When lawyers John Tong Chor-nam and Herman Tsoi Hak-chiu selected 117 Chao Shao-an paintings from their collections for an upcoming show, they wanted not only to showcase the artistic brilliance of the Lingnan master but also to champion classical southern Chinese art.
So after the exhibition, which runs at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from Saturday for five days, the pair will donate some of the works to art institutions abroad including the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
Tong says most overseas collections of Chinese classical art, such as that at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art, focus on works from the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. This is partly because Chinese art from the Qing dynasty onwards - with a few exceptions such as inks by Zhang Daquian and Qi Baishi - is hard to authenticate. 'There are too many well produced fakes,' Tong says.
Another reason is that the Lingnan school of painting, which has its roots in southern China, has never attained the recognition it deserves: it is frowned upon as being unconventional. 'The southern Chinese are more innovative and accepting of overseas influences than the northern Chinese. They like to take the best of foreign cultures and make it their own,' says Tong. 'So it is not uncommon to see Lingnan artists adopting Japanese or Western techniques.'
But taste is constantly changing and the recent Chinese economic boom has resulted in an increasing number of collectors and investors buying art, including Lingnan works. Chao - whose name is also spelt Zhao Shao'ang - is among the most sought-after artists today (he died in 1998 at the age of 93). The Hong Kong Heritage Museum is showing an exhibition of Chao's works, which runs until May 10, as part of its A Salute to Masters series.
The exhibition Zhao Shao'ang Paintings and Calligraphy from the Collection of You Yi Tang, is jointly organised by Tong and Tsoi (the founders of You Yi Tang) and Sotheby's to coincide with the auction house's spring sales between April 2 and April 9.