Summer Flower 

Kun Wang’s painting ‘Summer Flower’ appears to be made with traditional oil on canvas, a medium with a long history in Western art. Yet, the work engages with a very different set of cultural references. The woman is depicted in what seems to be a lace cheongsam, also known as a qipao: a body-hugging, one-piece Chinese dress, which became popular in the early 20th century. The translucent lace of the dress suggests a complex globalised network of production. Lace production has a particularly gendered history. The labour-intensive qualities of the craft created dangerous conditions in the 19th and 20th century, and the rise of machine-made lace has contributed to the exploitation of factory workers in the global south today. By drawing attention to this tension between Chinese and Western cultural forms, the painting transcends conventional portraiture. It reminds us that our appreciation of fine art is always bound up with a broader history of materials, making, and cultural exchange.