Chilly Beauty Original Watercolour by Hu Boxiang

Hu Boxiang (1896-1989), Chilly Beauty c. 1926, Original work, for British American Tobacco Company, Watercolour, Signed lower right, This is the original work which the posters and calendars were based on. This work was made into a poster for Hatamen Cigarettes., 106 x 38 cm. Provenance: ex Collection of Mr. Pennell, Ray and Vicki Tregaskis Oriental Ceramics & Works of Art, PUBLISHED, Ellen Johnston Laing, Selling Happiness: Calendar Posters and Visual Culture in Early-Twentieth Century Shanghai, Plate 26, Chilly Beauty, AD Legends of Shanghai, Part Five, Documentary, CCTV 10, 2013, *Mr Pennell was an Englishman who lived in Shanghai, China in the 1920's and 1930's. He was Head of the Advertising Department of British American Tobacco and was in charge of a large number of student artists in that department. He taught and critiqued many paintings by the students. He also ran his own art school in Shanghai in the late 1920's. He served with the A.I.F. forces in World War I. He met Mary Seaborn in Shanghai and they eloped to Sydney Australia and were married in St Phillips Church Hill Sydney on 13 December 1930. They returned to Shanghai to live and their two children were born here. They then settled in Newport Sydney in 1936., Mr. Pennell was an accomplished artist himself and brought his collection of paintings from China to Australia where they have been safely stored in a camphorwood chest until 2013 when they were bequeathed to Mr. Pennell's niece