Date：2026-03-18 - 2026-07-13
Location：The Shanghai Museum East, China Eastern Airlines Exhibition Gallery 2 (2F)
Organizers：The Shanghai Museum, The National Portrait Gallery, London
Special Support：China Eastern Airline, MONTBLANC
Foreword by the Director of the Shanghai Museum
This is a literary pilgrimage across five centuries: for the first time, Writers Revealed arrives at the Shanghai Museum – a landmark exhibition where portraits meet manuscripts in intimate dialogue. This marks the National Portrait Gallery, London's debut on the mainland of China, made possible through the generous support of British institutions and private collections. Together, they have assembled 135 treasured works celebrating 82 literary giants, creating a transcontinental feast for the eyes and a conversation across time.
Here, visitors will stand before the towering figures who defined eras in literary history: Shakespeare's profound understanding of human nature, Wordsworth's poetic communion with the natural world, Jane Austen's razor-sharp social insight, and Dickens's deep compassion for the human condition. Visitors will also discover the pulse of those who challenged narrative convention – Aphra Behn, boldly pioneering new ground; James Joyce, streaming consciousness itself; Kazuo Ishiguro, echoing in eloquent silence; and J.K. Rowling, conjuring magical realms that captivated millions. From classical elegance to modern diversity, from the intimate landscapes of the British Isles to resonances that crossed the oceans, each writer lives through "being seen", and each artifact breathes through "being read". Their lives and their words together trace the magnificent, ever-shifting constellations of English literature.
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to Britain's public cultural institutions and private collectors for their trust and generosity. May these treasures, belonging to all humanity, find new radiance in this meeting of East and West. May this five-hundred-year literary conversation continue to stir minds and warm hearts – let the light of literature cross mountains and seas, forever illuminating the spiritual world we share.
Chu Xiaobo
Director of the Shanghai Museum
Foreword by the Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London
This exhibition brings together great public and private collections to explore some of the most celebrated writers in the English language. In uniting author portraits with original literary manuscripts and rare first editions, we are presented with new opportunities to examine writers and their works from the last 500 years. Our desire to step closer into the lives of those whose words have impacted us is persistent, and it is our hope that the juxtaposition of these often-unique objects will allow audiences to do just this. While this exhibition celebrates literary achievement, it also asks us to consider the lives, complete with successes and challenges, of the writers represented. By uniting word and image, portrait and draft, writers are truly revealed, often in surprising ways.
My colleagues have worked closely to draw together objects that yield rich stories about the writers represented. Paintings, photographs and drawings, together with manuscripts, printed books and letters, have been curated thematically, allowing different narratives about each writer to emerge. It is important to acknowledge the vision of the people who have been involved in conceiving this project. Particular credit should be given to the original curators of the exhibition: Catharine MacLeod, Senior Curator of 17th-Century Collections at the National Portrait Gallery and Alexandra Ault, Lead Curator Modern Archives and Manuscripts, British Library. We also extend our thanks to the other curators who have contributed to this project which was organised by the National Portrait Gallery, London, and developed in collaboration with the British Library.
We would like to thank all the institutions and private collections who have lent generously to make this exhibition possible, including: Durham University; University of Leeds; University of Nottingham; Senate House Library, University of London; Blackie House Library and Museum, Edinburgh; The Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere; Wisbech and Fenland Museum, Cambridgeshire; Peter Harrington Rare Books, London and New York; and private collections from across the UK.
We are extremely grateful for the support of our touring venue partner, who has enabled us to showcase these collections internationally, and we extend our sincere thanks to the team at The Shanghai Museum for this valuable opportunity to collaborate.
Victoria Siddall
Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London
