Archives: Activity

 

“Zao Wou-Ki: Friendship & Reconciliation” with Arthur de Villepin at Villepin

Villepin opens its doors with an exhibition of work by the late artist Zao Wou-Ki, the Chinese painter most celebrated for his embrace of Eastern and Western artistic traditions. Titled ‘Friendship and Reconciliation’, the exhibition aims to address not only Zao Wou-Ki’s creative resolution of disparate cultures and painterly styles but also the friendships he formed with fellow artists and collectors throughout the course of his career – friendship being a core value that stands at the heart of Arthur and Dominique de Villepin’s new gallery. The exhibition also marks the centennial anniversary of the artist’s birth.

Through rare works from the 1940s to the early 2000s, including a selection of large-scale oil paintings, watercolours Chinese inks and lithographs, the exhibition will tell the story of Zao Wou-Ki’s life and the evolution of his practice, from his background as a drawing instructor in Mainland China and early figurative tendencies to an iconic mid-century painter known for his abstract and gestural works. 

Through his use of bold lines and swirls of highly saturated colors, combined with elements of Chinese calligraphy, Zao Wou-Ki’s paintings mark an exemplary reconciliation between Chinese and Western aesthetics, in which the language of modern abstraction is enriched by Asian traditions deeply rooted in the past.

 

Resource Person

Arthur de Villepin is the chairman and co-founder of Villepin, as well as an entrepreneur and avid collector of art. The son of former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, Arthur grew up surrounded by artists. His mother is the celebrated sculptor Marie-Laure Viebel de Villepin and his sister, Marie de Villepin, has established a successful career as a painter. Throughout his childhood and extensive travels, Arthur was introduced to many leading artists, including Zao Wou-Ki, Anselm Kiefer, Myonghi Kang, Pierre Soulages and Miquel Barceló, all of whom trained him to see art through the eyes of artists rather than the market. This experience had a profound and lasting effect on Arthur, nurturing a passion for collecting based on close friendships with artists. The launch of Villepin is a natural evolution for Arthur, who has pursued art activities through parallel initiatives under the Art de Vivre Group. The new gallery will launch in Hong Kong, where Arthur has been based for the past ten years. Together with his father, he has nurtured strong friendships with artists from the region, developing unparalleled expertise in the Asian art market. 

 

“Uniquely Hong Kong — A Celebration of Hong Kong Art” with Daphne King at Alisan Fine Arts

This lively exhibition will highlight the diversity and talent of these local individuals, bringing attention and thought to what defines a Hong Kong artist. With a rich history as a backdrop, the question of whether there is a common thread that links this group of artists may be seen in the correlation between context and independent artistic growth. Spanning close to three quarters of a century between the exhibitors, this exhibition hopes to explore and illuminate this question. Working with various forms of media ranging from ink on paper, seen in the works by masters Lui Shou-Kwan, Irene Chou, Fang Zhaoling, Wucius Wong, Kan Tai-Keung, Fung Ming-Chip, to multimedia such as steel, ceramic, bamboo and digital media by sculptors Kum Chi-Keung, Man Fung-Yi, Rosanna Li, Danny Lee, Mok Yat-San and Fiona Wong. In addition, the exhibition will also have artwork displayed by emerging artists Cherie Cheuk, Zhang Xiaoli and Ling Pui-Sze, Hui Hoi-Kiu.

 

Resource Person

The second tour will be led by Daphne King, director of Alisan Fine Arts and curator of this show. Daphne graduated from Philips Academy, Andover and the University of Pennsylvania with a BA in History. After graduation she worked in the advertising industry in New York and Hong Kong. In 1996, she joined Alisan Fine Arts and was promoted to Director in 2005; in 2011 she formally took over operations at the gallery.

