HONG KONG.- The Hong Kong Palace Museum unveiled its new exhibition “The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Stories Untold—Figure Paintings of the Ming Dynasty from the Palace Museum”. The exhibition is jointly organised by the HKPM and the Palace Museum, and solely sponsored by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust (the Trust). As the second major Palace Museum painting and calligraphy exhibition presented by HKPM, and the first major exhibition of ancient Chinese figure paintings in Hong Kong in recent years, the exhibition showcases the stellar artistic achievements of renowned Ming dynasty painters during mid-14th century to mid-17th century, and paints a vivid picture of the history, culture and life of the Ming dynasty. A total of 81 sets of exquisite works by around 60 Ming dynasty painters, among which 14 sets are grade-one national treasures, will be presented in the exhibition in four rotations each lasting about three months. The exhibition will be open to the public in Gallery 4 of the HKPM till 30 November 2024.
The opening ceremony for “The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Stories Untold—Figure Paintings of the Ming Dynasty from the Palace Museum” was held at the HKPM, officiated by Chan Kwok-ki, Chief Secretary for Administration of The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR); Dr Wang Xudong, Director of the Palace Museum; Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges, Chief Executive Officer of The Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC); Winnie Tam, Chairman of the HKPM Board; Lau Chun, Raistlin, Under Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism of The Government of the HKSAR; Betty Fung, Chief Executive Officer of the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA); and Dr Louis Ng, Museum Director of the HKPM. This is the first annual major exhibition of The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series presented with the Trust’s donation to the HKPM to support its exhibitions, talent development and educational programmes from 2023 to 2031. It testifies to The Hong Kong Jockey Club’s vision to support the HKPM in showcasing arts and culture from China and other parts of the world, and promoting Chinese culture to future generations.
Chan Kwok-ki, Chief Secretary for Administration, The Government of the HKSAR, said, “The exhibition ‘The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Stories Untold—Figure Paintings of the Ming Dynasty from the Palace Museum’ provides audiences from Hong Kong and around the world with an invaluable opportunity to embrace the flourishing collection of portrait paintings from the Palace Museum, and deepen their understanding of the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese paintings and the rich heritage of traditional Chinese culture. The HKSAR Government will continue to work closely with the Palace Museum and WKCDA, through infrastructure such as the HKPM, to give full play to Hong Kong’s unique positioning as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange under the National 14th Five-Year Plan, while telling good stories of the Motherland to Chinese and foreign audiences, so as to enhance the cultural soft power of China and the influence of Chinese culture.”
Dr Wang Xudong, Director of the Palace Museum, said, “The Palace Museum is delighted to leverage this unique platform created by the HKPM to promote and demonstrate the value and beauty of Chinese culture. This new exhibition at the HKPM is a rare opportunity to showcase these masterpieces by distinguished Ming dynasty artists to audiences across the globe. We hope these paintings will resonate with the visitors and inspire them to learn more about traditional Chinese culture. We also hope to foster a deeper understanding of the artistic brilliance that resides within the Chinese artistic heritage, to further promote cultural exchange and deepen mutual learning among civilisations.”
The construction of the HKPM at the West Kowloon Cultural District was funded by a HK$3.5 billion donation from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust – the Club’s largest single charity donation to date. “Seven years ago, the Club supported the Government of the Hong Kong SAR by funding the establishment of the HKPM. Our joint vision was to create a truly iconic museum, where people from East and West can appreciate the very best of Chinese art and culture in Hong Kong,” said the Club’s CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges. “Museum practitioners and artists will be able to explore the Palace Museum’s rich collections. Learning and outreach programmes will help visitors of all ages learn more about Chinese history and culture,” added Mr Engelbrecht-Bresges.
Winnie Tam, Chairman of the HKPM Board, said, “The relics from the Palace Museum embody the Chinese traditional culture of thousands of years. The HKPM is honoured to be supported by the Palace Museum to showcase treasured Ming dynasty paintings from its collection, not only to unveil fascinating stories behind the paintings, but present Chinese art and culture to our younger generation of visitors through a new perspective. This exhibition demonstrates the HKPM’s founding mission as a museum that “connects”. Our museum connects the past with the present, and is also committed to promoting Chinese cultural inheritance.”
