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The HKU Museum Society is pleased to organise a guided tour of Fine Art Asia 2025 at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. Since its establishment in 2006, Fine Art Asia has rapidly gained a reputation as the region’s most distinguished annual fine art fair. It presents museum-quality artworks spanning more than 5,000 years of cultural history, featuring a carefully curated selection of exquisite antiques from East and West, fine craftsmanship, contemporary art, and designer jewellery.

In a bold step forward, the 2025 edition will unveil two major new exhibiting sections: “CRAFT Now” and “Back on Paper”, both reflecting the growing trend of cross-collecting and further expanding the fair’s dynamic scope.

“CRAFT Now”

“CRAFT Now” will make its debut as a celebration of contemporary crafts of exceptional artistic and collectable value. This curated showcase brings together esteemed galleries, with a particular focus on innovative artisans from across Asia. Many of these makers are formally recognised for their mastery of traditional techniques and honoured as preservers of intangible cultural heritage by national or cultural authorities.

The “CRAFT Now” pavilion is curated by Susanna Pang of the Contemporary Crafts Centre, and is further enriched by the expertise of veteran curator Ying Jian and the accomplished consultant in the fields of craft and design Eva Quan Li.  With its emphasis on playful designs and high artistic value, the pavilion aims to engage a new generation of collectors and to elevate the appreciation of contemporary craft within the wider art community.

“Back on Paper”

Spanning approximately 150 square meters, the “Back on Paper” pavilion offers a serene and contemplative space devoted to the artistry of works on paper. This thoughtfully curated pavilion presents 30-50 exceptional pieces that traverse geographies and centuries, inviting collectors and connoisseurs to engage with the medium in its most intimate form.

Among the highlights are masterful ukiyo-e woodblock prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi  (1797-1861)  and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892), created during the pinnacle of Edo-period printmaking; a delicate etching by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (1841-1919), whose Impressionist sensibility captures the fleeting grace of Parisian life; and striking lithographs by Joan Miró (1893-1983) and Zao Wou-Ki (1921-2013), produced in the 1960s and 1970s, reflecting the bold experimentation of modernism across cultures.

The pavilion also pays homage to Robert Hatfield Ellsworth (1929–2014), the distinguished American scholar, dealer, and collector whose legacy shaped Western appreciation of Asian art. A selection of rare books from his personal collection will be on display, offering a glimpse into his lifelong dedication to cross-cultural dialogue and the preservation of artistic heritage.

“CRAFT Now” and “Back on Paper” – “Together, they reflect the evolution of Fine Art Asia: introducing craft as a new element in celebration of our 20^th anniversary, and embracing the ‘back to basics’ concept that has been at the heart of the fair since its inception.” Andy Hei

More information about the exhibition can be found at:

https://www.fineartasia.com/

Photo credit: Fine Art Asia

The HKU Museum Society is delighted to host an exclusive studio visit and Kintsugi (金繼) artwork demonstration with renowned Hong Kong mixed-media artist Daphne Alexis Ho 何居怡 at her studio in Ap Lei Chau.

This exclusive visit offers a unique opportunity to explore Daphne’s creative sanctuary and working studio, where she will showcase a selection of her signature artworks, including pieces never before revealed to the public.  This visit offers an intimate look at the artist’s process and her ability to blend diverse media into captivating visual narratives.

During this special session, we will unpack Daphne’s unique creative processes, including her reappropriation of Kintsugi (金繼), a traditional Japanese art, also known as the “golden repair”, typically using powdered gold to mend and repair broken ceramics.  Through the intentionality of tearing and mending, the meticulous steps symbolise a profound appreciation for imperfections and highlights the beauty of healed scars.

About the Artist

Daphne Alexis HO 何居怡 (PhD, MFA, RMIT; Melbourne, Australia) is a distinguished mixed-media artist renowned for her monochromatic landscape series that draws inspiration from Japanese Zen aesthetics. Through her art, Ho captures the essence of life’s impermanence, emphasising the fragile yet transformative nature of our surroundings. Her works invite viewers to reflect on the delicate balance between the ephemeral and the eternal, encouraging a deep, contemplative engagement with the world.

Photo credit: Daphne Alexis Ho

The HKU Museum Society is pleased to present a guided viewing of Bamboo Baskets: Chinese Origins, Japanese Innovations with Dr. Florian Knothe at UMAG.

Supported by the HKUMS 30th Anniversary Endowment Fund, this exhibition showcases over 200 bamboo objects that illustrate a wide range of weaving techniques, tracing the evolution of early Ming and Qing dynasty vessels to their influence on Edo period artefacts and the innovative development of contemporary kogei.

This exhibition relies on exemplary loans from both the Naej Collection in Germany and the Muwen Tang Collection in Hong Kong, and is supported by the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong and the HKU Museum Society.

