HONG KONG MUSEUM OF ART 10 Salisbury Road Tsimshatsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong tel: +(852) 2721-0116; fax: +852 2723-7666 e-mail: piu@usd.gov.hk internet: www.usd.gov.hk/hkma/
		•Burnished Beauty - The Art of Stone in Early Southeast Asia March 17 - May 7, 2000
			This exhibition features about 167 items of jade and hardstone carvings from Vietnam and neighboring regions in Southeast Asia, including Indonesia, Thailand, Laos, the Philippines and the aboriginal Peinan culture on Taiwan. The exhibits date from 4000 B.C. to A.D. 9th century. Objects include personal ornaments such as earrings and pendants, ritual weapons and tools. They represent the achievements of the jade workshops in the Southeast Asian area. The exhibits show a masterful understanding and use of local materials, superb craftsmanship, and sophisticated aesthetics. Artifacts are selected from both local and overseas public and private collections, and a large proportion are published for the first time. The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong will publish a fully illustrated catalogue containing survey articles by scholars and researchers on the cultures addressed in the exhibition. A free educational pamphlet will also be available.
		•Fruitful Imagination - Hong Kong Artists Series III: CHENG Kar-chun May 26 - July 23, 2000
			Hong Kong Artists Series III: CHENG Kar-chun The master featured in this exhibition is Mr. Cheng Kar-chun. The present exhibit features about 40 representative works of landscapes, flowers, birds and calligraphy from different decades that illustrate the artistic evolvement and personal styles of this master. Initiating his career by making comic strips in the 30s, Cheng became an editor of the Wah Kiu Daily News in 1945 and continued his comic strip productions after the war. At the same time he also dedicated himself to the art of Chinese painting and calligraphy. In the 1960s, he actively participated in the activities organized by the Gengzi Art Club and toured in China to explore and sketch. Influenced by various modern Chinese painters and calligraphy, Cheng successfully assimilated the stylistic essence of various masters with the inspirations acquired from his tours in China to create naturalistic landscape works. He also excels in painting flowers and animals as well as figures with a touch of realism.
		•Chinese Painting by Guangdong Artists June 9, 2000 - January 28, 2001
			Although early records of artistic activities in Guangdong can be traced back to the Tang dynasty, it is from the Ming dynasty that the development of Chinese painting began to flourish in this region. Geographically remote from the cultural center in central China, Guangdong, the southernmost province in China, developed a characteristic provinciality in its culture and art. This exhibition is a survey of the development of Chinese painting in the Guangdong region from the Ming to Qing dynasty. Exhibits will be drawn mainly from the Museum's own collection. Artists selected include Lin Liang, Zhang Mu and Gao Yan of the Ming dynasty and Li Jian, Xie Lansheng, Su Liupeng, Su Renshan and Ju Lian of the Qing dynasty. A catalogue of the Museum's collection of Guangdong paintings of the Ming and Qing dynasties will be published in association with the exhibition.
		•A Selection of Handscroll Chinese Paintings from the Xubaizhai Collection August 20, 1999 - continuing indefinitely
			In 1992, the Xubaizhai Gallery of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy opened to display the collection donated by Mr. Low Chuck-tiew (1911 - 1993). The collection dates from the 5th to the 20th century and covers the major masters of the Ming and Qing dynasties. A selection of handscroll paintings (shoujuan) is exhibited to introduce the unique mounting format and its tradition. Spatial arrangement of the pictorial surface on a handscroll format can be manipulated with great freedom and imagination. There is an element of time inherent in the unfolding of the visual narrative. Scenes appear and disappear one after another. This movement in time and space distinguishes the handscroll. The Museum has published a series of Xubaizhai Collection Catalogues, including Xubaizhai Collection: Paintings on Handscroll Format.
