Tour of exhibition “Made in Hong Kong” at the HKMA

Contrary to the barren cultural environment that people associate with Hong Kong, “Made in Hong Kong” illustrates the diversity of artistic talent and creativity that bears the distinctive marks of the territory. The exhibition introduces 7 contemporary Hong Kong artists whose works in different media exemplify this new spirit. Together they engage the viewer to reflect on the unique cultural landscape that is Hong Kong. The artists include Chow Chunfai, Chu Hingwah, Frog King, Kevin Fung, Kum Chi-keung, Wan Qingli, and Vincent Yu. On this occasion, the Museum will be open after-hours exclusively for the Friends, and we will have the opportunity to be guided personally by the Curator of modern art, Eve Tam.

Wine and cheese will be served.    

There are a considerable number of new contemporary art museums in Tokyo and nearby Tochigi which exemplify a highly personal approach to collecting and exhibiting art. Often small in scale, holistic in concept and exquisite in setting, they offer a unique aesthetic experience to the discerning visitor.

Alex Hui, architectural historian and Director of the Hong Kong Arts Centre, will be leading the Friends through an aesthetic and culinary exploration of some of the most unique new museums and cultural experiences in these two cities.

In 1771, a young Yangzhou artist went to Beijing to seek work. He bought with him an unusual painting that would come to redefine his self-image as an artist. This young artist was Luo Ping (羅聘 1733-1799) and his painting was the Guiqu tu (鬼趣圖).Today, Luo is recognized as an important Yangzhou eccentric painter who pushed the barriers of Chinese painting conventions with his new mode of representations, and the Guiqu tu is seen as one of the important benchmarks of his career.

This lecture will examine how Luo’s handscroll painting of ghosts, which may have begun life possibly as a series of draft images, came to capture the attention of Beijing’s leading literati, and subsequently as one of Guangdong’s Four Great Treasures. Underpinning the investigation of the scroll’s social history is an examination of the reasons behind how pictorial depictions of supernatural world

Gallery tour: “The Studio and the Altar: Daoist Art in China” at the Chinese University Art Museum

About 100 Daoist objects and paintings dating from the Han to the Qing Dynasties have been selected from the collections of the Beijing Baiyunguan, Guangdong Provincial Museum, Foshan Municipal Museum, and the Chinese University of Hong Kong Art Museum, along with various private collections. The works range from portraits of immortals, bronzes, porcelain, wood-carvings, calligraphy, rubbings, Daoist scriptures and ritual manuscripts. Permeating every aspect of the Chinese way of living, Daoism not only forms the core of Chinese religious thought, but has been a major inspiration and source for Chinese culture and arts.

Dr. Maggie Wan is an Instructor in the the Dept. of Fine Arts, CUHK will lead us through the exhibition. Dr. Wan received her PhD from Oxford and is an expert on Daoist art and wrote her thesis on ritual implements in Ming porcelains.

First Sight Cocktail and Viewing of Exhibition: “A Taste for China: Paris 1750-1950” from the National Museum of Asian Art – Guimet

The taste for “Chinoiserie”, or Chinese decorative art, in 18c. Paris was partly owed to the move of the Versailles Court to the City of Paris, and the implications this had on artistic, intellectual and day-to-day life. Novel artistic and intellectual fashions flourished during this period, and a taste for Chinese decorative arts among the ruling classes developed concurrently. Exquisite examples of Chinoiserie art, including porcelain, a lacquered panel from the Chatelet City Hall, furniture, Chinese wallpaper, paintings with Chinese themes, maps and old photographs will be featured in this exhibition. Join us for an evening of champagne and hors d’oeuvres among these delightful decorative works and be serenaded with music from the period.

Lecture: “Aspects of Social Life in the Han Dynasty: Iconographic and Excavated Evidence” by Prof. Ming Chiu Lai

Much is now known about the social life of the common people in the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD) from relics unearthed by Chinese archaeologists in recent years. Using iconographic analysis and evidence from excavated bamboo and wooden documents, Prof. Lai, Associate Professor in the History Department at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, has been engaged in the study and exploration of Chinese social history of this period.

Refreshments will be served in the Friends’ room before the lecture