The Muban Educational Trust is a small, non-profit making body based in Putney, London. It is dedicated to the preservation, conservation and development of the extensive collection of Chinese woodcut prints assembled by Christer von der Burg and the late Verena Bolinder-Müller during the late 1990s.
Members of MET are actively involved in exhibitions, publications and conferences in the field of Chinese art and Chinese printmaking, here are some details.
Exhibitions
2003-2006 ‘Chinese Printmaking Today: Woodblock Printing in China 1980-2000’ organised by the British Library in association with the Muban Foundation (14 November 2003 – 7 March 2004). Curated by AF. Exhibition tour included the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (October 2005-January 2006), The Oriental Museum, Durham, (January-May 2006), The Chester Beatty Library, Dublin (May-September 2006).
2006 Chen Qi woodblock Prints 1989-2002. Exhibition held at the Bankside Gallery, London in July 2006.
Organised with the assistance of the Muban Foundation. Curated by DB.
May 2016, “Looking East: 20 Prints from Muban Educational Trust”, Christie’s, South Kensington.
November 2016, “Vision and Revision: The Art of Chinese Woodblock Prints from Muban Educational Trust”, Asia House, London,
part of Asian Art in London Week.
Jan 2017, “Prizewinning Prints: The Muban Educational Trust’s Woodblock Printmaking Awards: An Exhibition of Woodblock Prints by Young Chinese Artists”, the Sinolink Gallery, Oxford.
May 2017, “Cityscapes: the Changing Faces of China: a selection of woodblock prints from the Muban Educational Trust",
China Exchange, London Crafts Week.
September 2017, “Printing with Water: An Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Woodblock Prints, Printed with Water-soluble Colour”,
the Drawing School, Eton College.
August 2018, “Returning Woodblock Prints”, in collaboration with The Heilongjiang Museum of Art,
The Heilongjiang Print Acadamy, The Muban Educational Trust and The Society of Wood Engravers (UK).
January 2019, “Chinese Woodblock Prints: Context & Practice”, Milton Gallery, St Paul’s School.
April – September 2020, “Lu Xun’s Legacy: Printmaking in Modern China”, Main Library Gallery, University of Edinburgh.
Oct 2020 – May 2021, “Lu Xun’s Legacy: Printmaking in Modern China”, Oriental Musuem, University of Durham.
July – September 2021, “Lu Xun’s Legacy: Printmaking in Modern China”, Brunei Gallery, University of London.
Publications
2002 Ellen J. Laing, Art & Aesthetics in Chinese Popular Prints: selections from the Muban Foundation Collection
(Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2002).
Christer von der Burg, with contributions by An Bin, Julia Andrews, David Barker, Yin Hwang, Ellen Johnston Laing and Frances Wood,
The Art of Contemporary Chinese Woodcuts (Muban Foundation 2003);
Anne Farrer ed., with contributions by David Barker, Christer von der Burg, He Weimin, Yin Hwang, Beth McKillop, Iris , Frances Wood, Zheng Haiyao et al., Chinese Printmaking Today: woodblock printing in China 1980-2000 (British Library, 2003).
2006 David Barker, Chen Qi woodblock Prints 1989-2002. Exhibition catalogue to accompany exhibition at the Bankside Gallery,
London (Muban Foundation 2006).
2009 Christer von der Burg, James Cahill, Craig Clunas, Sören Edgren, Wang Chao et al., Ming Erotic Colour Prints from The Muban Foundation – The Shibui Collection, 40th anniversary edition, Orientations April 2009, vol. 40, no. 3 (Hong Kong 2009; publication).
2014 David Barker, “The Muban Educational Trust emerges from the Muban Foundation”, in Collection-Auction (Guangzhou, China), issue 9, pp. 58-63.
2017 David Barker, exhibition catalogue, “Prizewinning Prints: The Muban Educational Trust’s Woodblock Printmaking Awards: An Exhibition of Woodblock Prints by Young Chinese Artists”.
2017 David Barker, exhibition catalogue, “Printing with Water: An Exhibition of Contemporary Chinese Woodblock Prints, Printed with Water-soluble Colour”.
2019 David Barker, exhibition catalogue, “Chinese Woodblock Prints: Context & Practice”.
2019 David Barker, A Chinese-English Glossary of Terms Relating to the History and Practice of Printmaking in China.
《汉英对照使用版画词汇手册》
2020 David Barker & Mary Ginsberg, exhibition catalogue, “Lu Xun’s Legacy: Printmaking in Modern China”.