Media

HKU weekly notice (from October 8 to October 15, 2016)

07 Oct 2016

 

Mr Larry Keith to deliver inaugural Behind the Scenes Lecture
The HKU Department of Fine Arts has invited Mr Larry Keith, Director of Collections (interim) at the National Gallery in London, to deliver the inaugural lecture in a new series of talks aimed at increasing public awareness of how art needs to be protected, maintained and made accessible for the future. Mr Keith, who is also the Gallery’s Head of Conservation and Keeper, will give an overview of the rich history of conservation at the Gallery and what happens behind the scenes when conservators are charged with the preservation, study and restoration of some of the world's best-loved masterpieces.

Members of the media are cordially invited to attend the event. Details are as follows:

Date: October 11, 2016, Tuesday
Time: 6:30 pm
Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, the University of Hong Kong
Language: English

About Mr Larry Keith:
Mr Keith is the Director of Collections (interim) National Gallery, London where he has been working since 1991 – first as a paintings conservator and then as Head of Conservation in 2010. He has contributed numerous articles on painting techniques across the range of the Collection for the Gallery’s Technical Bulletin, as well as contributions to exhibition catalogues on Diego Velazquez and Leonardo da Vinci.

About the Behind the Scenes Lecture Series:
The Behind the Scenes Lecture Series, initiated by the University of Hong Kong’s Department of Fine Arts, aims to bring high-profile speakers from the international art world to highlight the work of professionals who help to keep art accessible for audiences now and in the future. 

The 2016 Lectures are generously supported by Qatar Airways www.qatarairways.com/appreciate-art and AXA ART www.axa-art.com. A second talk by Ms Marie Louise Sauerberg on conservation work at Westminster Abbey will be held on October 14 at the Asia Society Hong Kong Center (http://arts.hku.hk/knowledge-exchange/behind-the-scenes-lecture-series).

For media enquiries or individual interview requests, please contact Mr Cyrus Chan, Events Coordinator, Faculty of Arts (tel: 3917 4984 email: cyrusc@hku.hk).

Exhibition at the HKU Main Library refurbished atrium
China through Western Eyes: 16th and 17th Century Titles from The University of Hong Kong Libraries Exhibition

The Libraries’ collection of Western rare books comprises over 11,700 volumes including the Morrison Collection, a collection from the Rev. Robert Morrison (1782-1834), the first Protestant missionary in China and many that belonged to the Hankow Club Library, a Club founded by the British in 1878. The strength of the Libraries’ Western Rare Book Collection lies principally in its titles on China and the Far East and includes many accounts of early travellers to Peking, particularly those of the Jesuit missionaries who sometimes held a privileged position at the Emperor’s Court long before other Europeans were able to reside in China. Through these rare titles, some of which are, you are invited to travel back in time to appreciate how China was once perceived and understood by the westerners during the Ming and Qing dynasties. 

Details of the Exhibition
Date:     5 October to 18 October 2016
Time:    08:30 – 22:00 (Monday to Friday) / 08:30 – 19:00 (Saturday) / 10:00 – 1900 (Sunday)
            Closed on Public Holidays
Venue:  2/F Atrium/Exhibition Area of the Main Library, HKU

For more information about the Western Rare Book Collection, please visit the Special Collections website at http://lib.hku.hk/hkspc/.

Media Contact:  Mr. Gary Chin, Tel: 2859 2211 / Ms. Marina Yeung, Tel: 2859 8903

UMAG exhibitions
1. Interruptions: with photographs by David Clarke and essays by Xu Xi -- a dialogue between photography and the written word

Period: September 14 (Wednesday) to October 16, 2016 (Sunday)

The spine of this current project is a series of interlocking images and texts that began with a single photograph selected from David Clarke’s archive. Xu Xi then wrote an essay triggered by—but not necessarily in response to—the photograph, which led to David’s choice of a second work. The 12 images and essays construct a fascinating palimpsest of memoir and artistic expression. By “interrupting” each other’s live with a piece of art from a duelling medium, the artists were compelled to re-evaluate their own histories and creative output. What is ultimately created is a form of linked poem or renga, though without the strict stanzaic limitation of that particular form.

