Media

Faculty of Arts Launches its Centenary Celebrations with the
Inaugural MB Lee Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities

25 Oct 2012

The inaugural MB Lee Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities, entitled ‘The Articulate Artwork’, was delivered today (October 25) by Professor Jonathan Hay, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.

This event also served to launch the Faculty of Arts Centenary – which will run from October 2012 to September 2013, commemorating the admission of the first Arts students in October 1912 and the election of the first Dean of Arts in September 1913, respectively.

Speaking at the event, the Dean of Arts, Professor Kam Louie, thanked Honorary University Fellow Mr MB Lee for his generosity in initiating a lecture series that promotes recognition of the tremendous benefits the arts and humanities bring to people’s lives. Professor Louie also took time to thank the Faculty’s Department of Fine Arts, which suggested the first lecture, as well as the staff, students, alumni, and friends, whose contributions have shaped the Faculty over the past one hundred years and made it what it is today - one of the finest humanities faculties in the region and internationally.     

On show for the first time in the Foyer prior to the Lecture were some of the photographs taken by award-winning Hong Kong photographer So Hing Keung for the Arts Centenary photography project. 2012 is a particularly significant year for the Faculty of Arts – it marks both the start of the Faculty’s Centenary celebrations, as well as its move from the iconic Main Building to its new home in Run Run Shaw Tower on the Centennial Campus. The Arts Centenary photography project aims to mark these two milestones by presenting glimpses of the Faculty’s last two months in the Main Building

About the Lecture Series:

The MB Lee Distinguished Lectures in the Humanities are designed to promote the significance of the arts and humanities to the wider public. Accessible, curious and enriching, the talks should stimulate a passion for the arts and a desire to see the values of the humanities benefit the social well-being of Hong Kong.

About the Speaker:

Professor Hay is Ailsa Mellon Bruce Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. He is one of the world’s foremost scholars of Qing art and, together with the many postgraduate students who have benefited from his supervision, is helping reshape the field of Qing studies. He has published widely on Chinese art from the Tang dynasty to the present, and on the theory and method of art history.

For media enquiries, please contact Ms Karen Leung, School of Humanities (tel: 3917 4186 email: kklleung@hku.hk ) or Ms Georgina Challen, Public Affairs Manager, Faculty of Arts (tel: 3917 4250 email: gchallen@hku.hk).

Dean of Arts, Professor Kam Louie, speaking at the inaugural MB Lee Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities and launch of the Faculty of Arts Centenary celebrations

Professor Jonathan Hay delivers the inaugural MB Lee Distinguished Lecture in the Humanities

Professor Kam Louie presents a souvenir to Mr MB Lee and Professor Jonathan Hay