Lecture, Barnard's Inn Hall, Monday, 8 Jun 2026 - 18:00

The Subversive Nude in Modern China

Painting of nude Chinese woman

The bare, naked, nude, and tradition-defying body constituted one of the most radical sites of cultural transformations in China’s pivotal historical transition from the last imperial dynasty to a new Republic. This lecture reveals how the female nude – at the intersection of art, medicine, and science – became deeply entwined with the cultural politics of nationalism and modernisation, structured new racial, gender, and class relations, and simultaneously, shaped the genesis of modern art and visual culture in China.

Dr Di Wang

Dr Di Wang

Dr Di Wang is an art historian and curator. Her work focuses on art and culture of East Asia from the late-nineteenth century to the...

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