The HKU Museum Society is delighted to once again welcome collectors Bernard and Shirley Kinsey who will take us on a personal tour of their incredible collection.
The exhibition, Rising above Adversity: Treasures from The Kinsey African American Art & History Collection, includes over 120 items that range from paintings and sculptures to rare first editions and manuscripts, letters and official records that testify to the courage and hope of African Americans rising above the challenges they faced – and still face – to make their voices heard.
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Bernard W. Kinsey is the president and founder of KBK Enterprises, Inc., a management consulting firm with extensive experience and success providing advice and counsel to senior-level executives. Kinsey also enjoyed a 20-year association with the Xerox Corporation and was one of the pioneers in breaking down racial barriers in corporate America.
For the past 7 years, Bernard Kinsey and his wife Shirley have focused their attention on The Kinsey Collection, their national touring museum exhibit of African American art and history dating back to 1600. The collection has been viewed by over 3 million visitors, was on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC and is currently on national tour in a partnership with Wells Fargo.
Mr. Kinsey received his bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University (FAMU) and his MBA from Pepperdine in 1973. He has received honorary doctorates from both FAMU and Alabama A&M University.
Wong How Man will open the doors of the China Exploration and Research Society’s 1939 era Exhibit House. Built by the former Shek O Village Chief, Wong will take the group through some of CERS’ select exhibits. He will also share the history and heritage of Shek O, from the time before the British’s arrival in HK. This will be followed by a guided walk exploring Shek O Village, from its early temples to the Headland and beyond, looking across the back beach to the Shek O Country Club and the “Taipan” houses where some of HK’s tycoons live adjacent to a wonderfully diverse variety of village buildings that are at times considered squatter houses. Visit will conclude with an optional lunch at a nearby Thai Restaurant.
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Wong How Man is the Founder and President of the China Exploration & Research Society (CERS). Born and raised in Hong Kong, and educated in the United States in Journalism and Art, Wong’s career in China began in 1974, first as a journalist during the tail end of the Cultural Revolution, later as an explorer/ writer/ photographer for the National Geographic, and since 1986 as head of the non-profit organization CERS.
He has led many multi-disciplinary expeditions first for the National Geographic and later for CERS. He has been credited with, among other accomplishments, the discovery of a new source for the Yangtze River. In 2002 Time Magazine chose Wong as one of its 25 Asian Heroes, calling Wong “China’s most accomplished living explorer.” He has also received many awards for his books and the conservation projects he conceived and directed. Supported by governments, foundations, individuals and corporations, his work has been disseminated widely by major international media, including Discovery Channel, BBC, CNN, National Geographic, ABC, CNBC, CCTV, etc.
Restrained Lustre: Chinese Jades from the Cissy and Robert Tang Collection
The exhibition features 109 Chinese jades from the Cissy and Robert Tang collection, spanning from Neolithic times to late Qing period, focuses especially upon personal ornaments, human-like sculptures and literati accoutrements. This special exhibition not only highlights the collector’s taste and preference for Chinese ancient jades, but also illustrates a vivid relationship between jade and humans who used it to express their spiritual beliefs, social values and personal sentiments over thousands of years. The exhibits are showcased alongside Chinese furniture, paintings and calligraphy from the same collection, attempting to evoke a quiet and contemplative space in which traditional Chinese literati enjoy their acquisitions alone or with like-minded friends.
Heavenly Crafted: Mughal Jades from the Palace Museum
We will also see the 40 extraordinary pieces of Mughal jades on loan from the Palace Museum in Beijing. This will be the first special exhibition on the subject to be held in Hong Kong and Mainland China, with most of the pieces exhibited for the first time.
The exhibition aims to reveal the artistic achievement of Mughal jades, their origins and mutual influences with the art of jade-carving in Central Asia as well as China, and the characteristics of Qing dynasty jades in the Mughal style.
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Dr. Xu Xiaodong worked as keeper and researcher at the Palace Museum, Beijing from 2007-2013. Her research interests include history of Chinese jade, gold and silver, amber, imperial arts of the Ming and Qing dynasties and artistic interactions between ancient China and the West. She is currently Associate Director of the Art Museum, Associate Professor (by courtesy) of the Fine Arts Department, the Chinese University of Hong Kong.
Founded in 1368, the Ming dynasty spanned a period of 276 years during which 16 emperors ascended the throne. It was the last unified and centralised dynasty ruled by the Han Chinese after the Tang and the Song dynasties. Ming culture was resplendent and multifarious. The dynasty saw the peak of traditional cultural development as well as the gradual sprouting of new cultures. Productivity surpassed that of the Song and the Yuan times, and commodity economy enjoyed unprecedented prosperity, pushing the progress of folk culture and the standard of artistic creation to new heights. Furthermore, frequent communications between Ming China and foreign countries brought about the import of foreign culture, subsequently unfolding a brand new scenario in the social development of the time.
