THE WORLD OF ART                                                                                                BY MAXIMILLIEN de LAFAYETTE, Editor-in-Chief, Syndicated Columnist.

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE YEAR: FRENCH IMPRESSIONISM IN CHINA, FLORENCE BIENNALE, DIGITAL ART OF JOSEPH NECHVATAL, CYNTHIA KARALLA'S PHOTO MONTAGE, RICK PROL & JAN LYNN NEW YORK'S EAST VILLAGE SHOW

IMPRESSIONISM: FRENCH TREASURES IN CHINA
HONG KONG MUSEUM OF ART, 2005-02-05 until 2005-03-10

Photo: Hong Kong Museum of Art.

The Hong Kong Museum of Art is one of the museums managed by the Leisure & Cultural Services Department. Established in 1962, it was first housed in the City Hall, moving to its present purpose-built premises by the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in 1991. The museum also has a branch, the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware, located in Hong Kong Park. Its collections now number in excess of 13,000 art objects, including Chinese paintings and calligraphy works, antique Chinese treasures, paintings of historical significance as well as creations by local artists. But the highlight of the current exhibitions of the museum is the French Impressionism Collection exhibit Jointly presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department, French Ministry of Foreign Affairs, French Ministry of Culture and Communication and Consulate General of France in Hong Kong. This exhibition has been made possible in the People's Republic of China - Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong - with the generous support of LVMH/Mot Hennessy-Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior and in Hong Kong with the most generous support of HSBC. This is the real  highlight program of "The Year of France in China".

 

Reciprocating the celebrated cultural exchange program Year of China in France in 2004, the next significant cultural event coming up is the Year of France to be held in China. A highlight of this program will be the exhibition Impressionism: Treasures from the National Collection of France, which showcases around 47 impressionist masterpieces selected from the prestigious Musee d'Orsay in Paris and other major French museums. Exhibits will include internationally acclaimed and much loved masterpieces of the impressionist school, such as Manet's The fifer, Degas The dance class and Monet's Water lilies, as well as other works by these artists and by Pissarro, Sisley and Cézanne, etc. Interpreting impression as an impression at a glance or frozen in time, these artists turned their back on traditional subjects - historical events, mythology and religious themes - and instead recorded the cityscapes, daily life as well as charming scenes of nature in the post-Industrial Revolution Europe of the 19th century. Breaking away from the rules of conventional painting techniques, they used vigorous, painterly brushwork and looked to the magical play of lights and colors as they searched for a more atmospheric effect. The invention of photography and the introduction of Japanese prints at this time also inspired the artists interest in space and composition and drove them to experiment with new techniques to render the world. The impressionists thus played a major role in raising the curtain on modern 20th century art.

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