"This compelling book documents the remarkable intellectual relationship between two men whose worlds might seem completely separate Fou Lei, a dedicated modernist writer and beloved translator of French literature; and Huang Binhong, a renowned tradition

"This is a work of great originality which opens readers' eyes to the importance of crossing conventional boundaries when discussing and interpreting major events and trends in recent Chinese art and literature. The erudite and subtle treatment of this co

"The contact between Fou Lei and Huang Binhong over decades of correspondence allows us unique insights into the history of modern Chinese culture. Through their exchanges, both in letter and in spirit, we gain entr�e into how a European-trained man of le

"Friendship in Art sets up a new paradigm in the study of Chinese art. The case is as good as it gets a cosmopolitan Chinese steeped in Western learning corresponding with a modern-minded painter practicing and re-animating the traditional Chinese brush-a

Claire Roberts is a curator and historian of Chinese art. She is a research fellow in the College of Asia and the Pacific at The Australian National University.