This exhibition made possible by the generous support of individual members of the Min Chiu Society features around 300 sets of items from their precious collections. They include porcelains, lacquers, cloisonné enamels, jades, textiles, furniture, gold and silver wares, paintings, calligraphies, scholar's objects, recreational objects and religious figures. It is hoped that these exhibits will guide the audience through the history and culture of the Ming dynasty from fresh and diverse perspectives. Among the highlights of the exhibits are imperial porcelains and lacquers, porcelains and gilt metal wares with strong Arabic flavour and multifarious religious characteristics, succinctly shaped Ming-style furniture, magnificent textiles, exquisite openwork jade belt plaques, paintings and calligraphies of the ‘Four Literary Masters of the Wuzhong Region (Suzhou)̛, and scholar objects epitomising the taste of the literati.
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We are delighted to present this special guided tour with fellow member and collector contributing to this exhibition, Anthony K.W. Cheung. He is a member of the prestigious Min Chiu Society and a renowned collector of Chinese art focusing on Ming and Qing imperial ceramics. The Huaihaitang Collection was started in the early 1980s when Anthony came across several important porcelain collections at local auctions and exhibitions. An entrepreneur-cum-collector, Anthony is also an accomplished scholar of Art. His unique connoisseurship is revealed in his extensive collections of imperial Chinese porcelain from the Ming and Qing dynasties. Anthony has supported university and public art museums in Hong Kong through numerous donations and loaned exhibits.
Julia Tao, daughter of painter Tao Wan will guide us through the exhibition of her father’s works at UMAG. The exhibition highlights about thirty selected paintings by the artist as well as over twenty name, leisure and studio seals by professional seal carvers, Tao’s painter friends and students from Canton and Hong Kong.
This will be followed by demonstrations by Master Tao's students Y.F. Chan 陳燿煇 and K.H. Kwong 鄺啟慶, who will demonstrate Tao's ink paint work and style.
UMAG Director Dr. Florian Knothe is leading a special tour for our members to view two new exhibitions at the University Museum and Art Gallery. Erich Lessing: The Pulse of Time–Capturing Social Change in Post-war Europe shows the work of renowned Austrian photo journalist and Magnum photographer Erich Lessing. Illustrious Illuminations: Christian Manuscripts from the High Gothic to the High Renaissance (1250–1500) displays rare illuminated manuscripts from the McCarthy Collection. These religious manuscripts, laboriously painted by hand, are being shown for the first time in Hong Kong.
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A scholar of Western European art, Dr. Florian Knothe received his PhD in royal manufacture and the production of art and propaganda in 17th century France. His prior positions include: research fellow and associate in European Sculpture and Decorative Arts at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, curator of European glass at The Corning Museum of Glass, where he led the East Meets West exhibition in 2010, and related lectures and conference papers presented in the US, Europe, Asia and Africa. In his role as Director, Dr. Knothe aims to connect UMAG internationally so that future collection-oriented research and programming reflect the university’s unique geographic and cultural position between East and West.
Continuing our tradition of beginning each year with an outdoor event to marvel at the beauty of Mother Nature, we begin with a boat trip to Plover Cove and the surrounding areas. We leave from Ma Liu Shui Pier and ride towards Harbour Island and make a stop on the east dam of Plover Cove for a panoramic view of the Plover Cove reservoir. At the second stop at Lai Chi Chong, fabulous art works are displayed in the natural rock formations. A simple seafood lunch will be arranged on Tap Mun after which we will take a leisurely stroll. The boat will cruise along Port Island to view the recently discovered Skulls Island at close distance. Group will return to Ma Liu Shui Pier by 5 pm.
In case of adverse weather conditions or unfavourably high winds, we may have to modify or cancel the trip at the leader’s discretion.
Resource Person
We are very privileged to have Professor Chan Lung-sang (陳龍生教授) as the leader of the trip. Professor Chan is professor in Earth Sciences at the University of Hong Kong as well as College Principal of HKU SPACE Community College and HKU SPACE Po Leung Kuk Community College. He received his doctorate degree in geology from the University of California, Berkeley and is arguably the first Hong Kong native to receive formal training in geology. His research interests include tectonics of South China and Hong Kong, earthquake geology and applied geophysics. He is devoted to promoting Earth Science education, and has led field trips to South China, Tibet, Taiwan, North America, Australia, Italy, Cyprus, the Arctic region and Antarctica for students.
Life experience and national origins are two elements that often dramatically impact an artist’s personality and aesthetic tendencies. In the case of Omar Rojas, those elements were formed by the two countries that have factored most heavily in his professional life as a composer and performer—Mexico and the Czech Republic.