81 sets of the finest figure paintings of the Ming dynasty presented in four rotations, each lasting about three months; the majority are displayed for the first time outside the Palace Museum
As the second major Palace Museum painting and calligraphy exhibition presented by HKPM after the successful run of its inaugural special exhibition: “The Making of Masterpieces: Chinese Painting and Calligraphy from the Palace Museum” in July - October 2022, “The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Stories Untold—Figure Paintings of the Ming Dynasty from the Palace Museum” features rare and iconic works by nearly 60 Ming painting masters, including three of the “Four Masters of the Ming dynasty”, namely Tang Yin (1470–1524), Wen Zhengming (1470–1559) and Qiu Ying (about 1494–1552). With a unique curatorial approach, the exhibition highlights the artistic achievements and careers of court painters, literati painters, and professional painters in the early, middle, and late periods of the Ming dynasty. It reveals fascinating stories behind the paintings, showing the multifaceted lives and spiritual world of the people during the Ming dynasty, deepening visitors’ understanding of traditional Chinese paintings, history and culture from a new perspective.
The works to be displayed in each of the four rotations will be organized in three thematic sections: the first section entitled “Opulent versus Untrammelled” focuses on Ming court paintings and the Zhe School paintings from the early and middle part of the dynasty. Ming court paintings include portraits of emperors and depictions of leisurely pursuits at court, whilst the works by the Zhe School artists living in today’s Jiangsu and Zhejiang region, represented by Dai Jin (1388–1462) and Wu Wei (1459–1508), are wilder and untrammelled in style. The second section, titled, “Antiquarian and Elegant”, mainly presents works from the Wu School painted during the mid-Ming dynasty. An economic boom supported by the Yangzi River instigated swift developments in art and culture and, which prompted painters in what is now the Suzhou region to produce works that reflected people’s pursuits of an elegant way of living both in the material and spiritual sense. This period is represented by painters Tang Yin, Wen Zhengming and Qiu Ying, among others. The third section, titled “Worldly and Strange”, highlights the emergence of genre paintings and bizarre-style paintings, which became popular towards the end of the Dynasty. Painters such as Yuan Shangtong (1590– after 1661) focused on aspects of everyday life, while Cui Zizhong (1594–1644) and Chen Hongshou (1598–1652) daringly developed an extraordinary new style of figure painting. Zeng Jing (1564–1647), along with his disciples, integrated Western painting techniques into Chinese conventions of portraiture of notable figures.
Among the works on display,14 sets are grade-one national treasures, including Song Emperor Taizu Calling on Zhao Pu on a Snowy Night (mid- to late 15th century) by Liu Jun; Gathering at the Orchid Pavilion (1542) by Wen Zhengming; Stories of Legends (mid-16th century) by Qiu Ying, and Confucius, Laozi, and Buddhist Arhat (late-16th or early-17th century) by Ding Yunpeng in the first rotation. The remaining 9 sets of grade-one paintings, including Tang Yin’s The Trees in the Wind (early 16th century) and Qiu Ying’s Illustration of Tributaries (mid-16th century), will be on display in the second to fourth rotations. The exhibition also deploys multimedia elements and digital technologies to create interactive experiences for the visitors, bringing the vibrant Ming Dynasty to life.
Ming dynasty paintings on view in this exhibition are on paper or silk, which makes them fragile, highly sensitive to light and fluctuations in temperature and relative humidity. In order to protect these precious treasures, the 81 sets of paintings will be displayed in four rotations, each featuring approximately 20 sets on display for a duration of about three months. For these reasons, this exhibition is a once-in-a-life-time opportunity to view these treasures in person. For more details about the exhibits and exhibition period*, please refer to the Museum’s website.
To complement the exhibition, the HKPM will organise a series of learning and engagement programmes, including public talks, workshops and guided tours, to deepen visitors’ understanding of the exhibits and their cultural significance. The “HKPM Talk Series” will invite the HKPM’s curators and other experts to share their latest research on Ming figure paintings. A wide variety of workshops will also be offered to the public, including a workshop taught by HKPM conservators. The HKPM will provide an exhibition guidebook to help teachers plan and implement students’ group visits to this exhibition, as well as accessible guided tours and workshops for those with special needs.
The exhibition “The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Stories Untold—Figure Painting of the Ming Dynasty from the Palace Museum” will open to the public tomorrow (13 December 2023) till 30 November 2024 in Gallery 4 of the HKPM. Visitors can access this exhibition with a General Admission or Special Exhibition ticket. No additional admission ticket for this exhibition is required. Tickets are now available for sale or reservation through the West Kowloon Cultural District’s online ticketing platforms and ticketing partners.
