Master artist's centenary show brings in Guangzhou works
A memorial exhibition of one of China's greatest contemporary artists, Chao Shao-an, opens on Saturday, with 30 paintings brought from Guangzhou for display in Hong Kong for the first time.
The 'Essence of Purity' exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum will run until January 2 to mark the birthday of Chao 100 years ago.
A Leisure and Cultural Services Department spokeswoman said 110 of Chao's works will be featured.
Of those, 30 paintings are on loan from the Guangzhou Museum of Art. Another 30 pieces are from private collections, while the remaining 50 works are from the Heritage Museum and Museum of Art.
However, Chao's three largest paintings could not be presented together.
Although the Pine Tree from Guangzhou and Banana Trees from Hong Kong will be shown, Resting Buffalo remains in the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
Other exhibit highlights include White Peacock, Tiger and Moonlight Over the Pond. Photographs, original poetry manuscripts and sketches will also be on show.
Chao was born in 1905 in Guangzhou and started learning Chinese brush painting from the age of 15 from Gao Qifeng, a master artist from the Lingnan School of Art. Chao was well known for his landscapes, animals, flowers, insects and fish, and particularly his paintings of cicadas. He died in 1998, aged 93.