A majority of the works to be performed in this programme were written by Rojas in the Czech Republic, but with a strong Mexican cultural influence. The same can be said of the Czech elements heard in the pieces composed in Mexico. This balanced duality is further enriched through the audience and Rojas’ interactive brand of concerts, and is a perfect complement to the “Mexican Big Bang” paintings on exhibit by Roberto Turnbull.
Performer
Edgar Omar Rojas Ruiz began his musical studies at the Centro de Investigación y Estudios de la Música (CIEM) (Center of Studies and Musical Research) under the direction of Alejandro Velasco “Kavindu” and Víctor Rasgado for composition, and with Marcela Rodríguez and Enrico Chapela for orchestration. From 2007–2009 he worked on his Masters in Music Composition at the Janáček Academy of Music and Performing Arts in the Czech Republic with Prof. Arnošt Parsch. At this same institution, he completed his Doctorate in Music Composition and Theory with Prof. Ing. Ivo Medek.
His original music has been performed in Mexico, Chile, Germany, Hungary, Israel, the Czech Republic, America, Slovakia and Spain. In 2011 he was awarded first prize in the VII Concurso de Composición Musical Universidad de Zaragoza (Spain). He also has worked on the production of various international cultural projects, including as Logistics Manager for the Festival of Music and New Technologies, Visiones Sonoras, 2006 (Mexico City), General Manager and Founder of the First Composition Award Janáček–Revueltas 2008 (Czech Republic–Mexico) and Music Manager for the Festival “Mexic(k)o 2010”, a commemoration of the Bicentennial of Mexican Independence and the Centenary of the Mexican Revolution (Czech Republic 2010). Since 2007, he has been the Founder and Director of the Alumni Network of CIEM in Mexico. In 2014 he was invited to be President of the Jury during the final stage of the Song Festival at the prestigious Mexican university Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey Campus Querétaro. During this post he also worked on several interdisciplinary projects, including as musical director for the theatrical performance “Cada quien su Lara” by the renowned Mexican actor Héctor Bonilla (Mexico), and as an arranger of the suite “En el crepusculo de mi vida” by the Mexican actor Javier Díaz Dueñas.
The University of Hong Kong Museum Society takes great pleasure in inviting you to the launch of our 30th Anniversary Endowment Fund Kick-off event with our Patron Dr. Christina Mathieson and Vice Chancellor Peter Mathieson on Saturday, 5 December 2015. This major fundraising campaign benefitting the University Museum and Art Gallery and HKUMS’ future art funding has been months in the planning. On this day we will be delighted to share our vision with you.
Underlining the Museum Society’s commitment in supporting art in Hong Kong, we will be presenting Senses / 而立, a special exhibition bringing together a team of young graduates of HK institutions to curate a show that aims to promote young emerging local artists with artworks in a wide range of mediums. All pieces exhibited will be available for sale, with proceeds going towards the artists and the 30th Anniversary Endowment Fund.
Join us for art, music and afternoon tea in the Art Deco surroundings of the University Lodge, and help us launch our 30th Anniversary Endowment Fund with a bang!
Painters of the Song dynasty (960–1279) produced some of the most breathtakingly beautiful paintings that display a high degree of naturalism. This is to say that the artists sought to skilfully capture the appearance of the subject matter. This quality can be seen in paintings attributed to Emperor Huizong (r. 1100–1126). For example the celebrated painting Women Preparing Newly Woven Silk displays great refinement of technical skills and showcases the gorgeous beauty of the court women. But by 1100 an alternative idea of what constituted as natural was defined by scholar-officials, most notably Su Shi. He argued the presence of the artist’s hand revealing his intention was the most natural part of a painting. Painters inspired by Su Shi’s ideas produced paintings aimed at revealing the naturalness of their individual interpretations of the subject represented. They created some of the most formally innovative paintings in the history of Chinese art as they turned away from the importance of naturalism to affirm their artistic visions.
This morning seminar will be presented in two talks exploring the two complementary natures of the natural in Song-dynasty painting. The first talk, The Beauty of Naturalism is devoted to exploring the naturalism central to the skilful and gorgeous productions typical of Emperor Huizong’s painting. The other, The Humanity of Expression will address the naturalness of the artist as producer of the imagery that naturally demonstrate the thoughts and expressions of the artist. Each talk will look at five paintings to illustrate the different aspects of the nature in Song painting.
Speaker
Dr. Roslyn Lee Hammers is an Associate Professor of art history in the Department of Fine Arts at The University of Hong Kong. She teaches courses on Chinese painting, South Asian art, and Asian architectural history. Her book entitled Pictures of Tilling and Weaving: Art, Labour and Technology in Song and Yuan China (Hong Kong University Press) was published in 2011. She is presently working on a study of Qing dynasty representations of agrarian labour.