Daphne was a Friend of the Hong Kong Museum of Art from 1997-2000 and is currently a Trustee of the Friends. In 2011 she was appointed Director of The Ink Society and now serves as Vice-Chairman. She has been a keen supporter of the Hong Kong Ballet since 2002, serving as co-chair of the Ballet Guild from 2011-2015, and was a board member from 2012-2017. Since 2015 she has been a patron of Asian Cultural Council Friend’s Circle and is a co-chair of their fundraising gala. In 2016 she was appointed Director of the Association Culturelle France Hong Kong Ltd. Daphne founded the University of Pennsylvania Scholarship Fund in Hong Kong, serving as President from 2002-2014. In recognition of her success as an art visionary, she received the 2018 Women of Hope award in the category of Art and Culture, and in the same year was invited by Net-a-Porter as a guest speaker for their “Incredible Women Talks.” In 2019 Daphne was selected by the World Women Leadership Congress for the Hong Kong Women Leadership Award.

 

 

In response to the recent cancellations of March art week, Art Basel Hong Kong, and Art Central, the Hong Kong Art Gallery Association (HKAGA) re-energises the city’s art scene by presenting UNSCHEDULED.  Neither an art fair nor a museum exhibition, it is a platform for selling and networking by presenting solo exhibitions from HKAGA gallery members.  The exhibiting galleries were selected by an independent selection team led by curator Ying Kwok and artist Sara Wong with a mission to engage not only people who buy art but also gallery visitors who might not buy art.  Artists featured range from rising stars in their 20s to influential artists in Hong Kong, representing diversity across generations and backgrounds, but with a focus on modern and contemporary art with a connection to Asia. 

Our tour will be led by Curator Ying Kwok.  She is an independent curator noted for her inventive curatorial approach, centered on “boundaries of collaboration” between curators, artists, and the wider community.  She has curated numerous exhibitions internationally, including the Hong Kong Pavilion at the Venice Biennale 2017.  Together with local art professional, she founded the Art Appraisal Club to encourage critical thinking and effective discussions.  Through exhibition reviews and themed journals, the group provides an insider’s perspective to interested parties, emphasizing the importance of discussion and dialogue among local art critics.

Led by the Director of Sovereign Art Foundation, our visit to the 2020 Sovereign Asian Art Prize Finalists Exhibition will view works by 31 shortlisted artists, hailing from 18 countries and territories across Asia-Pacific. The Sovereign Asian Art Prize was launched in 2003 to increase international exposure of artists in the region, whilst raising funds for programmes that support disadvantage children using expressive arts. Held annually, the Prize is now recognized as the most established and prestigious annual art award in Asia-Pacific.

Following our visit to the exhibition, we will have a tour to K11 HACC and the rooftop at the K11 ATELIER King’s Road in Quarry Bay. Branded to introduce the Vertical Creative City concept, transforming the design, purpose and culture of workplaces, this latest addition to K11 ATELIER King’s Road is the first office tower in the world that achieves the highest green and healthy building standards and brings sustainability in the workplace to life.

Christie’s is delighted to invite the members of the University of Hong Kong Museum Society to a private guided tour of Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art from their forthcoming Hong Kong Spring Auctions. The guided tour will be given by Pola Antebi, Deputy Chairman, Asia Pacific, International Director & Head of Private Sales, Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art Department, Christie’s.

 

Highlights

This season Christie’s continues the tradition of offering scholar’s objects which reflect the sophisticated taste of the Chinese literati. One of the highlights is an exquisite celadon vase made at the Longquan kilns in the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), covered with a thick celadon glaze of jade-like quality. Fresh to the market, the vase was acquired c.1860-1880 from a Japanese temple by a landowning family, and has been with the family since. Another treasure is an Imperial soapstone seal belonging to the Qianlong Emperor (r. 1736-1795), commissioned during the early part of his reign, carved with the phrase “hanwei jingji” as a reminder to the Emperor to admonish himself from any sluggishness.

 

Resource Person

Drawing from over 30 years of professional experience, Pola Antebi is a global ambassador representing Christie’s in its operations around the world from her base in Hong Kong. As one of the most senior Chinese ceramics and works of art specialists in the firm, Pola regularly meets with prominent collectors, dealers and museum representatives in Asia, Europe and the United States to advise about her market, assist with curation of collections and to secure art works for sale both for auction and private sales.

