China.org.cn, Xinhua, 27. Juni 2005
Palastmuseum wieder im Besitz historischer Dokumente

Das Palastmuseum in Beijing ist wieder im Besitz wertvoller historischer Dokumente, die Anfang der 1930er zum Schutz vor vorrückenden japanischen Truppen nach Südchina verschifft worden waren.

Der Kurator des Museums, Zheng Xinmiao, sprach vom unschätzbaren Wert der Dokumente, die eine Spende von Nachfahren eines ehemaligen Museumsmitarbeiters darstellen. Die Dokumente gelten als seltener Beweis für die 25 Jahre nach Gründung des Museums.

Nach der Invasion und Besetzung Nordostchinas durch die Japaner im Jahr 1931 ließ die chinesische Regierung mehr als 13.000 Kisten wertvoller Museumsobjekte nach Südchina bringen. Die gesamte Sammlung landete schließlich auf Taiwan und war dort Bestandteil der Gründungssammlung des Nationalen Palastmuseums Taipei.

Die Spende besteht aus insgesamt 150 Dokumenten, Siegeln, Bildern, Kalligrafien und Medaillen. Übergeben wurde sie von Nachfahren Professor Na Zhiliangs, der als gebürtiger Beijinger und Mitarbeiter des Museums einst an der historischen Verschiffung beteiligt gewesen war.

Bis zu seinem Tod setzte sich Professor Na insgesamt 70 Jahre lang für das Museum ein und zwar ab 1925 für das Palastmuseum in Beijing und ab den 1940ern für das Nationale Palastmuseum Taipei.

"Die historischen Dokumente sind Zeugen der verschiedensten Herausforderungen, der sich die Mitarbeiter des Museums für die Sicherheit dieser Nationalschätze stellen mussten", sagt Professor Wang Ching-tai von der National Taiwan University of Arts, der für die historischen Dokumente verantwortlich ist.

http://www.china.org.cn/german/180835.htm

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June 16, 2005
ASIAN ART MUSEUM RECEIVES MAJOR GIFT FROM OVERSEAS DONOR:
FORTY-TWO WORKS BY NOTED CONTEMPORARY HONG KONG PAINTER FANG ZHAOLING
Artist’s Daughter and Former Hong Kong Chief Secretary Anson Chan Presents Gift

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF, JUNE 16, 2005 – The Asian Art Museum of San Francisco today announced a major gift from an overseas donor, a collection of 42 representative works spanning the prolific career of noted contemporary Hong Kong painter Fang Zhaoling (born 1914). This acquisition joins a joint work by Fang Zhaoling and the noted 20th century Chinese painter Zhang Daqian in the museum’s original collection from philanthropist Avery Brundage, significantly enhancing the museum’s collection of Chinese paintings at a time when Chinese art is becoming increasingly coveted by collectors. Representing the extensive range of Fang’s body of work, the collection of paintings helps fulfill the museum’s initiative to expand its contemporary holdings.

To pay tribute to her mother’s lifetime achievement, the artist’s eldest daughter, former Hong Kong Chief Secretary Anson Chan, presented the gift today on behalf of herself and her seven siblings. The formal exhibition “Fang Zhaoling: A Life in Painting” runs October 1 – November 13, and includes many of works that will be viewed outside of Asia for the first time, introducing the artist to a broader U.S. audience.

"Given Fang Zhaoling's extraordinarily international life and perspective, it is an honor that her children chose the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco to house the first significant permanent collection of her paintings held by a Western museum," said Emily Sano, Director, Asian Art Museum. “The family’s thoughtful and generous gift reflects the museum's and San Francisco's unique ability to bridge East and West.”

Anson Chan arrived from Hong Kong to join her brother, local businessman Joseph Kwei Sang Fang, to present her family’s gift to the museum. City officials and other dignitaries accepted it on behalf of the City and County of San Francisco, further strengthening the City’s world-renowned collection of Asian art.

Anson Chan is a vanguard politician, internationally recognized for her strength and diplomacy over decades of service in Hong Kong and China. She was the first woman and first Chinese politician to hold the title of Hong Kong Chief Secretary, the second-highest government position in Hong Kong. In 2001, Chan completed a successful career as a prominent and long-standing head of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR)'s civil service, straddling the territory's handover to the People’s Republic of China from British colonial rule. Her unprecedented accomplishments in the political world follow her mother’s example as an independent, highly-educated, and professionally successful woman.

Fang Zhaoling is a culturally significant artist with a rich background and impressive international training. Born in China and now residing in Hong Kong, she is widely recognized in Europe and Asia for her distinctive style and politically-charged subject matter, ranging from war and peace, to the plight of the Vietnamese “boat people” and the environment. The artist’s life journey is a dramatic story spanning much of the later 20th century. Widowed while very young, she took over her family business, raised eight successful children, and traveled around the world to fulfill her dreams of being a painter. She trained extensively in China, England, and the United States with several notable masters.

