Touching: A Journey through Chinese Landscapes from the Xubaizhai Collection (Phase 2)

EVENT DESCRIPTION

The pandemic has become more stable recently. Although it is still hard to travel aboard, we can still travel through the paintings spiritually. Whether depicting a life in seclusion, illustrating lines of verse, portraying an imaginary spectacle, recording an excursion, revitalising traditional styles or offering a perspective on a scholar’s studio and garden, Chinese landscape artists create a world where the viewer is free to wander around and relax in the joys of nature. Chinese landscape painting does not merely represent scenery, it also expresses the artist’s temperament and aspirations.

The second phase features 27 works from the Xubaizhai collection. This exhibition provides an opportunity to explore the essence of Chinese landscape paintings, introduces new attractions to visitors and invites them to walk through the artists’ scenery, view, travel and live in nature.

With paintings as “tour guides”, six travelling routes are being introduced, including pureness tour, discovery tour, scenic & historical tour, literati aesthetics tour, literary tour and spiritual tour, leading visitors to discover different themes and literati sentiments revealed in the Chinese landscape paintings, relax in the joys of nature and understand more about the life attitude of ancients.

Xubaizhai Collection of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy
The founder of the Xubaizhai Collection, Mr Low Chuck-tiew (1911-1993), was a renowned art connoisseur. Enjoying a close association with Chinese painting and calligraphy throughout his life and inspired by a passion for traditional Chinese culture, he invested great efforts in collecting Chinese paintings and calligraphy. The Xubaizhai Collection comprises Chinese painting and calligraphy works dating from the fifth century to the 20th century, with particular strengths in the Ming and Qing dynasties, representing the development of traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy. In 1989, Mr Low donated his considerable art collection to the Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA).

In giving the collection to the museum, he hoped to preserve his collection and make it available for public display and appreciation in order to maximise its educational value for the coming generations, and promote Chinese art and culture. The Xubaizhai Gallery of Chinese Painting and Calligraphy on the 2/F of the HKMoA was built in 1992, to provide a permanent home for the Xubaizhai Collection.