All things old China - books, anecdotes, stories, podcasts, factoids & ramblings from the author Paul French
The new doc on M on the Bund is out and about in the world (and winning awards)…. Me, and a whole bunch of other folk, pop up opining….click here for the SCMP article on Luo Tong’s new documentary…
Karen Fang’s Background Artist: The Life and Work of Tyrus Wong (Rutgers University Press) is a fascinating look at the life and work of the artist that worked on so m,any films, perhaps most notably Bambi….
You might not know the name Tyrus Wong, but you probably know some of the images he created, including scenes from the beloved Disney classic Bambi. Yet when he came to this country as a child, Tyrus was an illegal immigrant locked up in an offshore detention center. How did he go on to a long and prosperous career drawing animation cels, storyboards, and greeting cards that shaped the American imagination?
Background Artist shares the inspiring story of Tyrus Wong’s remarkable 106-year life and showcases his wide array of creative work, from the paintings and fine art prints he made working for Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration to the unique handmade kites he designed and flew on the Santa Monica beach. It tells how he came to the United States as a ten-year-old boy in 1920, at a time when the Chinese Exclusion Act barred him from legal citizenship. Yet it also shows how Wong found American communities that welcomed him and nurtured his artistic talent. Covering everything from his work as a studio sketch artist for Warner Bros. to the best-selling Christmas cards he designed for Hallmark and other greeting card companies, this book celebrates a multitalented Asian American artist and pioneer.
I’ve posted memorabilia from the Hong Kong Volunteer Corps Scottish Company before….. here a regimental cigarette box, here a commemorative silver spoon, and here a thistle and Saltire cap badge. And now another version of the cap badge featuring two intertwined dragons and the crown….
Co-curated by CAM and Not Your China Doll author Katie Gee Salisbury Unmasking Anna May Wong honors Chinese American actress and legend, Anna May Wong. The exhibition pays tribute to the trailblazer and icon who challenged conventions against all odds and paved the way for greater diversity and representation. Look behind the curtain and explore her life beyond Hollywood. Unmasking Anna May Wong will run from May 24, 2024 – Jan 26, 2025.
It’s only October but Shepherd Books asked for 3 picks for 2024 so…click here
Just noticed RTHK3’s Hong Kong Heritage repeated the walk I talk through Hampstead with Annemarie Evans & Diana Yeh rediscovering the lives of playwright Hsiung Shih-I & his writer wife Dymia in 1930s London…click here
Bateman‘s in the village of Burwash, East Sussex is the grand old (originally Jacobean) home of Rudyard Kipling. the views of the Sussex countryside are delightful and it is well maintained courtesy of the National Trust. There is also a lot of Kipling-memorabilia all around, much of it Chinese or Chinoiserie. These items include a Chinese pen-case and Tibetan ghost-dagger and a set of Chinese porcelain glazed with the East India Company crest (once noted in a 1987 piece for the NY Times). Rather unremarkable but still interesting is this portrait of a Chinese lady that is on the wall beside Kipling’s former bed… perhaps interesting that he chose this to be in his bedroom where he would see it everyday…
Shanhaiguan, 1910, photographed by Private H Brown, 1st Battalion, Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers….
