Reinventing the Shanghai poster-girl of the 1930s, Tang’s latest paintings mark a radical departure from her earlier, more decorative work, replacing sumptuous brilliantly contrast hues, and a new psychological intensity in the portraiture.

Generically, these canvasses could be described as “female beauties’, a traditional category of Chinese painting celebrating feminine beauty and sexual allure. But there is also a certain wistfulness to these portraits, a reflective quality, even a hint of melancholy, which adds depth and nuance to these studies of Chinese womanhood.