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China Europe Academy Invites You to an Online Programme:  Sigmund Freud and His Fascination with China
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China Europe Academy Invites You to an Online Programme: Sigmund Freud and His Fascination with China

Time: 23 April 2022, 14:00 GMT (UK)

Conversation with Professor Craig Clunas

  • Curator of Exhibition “Freud and China” at Freud Museum London
  • Professor Emeritus of History of Art at the University of Oxford and the first scholar of the art of China to hold the Chair in the History of Art
  • Fellow of the British Academy

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Collection of Jade objects from Sigmund Freud collection ©Freud Museum London. 

As the founder of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud rose to global fame and continues to attract attention today. Freud's theories and works were first introduced to China in 1913 and have had a considerable impact in China. His ideas and works are now part of cultural life in China.

The influence of Chinese language and culture on Freud was also important. Although he did not read widely about China, he still made ideas about Chinese language central to his understanding of the interpretation of dreams. 

Collecting antiquities was one of Freud’s major passions. Late in life he increasingly began to acquire Chinese pieces, adding to the ancient Egyptian, Greek and Roman objects which make up the bulk of his collection.  His engagement with China also took other forms.

Freud's study ©Freud Museum London.

Until now, there has been little research into Freud and China. Now, the Freud Museum in London launches a special exhibition 'Freud and China: Possession and Imagination', to explore and reveal Freud’s fascination with China for the first time.

Freud and his Chow dogs in Vienna 1933 ©Freud Museum London.

We are honoured to invite the curator of this exhibition Prof. Craig Clunas. He will tell us about the Chinese dimension in Freud's collection, explore the history of Freud's theories and ideas in China and their significance in modern China today, and bring us new insights into the endlessly fascinating figure of Freud.

In this programme, we will also take you to visit the Freud Museum, which was the final home of Freud and his daughter Anna Freud, who was the pioneering child psychoanalyst.

Chinese antiquities for Sigmund Freud's collection ©Freud Museum London. 

Craig Clunas is Professor Emeritus of the History of Art at the University of Oxford, where he was the first holder of the chair to specialise in the art of China from 2007 to 2018. Much of his work concentrates on the Ming Dynasty of China (1368-1644), with additional interests in the art of 20th century and contemporary China. Before working at the Oxford University, he worked as a curator at the Victoria and Albert Museum, and taught art history at the University of Sussex and the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. He is the author of Art in China in the Oxford History of Art Series, and his other books include Superfluous Things: Material Culture and Social Status in Early Modern China (1991); Fruitful Sites: Garden Culture in Ming Dynasty China (1996); Pictures and Visuality in Early Modern China (1997); Elegant Debts: The Social Art of Wen Zhengming, 1470-1559 (2004); Empire of Great Brightness: Visual and Material Cultures of Ming China, 1368-1644 (2007); Screen of Kings: Art and Royal Power in Ming China (2013). His most recent book is Chinese Painting and Its Audiences (2017).  Several of these books have been translated into Chinese, Japanese and Korean.

Curator of the "Freud and China" exhibition Prof. Craig Clunas

 

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