Publisher's folio-sized softcover. Chinese sewn with gilt string and bound in golden silk-covered paper wraps. Paper labels in Chinese and English laid down on front and rear panel. Housed in a similar portfolio with bone clasps.
Unpaginated. English and Chinese texts, being critiques by leading contemporary artists, followed by 24 full-page reproductions of her paintings.
Soong Mei-ling (1898-2003) was a former First Lady of the Republic of China. She was the wife of President Chiang Kai-shek of the Republic of China. Her husband had a good relationship with the West but after being defeated in the Chinese Civil War by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1949, the couple settled on the island of Taiwan. There she remained until her husband's death in 1975. Madame Chiang Kai-shek, as she was popularly known, was credited for her campaign for women's rights in China, including her attempts to improve the education, culture, and social benefits of Chinese women.
This is the fourth volume in a series of four publications of her artworks, published on the island of Taiwan. All four publications contain a foreword by her husband.
The first volume, published in 1971 (or year 60), contained a selection of 24 paintings of orchids. The second volume, published the following year (or year 61), contained a selection of 24 bamboo paintings. In 1973 a third volume was published with 24 landscape paintings. This fourth volume contains a selection of 24 of her other floral and landscape paintings.
When referring to his wife's art, it is with no modest amount of pride that President Chiang Kai-shek states in his final foreword:
"Consider an unpolished lump of jade or gold, there shines within it a brilliance of inherent beauty which is far above the level of what mundane efforts could obtain. Similarly no one who is not a born genius in art could achieve these paintings however strenuously he or she might have tried."
A scarce publication and seldom found.
Fine condition.
- Binding Condition: Fine
- Overall Condition: Fine
- Size: Folio (43,5 x 26,5cms)