Pola began her career in the field in New York in the mid-1980’s. Her dedication to further the prominence of Chinese works of art brought her to Asia and she joined Christie’s Hong Kong in 1990. As part of a pioneering team, Pola quickly grew the department, and supported the expansion of Christie’s presence throughout Asia. By 1998 Pola was promoted to Head of department, a role she held for 14 years. During this period of unprecedented growth, she was instrumental in elevating the category globally; her department regularly shattered auction sale records.

Through her passion, commitment and engagement with notable academics, Pola has made substantial contribution both to Christie’s and to the study of imperial ceramics and works of art, with a personal emphasis on Chinese imperial ceramics, lacquer and jade carvings from the Song to Qing dynasties.

Pola is also passionate in sharing her knowledge and experience with the younger crop of Christie’s specialist; she actively supports the mentorship program and has initiated a learning and development specialists’ forum which she chairs.

FINE AND VERY RARE LONGQUAN CELADON CYLINDRICAL VASE
SOUTHERN SONG DYNASTY (1127-1279)
7 in. (17.8 cm.) high

 

The HKU Museum Society and the University Museum and Art Gallery are pleased to present guided viewing of three current exhibitions, “Metamorphosis or Confrontation”, “Clouds of Ink, Pools of Colour: Paintings by Hou Beiren” and “Mountain Taoist”.  We will be guided by the artist Dr. Tobias Klein and Museum Director Dr. Florian Knothe.

 

Metamorphosis or Confrontation
This exhibition traces Tobias Klein’s work over the past decade and is structured in four distinct areas: “Bones”, “Masks”, “Mutations” and “Forces”. Each theme unravels the relationships and evolution of the artist’s body of work, while at the same time demanding that visitors take a position of negotiation, evolution or confrontation.
The first room, “Bones”, serves as a general introduction. Full of references and models that were both inspiration and source material for the artist, the space has been transformed into a cabinet of curiosities (Wunderkammer). The second room, “Masks”, is dedicated to a single work. Inspired by the intricate detail and cultural allusions of Cantonese Opera masks, this interactive installation transforms the visitor into a participatory player within a landscape of discoveries and unexpected moments. “Mutations”, the third exhibition space, places three different works in a stimulating constellation—”The Invisible Human, Melted Proportions and Witnesses”—while thematising a shift in time and space. In the final room, “Forces”, Klein establishes a dialogue between traditional forms of Chinese wood carving, experimental glass blowing and the ornamentation of digital transformations. 
Seen as a whole, the individual rooms establish myriad readings. On the one hand, they allow for an understanding of the mastery of both digital and analogue materials while expressing the ability to apply interpretative and communicative techniques between old and new. This entire exhibition may be regarded as an extended Wunderkammer—a total work of art—which impressively presents the rich tapestry of Digital Craftsmanship.

Clouds of Ink, Pools of Colour: Paintings by Hou Beiren
“Clouds of Ink, Pools of Colour” presents recent work by the master painter Hou Beiren. His panoramas are filled with playful but elegiac meditations on the theme of the Chinese landscape expressed in luminescent swirls of colour and cascading ink, a theme to which he has returned numerous times over recent decades.
The origins behind Hou Beiren’s paintings lie in the ink landscape tradition of the Tang (618-907) and Southern Song (1127-1279) dynasties. Subsequently eclipsed by literati painting in China after the fourteenth century, splashed ink continued in the Zen influenced Japanese ink wash painting of the Muromachi Period (1333-1578). This tradition was revived and renewed in the 1950s by the great twentieth-century master of Chinese painting Zhang Daqian (1899-1983), who saw parallels with the Abstract Expressionist and action painting then dominant in the Western avant-garde. Zhang and Hou were close friends, and in recent decades Hou has tirelessly developed his form of splashed ink landscapes into a uniquely personal practise.