		• Chinese Painting & Calligraphy Continuing indefinitely
			Situated at the southeast coastal margin of China, the Guangdong region has envolved its own cultural identity regardless of the influence of the mainstream of inland China. Exhibits of the Guangdong painting and the Guangdong calligraphy sections are devoted to give the viewer a comprehensive image on the artistic expressions of this region. Artists of the 20th century had expanded the realm of Chinese painting beyond the confines of the East and the West under the influence of revolutionary thoughts. The Lingnan School section displays one of those innovative sources in the Guangdong region. With a wider scope, the modern Chinese painting section focuses on the diversified streams in this century and the new approaches of contemporary Chinese painting are also reflected by the works of the younger generation artist. A new thematic exhibition on Chen Shuren - one of the three masters of the Lingnan School - is now on display in the Lingnan School section. Although his revolutionary belief on the art of painting is similar to that of the other two masters, Gao Jianfu and Gao Qifeng, yet his own sentiments and education background constitute a rather different approach. Mainly based on recently acquired works, this thematic display reveals his unique approach to art.
		• Chinese Antiquities Gallery Continuing indefinitely
			The Chinese Antiquities Gallery features over 500 items of art and craft from the Museum collection dating from the Neolithic period to the early 20th century. It aims to give a comprehensive account of the history of Chinese art. Exhibits are presented in the following categories: Chinese Ceramics, Guangdong Ceramics, Chinese Export Ceramics, Southeast Asian Ceramics, and other Decorative Arts. The last section includes works as various as bronzes, lacquerware, enamel ware, glass, snuff bottles, furniture, and carving on stone, jade, ivory, rhinoceros horn, bamboo and wood. Each item is an object of art embodying a high degree of creativity and technological skill, as well as a valuable relic for the study of Chinese culture. A new section of Costume and Textiles recently opened to feature the Museum's collection of robes, accessories and works of embroidery and weaving on a rotational basis. This season features ladies' costumes of the Qing dynasty. Highlights include a Manchu lady's robe (precursor to the qi pao) and a Han lady's jacket and pleated skirt. The vest is also a common item of clothing for both Han and Manchu women. Accessories complementing the dress include delicately embroidered collars, bound-foot shoes, tianzi headdresses inlaid with kingfisher feathers, hairpins, purses and fragrance pouches. They serve to illustrate the fashion of the Qing period.
		• Historical Pictures Continuing indefinitely
			Pictorial records of the events and lifestyles of the people in Hong Kong, Macau and China in the 18th and 19th centuries were made by artists of both Chinese and Western origins. These art works have now been esteemed as historical as well as aesthetic treasures. A display of over 60 paintings, drawings, watercolors and prints selected from the Historical Pictures Collection of the Museum are arranged in the categories of (1) Hong Kong Through the Ages; (2) Macau in a Series of Views; and (3) Picturesque Voyage to Guangzhou. A selection of the 19th-century Chinese women paintings, "Leisure Pursuits - Paintings of Qing Dynasty Women," were exhibited in our thematic corner in mid-July. Audience may have a glance of the domestic life at the time and admire a variety of women image rendered in different artistic styles by Western and Chinese artists. Export goods such as porcelain, silverware and turtle shell, carving are also displayed in the gallery reflecting the artistic taste of the Western market.
		• Hong Kong Art: New Display Continuing indefinitely
			This exhibition features selected works by representative Hong Kong artists from the collection of the Museum of Art. The works give a chronological survey of the development of Hong Kong art from Hong Kong art's early period (the 1950s and before), transformations and evolvement of Hong Kong art (1960s - 1970s) and the diversification and exploration of art and art forms (1980s - 1990s). They comprise about 100 works in various media including painting (Chinese and Western media), print, watercolor, drawing, ceramics and sculpture by representative Hong Kong artists. The exhibition aims at giving a comprehensive retrospective survey of the development of Hong Kong art. There is also a special feature of works by Prof. ZHAO Shao'ang (d. 1998), a renowned master of the Lingnan school. An introductory video on contemporary Hong Kong art and artists will be shown in the gallery.
	Return to article selection page