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ISSN 1039-3498 | no. 54| December 2001


China and the Arts: Books from Bronwyn Thomas

Bronwyn Thomas (1923-2000)

Bronwyn Thomas (1923–2000)

The National Library has recently received an important donation of publications, which belonged to the prominent art teacher and gallery director Bronwyn Thomas (1923–2000). Bronwyn had strong interests in a variety of fields including art, music, languages, travel and cooking.

Trained as an artist, she taught art to children and at university level in Queensland during the 1950s and 1960s. She married Laurie Thomas, who was Director of the Queensland Art Gallery, and later principal arts writer for The Australian until his death in 1974. From 1971 to 1974 Bronwyn was Director of the Bonython Gallery in Sydney, and Director of the Australian Centre for Photography from 1974 to 1977.

She became particularly fascinated with China, its people, language and culture. She started learning Chinese in 1980, taught in Beijing and formed close links with Chinese artists.

Her library of books and periodicals reflects her wide artistic interests and extensive travel in Asia, Europe and the Americas. Titles range from Art of the Maya to A Journey in Ladakh. The core of the collection relates to China, including a number of works in Chinese. While art is the major focus there are also publications on China’s history, language and literature, reprints of early travels and translations of Chinese classical and modern authors.

The beautifully illustrated works on Chinese art include Yu Zhuoyun’s Palaces of the Forbidden City ; Li Zehou’s The Path of Beauty; A Study of Chinese Aesthetics; Masterworks of Ming and Qing Painting from the Forbidden City; Zhang Anzhi’s History of Chinese Painting; Joan Cohen’s The New Chinese Painting, 1949–1986; Thomas Lawton’s Chinese Figure Painting; Chongnian Yan’s Beijing: The Treasures of an Ancient Capital; James Cahill’s Hills Beyond a River: Chinese Painting of the Yuan Dynasty, 1279–1368 and his Parting at the Shore: Chinese Painting of the Early and Middle Ming Dynasty, 1368–1580.

The collection was formerly housed at Bronwyn’s courtyard residence, actually a converted peanut factory in inner Sydney. Now that they are at the National Library the Chinese language books are being integrated into the Chinese holdings of Asian Collections, and the English language items into the general collection.

The publications have been donated to the National Library by Andrew Yeates, Bronwyn’s younger son. He has also presented his mother’s papers that will be housed in Manuscripts, where Laurie Thomas’s papers are already held. Each publication contains a special bookplate, at the centre of which is a lotus surrounded by the names Bronwyn Thomas, Laurie Thomas and Bronwyn’s name in Chinese characters ‘Bai Ning’ meaning ‘White Peace’. The bookplates have been inserted by a group of National Library volunteers.
—Andrew Gosling

| Contents list for this issue of Gateways |

Please address any comments and enquiries to The Editor, Gateways: dthomas@nla.gov.au

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