Mountain Taoist
“Mountain Taoist” presents six newly donated works by Wesley Tongson (1957–2012) created between 1993 and 2012. Known for his traditional ink work and uniquely developed style of finger painting, the exhibition “Mountain Taoist” combines both genres, his mountain landscapes and two bamboo paintings that document Tongson’s imaginative move from brush to finger.
After Tongson was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 15, he found consolation in the act of painting, and in 1977, began studying Chinese painting with the artist Gu Qingyao in Canada. It was at this time that Tongson started to explore the world of splashed ink painting, a technique with its origins in eighth-century China.
In 2001, Tongson began experimenting with finger painting, and by 2009, he had virtually ceased using brushes altogether. During this time he worked primarily with his fingers, fingernails and hands to create pieces that were as sophisticated as any brush work.
Tongson considered landscape painting the most difficult form of Chinese art to master, and he continued to study and mentor others in the landscape tradition throughout his career. Referring to himself as a ‘mountain Taoist’ or ‘mountain teacher’, Tongson’s paintings display a deep understanding of the natural and spiritual meaning of the Chinese landscape, and a continuous appreciation for the past masters.

 

Resource Persons
Dr. Tobias Klein was born in Bonn, Germany. He is a German Artist/Architect. He is currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Creative Media at City University of Hong Kong.
Klein’s combined artistic and architectural works construct the emerging practice of Digital Craftsmanship, through which he has established an operational synthesis of digital and physical materials and tools as poetic (Poïesis) and technical (Technê) expressions. Klein’s works are based on the use of contemporary CAD/CAM technologies with site and culturally specific narratives, intuitive non-linear design processes, and historical cultural references.
His work has been exhibited internationally at the London Science Museum, the V&A, the Venice Architectural Biennale, the Science Gallery (Melbourne), the container (Tokyo), the Bellevue Arts Museum, the MoCA Taipei, and the Museum of Moscow and Museum of Vancouver. His works are also found in the permanent collection of China’s first 3D Print Museum in Shanghai, the Museum of Glass in Tacoma (USA), and the Antwerp Fashion Museum (MoMu).

Dr. Florian Knothe teaches the history of decorative arts in the 17th and 18th century with particular focus on the social and historic importance of royal French manufacture. He has long been interested in the early modern fascination with Chinoiserie and the way royal workshops and smaller private enterprises helped to create and cater to this long-lasting fashion. Dr. Knothe worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art focusing on European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, and on European and East Asian glass at The Corning Museum of Glass, before his current position as Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery at HKU.

 

Tobias Klein 
“Melted Proportions III”
Resin (white), 3D print (Stereolithography Apparatus SLA)
2019
Edition of 3
50x40x40 cm
© Tobias Klein

Hou Beiren
“Rafts on the Spring River”
Ink and colour on paper
2018
Gift of Hou Beiren
HKU.P.2019.2456
© University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong

Wesley Tongson
“Bamboo 4”
Ink on paper
2012
Gift of Lilia and Kenneth Tongson
HKU.P.2019.2465
© University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong

Please visit https://www.umag.hku.hk/en/ for the precautionary health and security measures of UMAG.

The Tenth Annual General Meeting of The University of Hong Kong Museum Society Limited will be held at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, 9 July 2020 at the Drake Gallery, 1/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, University Museum & Art Gallery, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong.  Reception will start at 5:00 p.m.  Due to the unforeseen situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, we regret this year’s AGM will not be held concurrently with a lecture and dinner.

Please click the links below for the AGM documents.

AGM notice & Agenda

Proxy & Nomination Form

The HKU Museum Society is pleased to co-present a special lecture “Reading and Regarding: Book Illustrations in Late Ming Print Culture”. The lecture and dinner are jointly presented with The Ink Society with support from the University Museum and Art Gallery.

Lecture synopsis

Unprecedented numbers of books were published and in circulation in sixteenth and seventeenth century Ming China. This talk examines the remarkable and varied nature of late Ming book illustration and its impact on society and culture during this period, as well as its extraordinary legacy. It will also consider the development and proliferation of book illustration in light of technological changes, regionalisation, urbanisation, and literacy during the late Ming.

