Artists Look at Art: Activating the Peter Townsend Collection of Chinese prints at the National Gallery of Australia

In 1985 the National Gallery of Australian acquired 278 woodblock prints collected by Peter Townsend during his period of residence in China between 1941 and 1951. The acquisition of this group of works, known as the Peter Townsend Collection, was made possible by the vision and generosity of the Australia-China Council, the forerunner of the National Foundation for Australia-China Relations.

The collection consists of woodcuts and wood-engravings created during a period of great political, social and economic upheaval. The prints represent the renaissance of a traditional Chinese art form. Artists drew inspiration from European and American expressionism and Soviet-style Socialist Realism as well as traditional Chinese folklore styles, resulting in striking innovations, as many formally trained artists revitalized familiar modes of visual expression for revolutionary ends.

The project Artists Look at Art was a two-day workshop which generated artists’ and academics’ responses to the collection, to create an information resource that will make the Peter Townsend Collection more accessible to members of the public and enrich the information about the collection currently available via the Gallery’s website.

The workshop brought together participants in Australia and China and was simultaneously hosted onsite and online. Artists and art historians were selected for their connections to the Townsend collection, through their practice, training or the insights they were likely to bring to the workshop viewing and discussions. Several of the artists are represented in the National Collection.

High resolution images of the Townsend collection were sent to all participants and each participant selected five works to discuss. The selected works were displayed at the workshop.

The two-day workshop was video-recorded in the Learning Studio at the National Gallery. The outcome of the workshop is this video recording of the participants’ responses to their selected works, in conversation, or as individual presentations.