Speaker

Dr. Florian Knothe is the Director of the University Museum and Art Gallery and an Associate Professor in the School of Humanities, HKU. He serves as the MA in Museum Studies programme director and has taught Museum Studies at undergraduate and post-graduate level for more than 15 years. Florian trained in conservation, art history and heritage law, and lectures and teaches internationally. With the Dean of the Faculty of Arts, he held a Mellon Foundation grant to investigate and initiate Museum Studies at HKU.

Image Credit: Courtesy of UMAG

This lecture is presented in conjunction with the Museum Society’s upcoming trip, “Unfolding the Mystery and Glory of Ningxia: Evolution of a Mighty Empire to World Class Vineyards “. Members and guests are welcome to attend.

In this lecture, Venerable Shi Dun-ke 釋頓可 will begin with an introduction of the recent inscription of the Western Xia Imperial Mausoleums as China’s 60th UNESCO World Heritage Site which has brought this once-forgotten kingdom back into the spotlight. Yet, ever since the Qing dynasty scholar Zhang Shu (張澍) uncovered the bilingual Stele Commemorating the Renovation of the Gantong Stūpa at the State-Protection Monastery (重修護國寺感應塔碑)—inscribed in both Tangut (黨項) and Chinese—our understanding of the Western Xia (西夏), from its script and art to its religious traditions, has steadily reshaped long-held historical assumptions.

Notable examples abound. In the history of printing, the Auspicious Tantra of All-Reaching Union (吉祥遍至口合本續) has pushed back the earliest confirmed use of wooden movable-type printing by at least a century. Politically, the institution of Buddhist monks serving as imperial preceptors, once attributed to the Yuan dynasty, may in fact have originated in the Western Xia. Religiously, though the dynasty lasted barely two centuries (1038–1227), its dual patronage of Sinitic and Tibetan Buddhism left an indelible mark, fundamentally altering the Buddhist traditions of subsequent dynasties (Yuan, Ming, and Qing) and redefining imperial China’s religious landscape.

This presentation will examine the Western Xia through the lenses of its people, history, culture, and religion, providing a comprehensive yet accessible overview of its enduring legacy.

Speaker

Venerable Shi Dun-ke 釋頓可 is a Buddhist monk and a dual-lineage holder in Chinese Buddhism, serving as the 46th generation successor of the Linji School (臨濟宗) and the 34th generation successor of the Qianhua Vinaya School (南山律宗). Combining monastic training with academic scholarship, he holds a Bachelor of Medicine from Sun Yat-sen University and a Bachelor of Buddhist Studies from the Buddhist Academy of China. Currently pursuing a Master of Buddhist Studies at the University of Hong Kong, his research focuses on Madhyamaka philosophy and Tangut Buddhism, with specialized interest in the intellectual history and scriptural transmission of Buddhism in the Western Xia Empire.

Photo credit to Venerable Shi Dun-ke 釋頓可

 

The HKU Museum Society is delighted to present a guided viewing of “Engaging Past Wisdom:  Min Chiu Society at Sixty-five” with the Chairman of Min Chiu Society, Lawrence Chan and the Curator of Chinese Antiquities at the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hilda Mak.

As the title of this exhibition denotes, Chinese characters can uphold both literal and metaphorical meanings.  So also are objects that serve practical purposes as well as convey symbolic significance and deeper meanings.  Such is the path that led to the embodiment of Dao which transcends verbal expressions.  Ancient artifacts not only reflect the Chinese reverence for nature and quest for harmony, they are also ciphers to antiquity’s intellectual world. 

It is the mission and passion of the distinguished members of the Min Chiu Society to “revere antiquity while diligently seeking knowledge.”  The collectors embrace a tradition of meticulous study and have attained international acclaim for their practice that rises above mere collecting.  This 65th anniversary exhibition features over 400 sets of precious Chinese artifacts from their collections, including ceramics, bronzes, paintings, calligraphy, jades, lacquerware, furniture, bamboo carvings and snuff bottles.  This milestone celebration is for the enjoyment, appreciation, and enlightenment for all. 

We are honoured to have the Chairman of Min Chiu Society, Lawrence Chan to personally guide us through this remarkable collection.  We are also fortunate to have the Curator of Chinese Antiquities, Hilda Mak at the Hong Kong Museum of Art to present us with the key pieces of this exhibition. 

Please join us as we retrace the path in deciphering the past to shed light on the present.

 

Speakers

Lawrence Chan is the Chairman of the Organising Committee of the Min Chiu Society for both the 65th and 60th Anniversary Exhibitions.  He is the current Chairman of the Min Chiu Society as well as the past Chair from 2017-2019.  Mr. Chan is also a committee member of the Hong Kong Palace Museum Acquisition Committee since its inception in 1997, and is the owner and publisher of Chinese Ceramics from the Da Weng Tang Collection, 2020.

