Wan Qingli, Hong Kong artist and art historian, mourned by city’s art community following his death aged 72 in Florida

Beijing-born founding director and visual arts professor at the Academy of Visual Arts of Hong Kong Baptist University was also an adviser for museums on Chinese painting and calligraphy

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Published: 3:27pm, 24 Jan 2017Updated: 3:27pm, 24 Jan 2017

Hong Kong artists and academics are mourning the death of artist and art historian Professor Wan Qingli, who had a heart attack earlier this month at his home in Florida. He was 72.

Wan, who died on January 11, was revered by Hong Kong visual artists, and was founding director of the Academy of Visual Arts of Hong Kong Baptist University a decade ago. He was also active as an expert adviser on Chinese painting and calligraphy for museums run by Hong Kong’s Leisure and Cultural Services Department, including the Hong Kong Heritage Museum.

Part of his collection of Chinese art and calligraphy, which included seal carvings and handwritten letters by prominent artists such as Wu Zuoren, Li Keran and Huang Yongyu, went on show at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 2013 and shed light on the social changes and development of art in China in the last century.

Born in Beijing in 1945, Wan’s interest in art manifested itself at an early age and he was studying painting at the Beijing Adolescents Palace at the age of 10.

Wan Qingli’s Wishing Each Other Longevity.

He was admitted to the Central Academy of Fine Arts (CAFA) in 1963. When the Cultural Revolution began three years later, his “out-of-favour” family background led to his imprisonment in the so-called ox shed, a makeshift prison at the CAFA, according to the Museum of Art.