Drawn by War: The Peter Townsend Collection of Modern Chinese Woodblock Prints in the National Gallery of Australia

The Peter Townsend Collection of modern Chinese woodblock prints in the National Gallery of Australia (NGA), Canberra was acquired in 1985. The collection of over 250 items dating from the late 1930s and 1940s and assembled by Peter Townsend (1919-2006) while living and working in wartime China, is one of the largest collections of modern Chinese woodblock prints outside China. Substantial research to identify and catalogue items in the collection was undertaken after its acquisition. In recent years there has been renewed interest in the formation and significance of the collection. Drawing on findings from an international workshop and archival research conducted in Australia, England and China, this essay argues that Townsend's keen interest in art, and the aid work he undertook in wartime China which gave him access to key figures associated with the modern Chinese woodcut movement, contributed in important ways to the nature, size and quality of the collection. Rare prints in the Townsend Collection reveal hitherto unknown artistic experimentation reminding us of the diverse backgrounds and approaches of artists involved in responding to the crisis of war through art in the period prior to the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.