Media

“Encounters” Twentieth-century Chinese art from the Khoan and Michael Sullivan Collection Opening ceremony

21 Feb 2013

An exhibition of twentieth-century Chinese art from the collection of Khoan and Michael Sullivan will be held at the University Museum and Art Gallery of the University of Hong Kong (HKU) from February 23 to April 7, 2013 to celebrate the University of Hong Kong Museum Society’s 25th anniversary, and the University Museum and Art Gallery’s 60th anniversary.

This will be the first time that the Sullivan collection has been shown in Hong Kong. A preview of the art collection and an opening ceremony of the exhibition will be held tomorrow (February 22, Friday) at the Museum.

Professor Michael Sullivan is a pioneer of modern Chinese art history. The Sullivan collection is inseparable from the relationships that underlie it, as well as the circumstances of the artists through the civil war, the Great Leap Forward (1958) and the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976). Many of the works were gifted to Khoan and Michael by the artists themselves, and in 1960 their good friend, Geoffrey Hedley, a British diplomat in China, bequeathed his collection to them, which included works by masters such as Fu Baoshi, Ren Bonian, and Walasse Ting among many others. The Sullivans began to travel again to China in the 1970s and were able to renew their earlier friendships with artists after the end of the Cultural Revolution. Inspired by the new forms of art being produced in China, Khoan and Michael began to actively acquire art.

The exhibition is held to honour Professor Sullivan’s considerable contributions as a pioneer of Chinese art history and especially the study of twentieth-century Chinese painting. The collection features in particular works that explore the relationships between western and Chinese media and expressions. Among the exhibits will be paintings by artists such as Wu Guanzhong, Huang Yongyu, Pang Xunqin, Wu Zuoren, Zhang Daqian, Qi Baishi, Zao Wuji, and Lü Shoukun; sculptors Zhu Ming and Wang Keping, as well as Hong Kong artists Wan Qingli, Chu Hing-wah, Wucius Wong, Tan Zhicheng and Nancy Chu Woo. The selection also includes two albums that were created and gifted to the Sullivans by artists in Hong Kong.

Details of the preview and the opening ceremony are as follows:

Date: February 22, 2013 (Friday)
Venue: University Museum and Art Gallery, HKU

Media preview
Time: 3:00pm to 4:00pm
Speaker : Ms Pang Yee Wan, Tina, Curator (Art)                                    

Opening ceremony
Time: 6:00pm                                                            
Guests-of-honour :  
Professor Michael Sullivan, Emeritus Fellow, St. Catherine’s College, Oxford                   
Mrs Bonnie Kwan Huo, Chairman, University of Hong Kong Museum Society         
Ms Belinda Au, Director, Michelle Art Services
Professor Chow Shew-ping, HKU Pro-Vice-Chancellor

For media enquiries, please contact Communications and Public Affairs Office:
Manager (Media) Ms Rhea Leung tel: 2857 8555 / 9022 7446 email: rhea.leung@hku.hk or Knowledge Exchange Officer Ms Julie Chu tel: 2859 2437 email: juliechu@hku.hk