FCC club lunch with Basil PAO

Speaker: Basil PAO
Photographer / Author
Topic: Great landscapes of the World

Shan Shui – Mountain and Water – is the term for the school of Chinese landscape paintings in a spontaneous ink-wash style. Basil PAO has used the three principles of Shan Shui painting – paths, threshold and heart – to inspire his collection of landscapes gathered during more than 20 years of world travels, many with Michael PALIN on his BBC travel programmes. Michael PALIN has written the foreword to the book.

The talk centres on a slide show of landscape photos, touching on the history of the Shan Shui art movement, which first gained prominence towards the end of the Tang dynasty.

A Cheung Chau native, Basil’s long career has included being art director for recording companies Atlantic and Polygram in New York and Warner Brothers Records in Los Angeles and includes the book for the Monty Python film Life of Brian. Michael and Basil he have collaborated on 10 books based on the BBC travel series Pole to Pole, Full Circle, Hemingway Adventure, Sahara, Himalaya and New Europe. Basil is also the author of Hands, China Revealed and most recently, Yi’Jing – Book of Changes.