“The world has been the stage for Fang Zhaoling’s extraordinary career. Her life and work have been shaped by a tumultuous century of social, political and artistic change,” said Michael Knight, the Asian Art Museum’s Senior Curator of Chinese Art. “Yet Fang’s art remains distinctly rooted in Chinese tradition, while taking strong modern influences from her broad international training.”

The group of 42 paintings presented to the Asian Art Museum includes representative works from various stages in Fang Zhaoling’s prolific career. Her unique style developed under the tutelage of various masters over the course of several decades.

In 1927, she began studying with a local teacher, Tao Bofang under whose direction she displayed great facility with the brush.

By 1933, Qian Songyan and Chen Jiucun had established an art school where Fang immersed herself in the traditional role of student, learning brush technique and copying her teachers’ works. With Qian Songyan, Fang studied landscape painting, and with Chen Jiucun, bird-and-flower painting.

Despite this early training – Fang took a long hiatus from painting due to extensive study, building her family, the Japanese occupation, China’s civil war, and the sudden death of her husband. In response to these personal and political events, Fang turned back to painting, studying with Zhao Shao’ang, one of the modern masters of the Lingnan School. In 1952, her works were included with his in the first Chinese art exhibition to be held in Japan following the end of World War II – the first of Fang’s many international exhibitions.

In 1953, Fang Zhaoling met Zhang Daqian, the most celebrated Chinese painter of the 20th century. Zhang recognized her skill and despite his full schedule, took her on as a private student. At the time, Zhang was already an acclaimed artist; his mastery of traditional Chinese painting styles had established his reputation as painter and forger. During this period, Fang also continued her academic pursuits, enrolling at the University of Hong Kong to study Chinese philosophy and literature. In 1960, she traveled with Zhang in the United States, visiting with Chinese artists in America and viewing museum collections. Among the pieces donated today is Self Portrait with Master Zhang, which recollects the time the two of them spent living and working in Carmel, California.

Through much of the 1960s, Fang made London her permanent home while she studied at Oxford, supervised the schooling of several of her children, and explored the museums and sites of London and neighboring Paris. Landscape, painted around 1962, reveals an interest in Western contemporary art trends of the time, with influence drawn from the abstracts of Matisse and Picasso, among others.

England’s historical sites recur in Fang’s repertoire of landscapes. A favorite was Stonehenge, whose strong, simple verticals and horizontals were ideal for Fang’s mature style. The version donated with this gift was painted in 1981, and like most of her works, bears an inscription, “Picture of Stonehenge, 10,000 years of stability. I use this to convey my wishes to the heir of the British throne on his auspicious wedding day. Fang Zhaoling at the British capital, 1981.”

Landscape, Self Portrait with Master Zhang, and Stonehenge are among the 42 works in the “Fang Zhaoling: A Life in Painting” retrospective underwritten by a $200,000 grant from HSBC Bank USA. The exhibit runs October 1 through November 13, 2005, in the Asian Art Museum’s Hambrecht Gallery. HSBC Bank will also host an Opening Night Gala party in September to kick-off the exhibition. A high-profile guest list is expected, including prominent US political and society figures, and dignitaries from Hong Kong and Chinese Embassies.

ed. Martha Shaughnessy
(upcoming exhibition: Fang Zhaoling: A Life in Painting; October 1–November 13, 2005; Hambrecht Gallery)

http://www.asianart.org/pdf/press_materials/pr_fangzhaoling.pdf

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Asia Art Archive, June 2005
On My Way
Oscar Ho
[image]

Fairly soon I will be running the newly established Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai (MOCA Shanghai) at the People’s Park. Located right in the middle of the People’s Park and surrounded by the Municipal Government Headquarters, Shanghai Opera House and the Shanghai Museum of Art, the Museum definitely has one of the best locations in Shanghai.
[image] Hong Kong Museum of ArtFor those who are familiar with my work, they might find my move to Shanghai a surprise. For a curator, the opportunity to run a new museum devoted to contemporary art in China, especially in a city like Shanghai, is just too irresistible. MOCA Shanghai is an independently operated, non-profit making museum. Funded by the Samuel Kung Foundation, it intends to be a platform for international contemporary art and design, as well as for art by new, up and coming Chinese contemporary artists. The Museum will open in late September this year, when it will launch a series of inauguration programs that include exhibitions of photography, painting, video installation, sculptures and design objects by Chinese, as well as, international artists and designers. Our collection will focus on new, emerging Chinese artists.