Speaker

Dr. Kevin McLoughlin is currently the Curator at the Hong Kong University Museum and Art Gallery. His previous professional roles have included serving as Interim Curator of Asian Art at the University of Chicago’s Smart Museum of Art; as Lecturer in the Arts of China postgraduate course at Christie’s Education London; as Senior Curator of the Chinese and Korean Collections and later Principal Curator for East & Central Asia at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh. Prior to this, he held positions as Deputy Curator of University Museums at the University of Durham; as Assistant Curator of the Barlow Collection of Ceramics, Bronzes and Jades at the University of Sussex; and East Asian Collections research assistant at the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin.

He holds a PhD in Art History from the University of Sussex; an MA in Chinese Art & Archaeology from the University of Durham; and a BA in Fine Art from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin. He also studied at the Beijing Language and Culture University.

Detail from the Qingming shanghe tu 清明上河圖 showing a book store 書坊
Qiu Ying (c. 1495-1552)
Handscroll, ink and colour on silk
Mid-16th century
Liaoning Provincial Museum

 

Jointly presented by

For members only, we are pleased to organize a visit to the newly reopened Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) with the new Museum Director, Dr. Maria Mok.

Established in 1962, The Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) is the first public art museum in the city, now custodian of an art collection of over 17,000 items, representing the unique cultural legacy of HK’s connection across the globe. The museum’s art collection revolves around four core pillars of Chinese Antiquities, Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, China Trade Art, as well as Modern and Hong Kong Art, curating a wide world of contrasts from old to new, Chinese to Western, local to international, with a Hong Kong viewpoint. The museum aspires to refreshing ways of looking at tradition and making art relevant to everyone, creating new experiences and understanding.

After renovation, the HKMoA presents 11 exhibitions to showcase its cultural legacy and Hong Kong art lineage through the major donations and core collections housed in the museum. This tour will go through the exhibitions featuring the new spaces of the HKMoA, including “Ordinary to Extraordinary: Stories of the Museum” that showcases star pieces of the four core collections of the Museum, “Classics Remix: The Hong Kong Viewpoint” which incorporates new elements into the four major collections, tracking the people and stories behind the collections, and “The Breath of Landscape”, an exhibition that offers a unique art experience by bringing the sky, the flowing water, mountains and the breeze from nature into The Wing of the museum and its surrounds.

Resource Person

Dr. Maria Mok joined the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 1996, and is currently its Museum Director. She has extensive museum experience, previously curator in charge of different departments, including China Trade Art, Chinese Antiquities, Modern and Hong Kong Art, Educational and Extension Services, and has curated and led a vast number of exhibitions and programmes. She is a specialist in China trade painting with a research focus on dating and authentication, and an extensive collection of published works with particular interest in the artistic interaction of global trade that includes “Images of the Canton Factories 1760-1822: Reading History in Art” (HKU Press: 2015) co-authored with Paul A. Van Dyke. Dr. Mok has a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Arts Studies, a Master’s degree in Chinese Historical Studies on Guangdong decorative arts of the Qing dynasty, a Doctoral degree on China trade painting, and a graduate diploma in Museum Studies.

Cheng Po Hung, UMAG honorary advisor and renowned Hong Kong historian will lead us on a walking tour of Central and Western District, retracing its early history and development. We will pass through Staunton Street Prison, Alice Memorial Hospital, Queen’s College, celebration venue of Ullambana Festival (Hungry Ghost Festival), Hong Kong News-Expo, Shing Wong Temple, YMCA, Blake Garden, Kwong Fuk Ancestral Hall (Pak Shing Temple) and Tung Wah Hospital, Possession Point, Government Civic Hospital and Ko Shing Theatre, King George V Memorial Park and Facade of the Old Mental Hospital, Centre Street Market, Jardine’s Bridge, Western Police Station (Police Station No. 7), Shek Tong Tsui Towngas Plant and red-light district, etc.

