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CATZ FELLOWSMichael and Khoan returned to London in1960, when he took up a post as Lecturer inAsian Art at SOAS. It was in this year too thata generous bequest from Geoffrey Hedley –whom they had known in China, when he hadbeen working there with the British Council –augmented their nascent art collectiongreatly. While in London, Michael becamefriends with a number of leading collectorsof Chinese art. He was also a member of theCouncil of the Oriental Ceramic Society andinvolved with an exhibition of ChinesePainting organised by the Arts Council.After Michael accepted a professorship inChinese Art at Stanford University in 1966,the Sullivans returned to America. Michaelinitially regretted the move, but the qualityof the students and the generous supportthat was given to them, and to Michael, bythe Christensen family (who later endowedhis post as the Christensen Chair) persuadedhim otherwise. Resuming their travels inthe East in 1968, Khoan and Michael spenttime in Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan and thePhilippines. They returned to China in 1973and again in 1975, but with their artistfriends either in prison or out in the countrybeing re-educated, their tours were confinedto ancient monuments and archaeologicalsites, and the visits were difficult.... what he saw there –particularly the paintingsand ceramics of the SongDynasty – made a deepand lasting impressionupon him.... Michael became friendswith a number of leadingcollectors of Chinese art.Michael’s long connection with Oxford beganin 1973 when he was appointed Slade VisitingProfessor of Fine Art, the first specialist inAsian art to hold the post. His ties with theUniversity were strengthened further in1979 when, while staying at the RockefellerFoundation’s Villa Serbelloni in Italy, hemet Alan Bullock. A few months after theirmeeting, Bullock invited him to be a Fellowat St Catherine’s College. For four yearsMichael held joint appointments at Oxford andStanford, before making Oxford a permanenthome in 1984. In 1996, he published Art andArtists of Twentieth-Century China whichfocuses on the rebirth of Chinese art thathas occurred against the backdrop of oftenconflicting influences of traditional andWestern values.Since returning to Oxford, Michael, who isnow in his nineties, has continued to write,lecture and attend conferences. He has cometo feel that the interaction of Eastern andWestern culture and art is perhaps themost important event in recent worldhistory. In 2008, two exhibitions of his uniquecollection of twentieth-century Chinese artwere displayed at Asia House, London, andSt Catherine’s is now exceptionally fortunateto have several of these paintings onlong-term-loan.ST CATHERINE’S COLLEGE 2008/57