With staff from Hong Kong and Shanghai, our goal is for the museum to be professionally operated, both in terms of its physical environment, management and programming. We would like to bring in a more approachable image of the museum in China through a series of outreach and education programs.

I can easily imagine the difficulties an airborne curator would face in Shanghai, not to mention the complex cultural negotiation I need to be engaged in. I know what my limitations are and that there will be contributions I can make as an outsider. For me, art is ultimately about opening new ground and testing the unknown. I always get excited by opportunities to explore new landscape.

Like Hong Kong of the 1990s, Shanghai is in a fascinating period of rapid development. I don’t know whether the West is being over enthusiastic or not, but everybody is looking at China as the land of possibilities. And when they think of China, they think of Shanghai. This may be true, or it may just be optimistic misunderstandings. But when all these misunderstandings come together, it somehow becomes a reality.
[image] Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art

As a result of rapid economic growth, one sees a dramatic growth in cultural investment in China. In Hong Kong, making enough money already qualifies you as a ‘successful’ person, but in China, you must have both money and culture. Economic growth must be substantiated by culture. I have been told that before 2012, Shanghai alone, will build 100 museums! This is worrying.

While Chinese culture may be rich and diverse enough to put together collections to fill these 100 museums, the biggest problem that still remains is the lack of management and curatorial professionals to run these institutions.

In recent years, the energy of the contemporary art scene is unprecedented in China. International exhibitions are pouring into China. However, contemporary art, especially Chinese contemporary art, remains largely for an international audience, or for a small interest group in China. For any curator who works with contemporary art in China, the greatest challenges are to make contemporary art accessible to the general public, and to create an independent, non-commercial platform to present a comprehensive picture of the Chinese contemporary art scene. No one is certain about the outcome of this zealous museum development. Everything is moving fast in China, and it may be a while before we can take some time to slow down and take a good look.
[image] Shanghai Art Museum

By comparison, Hong Kong seems lost in limbo. In the last few years, both the best and worse lack conviction, and only the government is filled with intense passion. Unfortunately that passion seems invested in the wrong projects, like the West Kowloon Cultural District. The lack of vision, critical review and professionalism in the government’s plan for such a major cultural development project is depressing.

The disturbing fact is that the infrastructure for art remains a closed system. Last year I started a course on curatorship and visual arts management. Members of this class are mature students with outstanding professional backgrounds. Their contributions in class have been most impressive. Many of them would like to further their career development in this area, but there is no job opportunity or further training ground for them, unless they are willing to go somewhere else, or join the government run museums and succumb to a bureaucratic culture that is contradictory to creativity and individual expression.

I feel a certain guilt at having aroused their passion, knowing that there is little hope left. What Hong Kong needs is substantial reform to transform the existing system, not a ‘world-class’ carpet to hide all the dust and dirt underneath. When are we going to see some real changes? I have been waiting, for so long that I no longer remember when I start calling for change.

I love Hong Kong dearly. But I have to admit, after nearly two decades of fighting, I am tired.

http://www.aaa.org.hk/newsletter.html#dia

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China.org.cn, 13. Juni 2005
Palastmuseum fehlt es an Handwerkern

Das Renovierungsprojekt des Kaiserpalastes in Beijing steht vor einem schwierigen Problem: Zeit und Geld sind ausreichend vorhanden, aber es fehlen qualifizierte Handwerker.

Nach der letzten großen Renovierung in den 1950er Jahren hat das Palastmuseum fast keine Handwerker mehr eingestellt. Die meisten Handwerker, die heute in der Verbotenen Stadt arbeiten, sind Wanderarbeiter ohne Erfahrung.

Früher gab es drei Handwerker, die die traditionellen Reparaturtechniken gut beherrschten. Der Möbeltischler Zhao Chongmao, der Kunstmaler Wang Zhongjie und der Maurer Bu Xuelin haben über Jahrzehnte alle Renovierungen am Kaiserpalast betreut.

Zhao ist verstorben, Wang und Bu sind beide über 70 Jahre alt. Für die aktuellen Renovierungen wurden die beiden Fachleute jedoch wieder eingestellt. Nach ihrer Meinung haben die jungen Handwerker zwar eine gute Schulbildung und können neue Techniken anwenden. Aber ihnen fehlt das Verständnis für traditionelle Kultur und für Projektverwaltung. Deshalb nehmen die alten Handwerker selten Lehrlinge auf und das traditionelle Kunsthandwerk hat fast keine Nachfolger.

Die Reparaturarbeiten starteten 2001 und werden 2020 beendet sein. Es sind die umfangreichsten Renovierungen des Palastmuseums seit 1911.

http://www.china.org.cn/german/178419.htm

 

 

__________________

with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold
(Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

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