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17/09/2010 |
In March of 2010, Dr Tatiana Aleksandrovna Postrelova, a well-known Sinologist, scholar of arts, who worked at the Leningrad/St Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies (now the IOM RAS) for more than 16 years , from 1982 to 1998, has died.
She was born on September 19, 1931, in Leningrad but grew up in the family of her grandmother because her mother was oppressed and executed in 1937. In spite of her being a daughter of a “people’s enemy”, she managed to surpass all the hindrances and graduate from Leningrad State University, the Faculty of Oriental Studies, the Section of the History of China, in 1954, and then the Leningrad Academy of Fine Arts, the Faculty of Theory and History of Arts, the Department of the History of Foreign Arts, in 1965. In 1969, she defended her PhD Dissertation on Chinese classical paintings from the 10th through 13th centuries.
From 1969, Dr T. Postrelova delivered lectures on figurative arts of China and other Asian countries at the Leningrad State University, the V.I. Mukhina College of Arts and Design, from 1974, at the A.I. Herzen State Pedagogical Institute. During her work at the Leningrad/St Petersburg Branch of the Institute of Oriental Studies she gathered a big collection of archival documents and wrote several monographs on Chinese paintings.
She was an unique expert in Chinese classical paintings. Two of her monographs such as The Academy of Arts in China during the 10th to 13th Centuries [Академия живописи в Китае в X—XIII вв.] and The Works by Xu Beihong and Chinese Fine Arts during the 20th Century [Творчество Сюй Бэйхуна и китайская художественная культура ХХ в.] remain precious sources on the history of Chinese arts for any student of Chinese culture.
The scholar was always most interested in the problem of correspondence between tradition and novelty, continuity of Classical arts in Modern Chinese culture.
In addition to Oriental studies, Dr T. Postrelova published a number of papers on arts of besieged Leningrad. She also wrote a monograph on L.Azarova, a preeminent Gzhel potter. Regrettably, it was never published.
Dr T. Postrelova was a constant author of some leading Russian Orientalist journals such as Problemy Dalnego Vostoka [Issues of the Far East], Narody Azii I Afriki [Peoples of Asia and Africa], Obshchestvo i gosudarstvo v Kitae [Society and State in China].
After her retirement from the Institute, Dr T. Postrelova created the charity foundation aimed at helping senior people in need. Moreover, she initiated a number of conferences on the history of WW 2 held at St Petersburg State University. The proceedings of the conferences were also edited by her. For her social and research activities she was awarded many times.
The memory of Tatiana A. Postrelova, a talented scholar, fine person, vigorous organizer, teacher, will be always kept in our hearts.
Dr Lidia G. Skorodumova, Professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities, Moscow |
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Last Updated ( 15/10/2010 )
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