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Article: Obituary: William Willetts
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- February 14, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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William Willetts leaves a legacy of scholarship which inspired
many in the now established field of South-East Asian art studies.
It was typical of this talented and temperamental character that he
should have made his most significant mark in a field of study that
turned out to be a lifelong detour from his chosen rendezvous with
Chinese art.
He was born in 1918, near Swindon, and educated at Rendcomb
College in Gloucestershire. Although he read biology at Bristol
University, as the first recipient of the Dulverton Open
Scholarship, he decided that the study of Chinese culture was to be
his vocation. At 16 he had seen the great International Exhibition
of Chinese Art, held at Burlington ...