Route: Staunton Street > Hollywood Road > Aberdeen Street > Staunton Street > Bridges Street > Tai Ping Shan Street > Po Yan Street > Hollywood Road > Queen’s Road West > Hospital Road > Centre Street > Shek Tong Tsui

*Itinerary is subject to change with or without prior notice.

漫遊中西區多年來，香港大學美術博物館名譽顧問、著名香港歷史學家鄭寶鴻先生曾帶我們導覽港島東區、油尖旺區等。這次，鄭先生將會帶領我們探索中西區一帶，與大家一起回溯這個地區的起源及發展。

沿途的舊建築及遺跡︰ 第一代監獄 > 雅麗氏醫院 > 皇仁書院 > 士丹頓街(卅間)市集及盂蘭勝會舉行點 > 公理堂( 新聞博覽館) > 城隍廟 > 青年會 > 卜公花園疫區 > 百姓廟及東華醫院 > 佔領角 > 國家醫院 及高陞戲院 > 英皇佐治五世公園及精神病院 > 正街市集及早期華人居住區 > 正街貨倉群 及渣甸橋(碼頭) > 七號差館和石塘咀煤氣廠及塘西風月區等

路線： 士丹頓街 > 荷李活道 > 鴨巴甸街 > 士丹頓街 > 必列啫士街 > 太平山街 > 普仁街 > 荷李活 道 > 皇后大道西 > 醫院道 > 正街 > 渣甸橋 > 石塘咀

*行程改動可能不作預先通知

In view of the COVID-19 public health situation, this lecture is taking place online, free of charge, instead of at The Asia Society Hong Kong Center as originally planned.

Watch the replay here:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/live/?v=5822488268023674&ref=watch_permalink

* Alternative viewing option: Please send your email address (the one you sign up for ZOOM) to [email protected] to register for ZOOM Live.

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“Art and its Histories: Scholars in Lecture” is a series of public lectures organized by the Department of Fine Arts, HKU and presented in collaboration with Asia Society Hong Kong Center, Friends of Hong Kong Museum of Art, and The University of Hong Kong Museum Society. The programs aim to deliver current art-historical thinking in an accessible manner presented by specialists in the field. The series is part of the Department of Fine Art’s broader dedication to promoting the importance and relevance of art history in Hong Kong.

 

Lecture Synopsis
“Rome and her Legacy: Classical Art in the 21st Century”

According to legend, on this date, April 21st, 753 BCE, the semi-divine twin brothers, Romulus and Remus, founded the settlement that was to become the majestic city of Rome. This event spawned a mighty empire and nurtured a visual culture that left a lasting imprint on the subsequent civilizations and (art) histories of the western hemisphere. What better way to acknowledge such a birthday than to investigate and interrogate its continued legacy? Today, some 2,772 years later, remnants of Roman art and architecture are still being discovered meters below the modern cities of Europe, Africa and the Near East, as well as in the deserts and forests of over 40 countries whose modern borders now fall within the territory once controlled from Rome. With a particular focus on wall paintings, this talk details some of these recent discoveries so as to introduce revitalized assessments of “Classical” art for the new millennium.

 

Speaker

Dr. Susanna McFadden is Assistant Professor and M.A. coordinator in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Hong Kong. She holds a Ph.D. in Art History from the University of Pennsylvania and specializes in the art, architecture, and archaeology of the Roman and late antique Mediterranean, with a particular emphasis on the medium of wall painting. She has been a fellow in residence at the American Academy in Rome (2009-2010) and the Getty Research Institute (2016) and since 2005 has been a member of the New York University sponsored team excavating the late Roman site of Amheida in Egypt’s Dakhleh Oasis. Recent publications include essays on the wall paintings from Amheida and a multi-disciplinary exploration of the Tetrarchic era wall paintings in Egypt, “The Art of Empire: The Roman Frescoes and Imperial Cult Chamber in Luxor Temple” (Yale University Press, 2015), which won the 2017 Archaeological Institute of America’s James R. Weisman Book Award.

 

If you have questions for the Lecturer, please go to http://www.slido.com and enter code #85641

 

Co-presented by