David Clarke is Professor in the Department of Fine Arts at the University of Hong Kong, where he has taught since 1986. He has written extensively on both Chinese and Western art and culture, with a primary focus on the twentieth century, and is also active as a photographer and visual artist.

Xu Xi, a transnational “third culture” writer and Chinese-Indonesian native of Hong Kong, is author of nine books of fiction & essays, most recently Access: Thirteen Tales (Signal 8 Press, Hong Kong 2011), the novel Habit of a Foreign Sky (Haven Books, Hong Kong 2010), which was shortlisted for the Man Asian Literary Prize.

Venue: 1/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

2. "Classical Chinese Huanghuali Furniture from the Haven Collection" presents the art and craft of Ming and Qing domestic living and furniture making

Period: September 7 (Wednesday) to November 20, 2016 (Sunday)

Chinese huanghuali furniture is world-famous and, for the longest time, has been collected in both East and West. In Ming dynasty, traditional wood architecture and Buddhist thrones inspired Chinese furniture makers and, as trade expanded, so did the amount of hardwood furniture in the form of sophisticated movable pieces and built-in interiors. Ming furniture is known for its elegant lines and carved details. During the reign of Emperor Longqing (1567–1572) China opened its borders, previously implemented import bans were lifted and a greater variety of building materials became available. Consequently, during the Ming and Qing dynasties the most celebrated types of domestic furniture were made from huanghuali and zitan woods. The elegant dark hardwood with natural shine is remarkable for the fact that Chinese furniture is typically made from solid timber, not an invisible sub-construction covered by a decorative veneer, as is so often the case in the West.

The strength of each individual furniture element and the consistent colour matters, as every detail is exposed and the precision of the joints, the size and position of the dowels, are all visual elements of an often very simple and graceful design. In some pieces the joints are detectible and accessible, sometimes demountable, or else expertly hidden in the more sophisticated pieces. Applied surface finishes were generally only a layer of wax; no stains or clear lacquer seals were added to the dense and inherently decorative woods.

Venue: 1/F, T.T. Tsui Building, UMAG, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

3. Painted Ceramics: Contemporary Treasures by Jingdezhen’s National Masters from the Lamda Foundation -- Reinterpreting Porcelain Decoration

Period: August 19, 2016 (Friday) to October 23, 2016 (Sunday)

The tradition of porcelain making and decoration in China is well known and exhaustively studied. Lesser known in this millennia-long history are the artworks by twentieth-century national masters who have continued their country’s ceramic practice and achieved treasures representative of their heritage.

This exhibition introduces Jingdezhen as a manufacturing site for artefacts and it focuses on individual talents and the fame of a few master craftsmen, as well as their history and the uninterrupted production of unique high-quality porcelain objects of inherent beauty. The mastery and endurance of individual painters has left us an array of vessel shapes, compositions and iconographic subject matter that is, at times, both historic and contemporary. Displayed for the first time in public, these 44 artworks by 38 ceramicists represent the strength and ability of Jingdezhen’s artistic community through changing times.

Venue: 2/F, Fung Ping Shan Building, UMAG, 90 Bonham Road, Pokfulam

Opening Hours:
09:30 – 18:00 (Monday to Saturday)
13:00 – 18:00 (Sunday)
Closed on University and Public Holidays

Tel/Email: (852) 2241 5500 (General Enquiry) / museum@hku.hk
Admission: Free
Website: www.umag.hku.hk/en/

Connect with UMAG on social media:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/umag.hku
Twitter: https://twitter.com/UMAG_HKU
Instagram: #SpanningTime, #HKUMAG
Weibo: @香港大學美術博物館UMAG

Media enquiries:
UMAG Communication Officer Miss Elena Cheung, Tel: (852) 2241 5512, Email: elenac@hku.hk.