your opportunity. Audience attendance is free for all, please register here.
About the speaker:
Jenny Zhijun Yang is the curator of a pop up exhibition currently on display in the Fisher Library on Level 4: Perspectives of an outsider: Thomas Allom’s fascination with 19th century China. Jenny is a postgraduate student studying Master of Art Curating at the University of Sydney. She graduated from the University of Auckland with a Bachelor of Arts in history and Asian studies in 2017, and was awarded the Summer Research Scholarship of the University of Auckland. Jenny is currently a gallery host at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia and was previously a gallery assistant at the Auckland Art Gallery. She co-curated the Giuseppe Castiglione Print Exhibition（宫廷画师郎世宁）at the George Fraser Gallery in collaboration with the Auckland Art Gallery Foundation and the National Museum of Taiwan. Moreover, Jenny has volunteered for many cultural institutions such as the Auckland War Memorial Museum, the Confucius Institute in Auckland, the Powerhouse Museum, the Verge Gallery and the Sydney Biennale. Jenny has a Chinese heritage and her global perspective was refined through exchanging to the Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, attending a summer school at Sciences Po, Paris and doing an internship in Dublin, Ireland.