 

Hilda Mak is the Curator of Chinese Antiquities of the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA). Her recent curatorial credits have included “Engaging Past Wisdom: Min Chiu Society at Sixty-five”, “Life Planning of the Chinese Literati: Selected Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Xubaizhai Collection”, “# popcolours: The Aesthetics Hues in Antiquities from the HKMoA Collection”, “Eternal Enlightenment: the Virtual World of Jiajing Emperor” and “Honouring Tradition and Heritage: Min Chiu Society at Sixty”.

 

More information about the exhibition can be found at:

https://hk.art.museum/en/web/ma/exhibitions-and-events/engaging-past-wisdom.html

 

Photo credit to HKMoA

The HKU Museum Society is pleased to organise – Sculpture and Poetry, a visit to Danny Lee Chin Fai’s Studio. A seasoned sculptor in Hong Kong, Danny creates sculptures that are rooted in the traditional spirit of Chinese ink. Through the essence of “Mountains and Streams” with modern adaptations, his works express the beauty, simplicity and poetry of Eastern culture. Possessing the freedom and boundless creativity absorbed in the environment, his sculptures convey a uniquely creative but also inclusive and comprehensive art language. Danny Lee has been invited to participate in various art events. He represented Hong Kong in the commemorative sculpture park project for the APEC summit in Da Nang (Vietnam). His works has also been collected by Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong Heritage Museum, and others.

李展輝是本港著名雕塑家，他的作品以傳統為本，散發中國水墨藝術的精神，藉「山水」意境及現代性手法，傳遞東方美學的詩意和樸素，與環境融合，卻亦擁有自由的領域及創作的無限可能性，構成其獨特且兼容並蓄的藝術語言。李展輝的作品曾代表香港參與亞太經合組織會議峴港雕塑公園紀念項目(越南) 等，亦為香港藝術館、香港文化博物館等收藏。

Photo credit: Danny Lee Chin Fai’s Studio

The Executive Committee is pleased to organise a visit to Para Site for a guided tour with the Curator, Michelle Wong, of ‘Reframing Strangeness: Ha Bik Chuen’s Motherboards and Collagraphs’, an exhibition that refocuses on Ha’s printmaking practice on the occasion of Ha’s 100th birth anniversary.

‘Motherboard’ is the term Hong Kong-based artist Ha Bik Chuen (1925–2009) coined for his collagraph plates. Unlike computer motherboards, Ha’s creations are decidedly analogue. They are assembled from wood and other found material through a highly labour-intensive process. Throughout his life, Ha created over 100 motherboards and kept them away from public view. He used these motherboards to produce over 3,000 editioned collagraphs mostly in the 1970s and 1980s.

About Ha Bik Chuen

Ha Bik Chuen (1925-2009) was a Hong Kong-based artist who made prints, sculptures, collage books, and was also a prolific photographer.  He publicly showed prints and sculptures, but kept most of his photographs and all his collage books private.  In the 1960s, Ha became an artist and an active participant of the Hong Kong art scene by documenting exhibitions and events through photography.  His collection of visual materials forms a crucial part of Hong Kong’s cultural and art history.  Ha’s archive has become one of the key resources of writing Hong Kong art history.

About Michelle Wun Ting Wong

Michelle Wun Ting Wong completed her PhD studies in Art History at The University of Hong Kong in 2024, exploring the modernity emerging from Post WWII Hong Kong. From 2012–20 she was a researcher at Asia Art Archive (AAA), focusing on Hong Kong art history and histories of exchange and circulation through exhibitions and periodicals. Her curatorial projects include ‘Portals, Stories, and Other Journeys’ at Tai Kwun Contemporary (2021), ‘Afterglow’, Yokohama Triennale 2020, and 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016). Her writing has been published in Ambitious Alignments: New Histories of Southeast Asian Art, 1945–1990 (2018), the journal Southeast of Now (2019) amongst others. Since 2022, she co-runs the independent art space New Park with artists South Ho Siu Nam and Billy HC Kwok. Wong’s PhD dissertation is an in-depth study of the work and life of Ha Bik Chuen and its relationship to the cultural modernity and artistic modernism emerging from mid-twentieth century Hong Kong. Before returning to graduate school at HKU, Wong was AAA’s lead researcher and part of an archivist team organising and digitising Ha’s archive, which has since become one of the key resources of writing Hong Kong art history. 

Please visit https://www.para-site.art/exhibitions/reframing-strangeness-ha-bik-chuens-motherboards-and-collagraphs/ for more information on this exhibition.

Photo credit: Para Site