THREE STUDIES OF FIGURES, CIRCA 1943

Chang Shuhong was known as 'The Guardian of Dunhuang'. He travelled to France in 1927, after which he returned to China, and moved with his family to Dunhuang in 1943, where he spent the next 40 years studying, documenting and conserving the remarkable works in the Mogao caves. These drawings serve as a vivid and important record of the inhabitants of the remote town in Dunhuang in the 1940s. They were presented to Mr. Townsend by Wu Zuoren during their trip together to Dunhuang in October 1943. After Chang Shuhong's death, his family presented his remaining artworks to the Zhejiang Province Museum, where the important Chang Shuhong Gallery was established.