Co-organized by the Macao Museum of Art under the Cultural Affairs Bureau and the Macao Artist Society, the collective art exhibition “60th Anniversary of the Macao Artists Society – A Retrospective”, was inaugurated on Wednesday, 31 August, at 6:30pm, at the Gallery of Special Exhibitions of the Handover Gifts Museum of Macao, presenting a selection of 60 works by 36 late artists from the Macao Artists Society. The President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau, Ung Vai Meng and the President of the Macau Artist Society, Lai Ieng, made the opening speeches. Other officiating guests present at the opening ceremony were the Representative and Assistant of the Chief of the Department of Education and Culture of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao S.A.R., Shao Bin; the President of the Administrative Committee of the Macao Foundation, Wu Zhiliang; the Director of the Macao Daily News, Lok Po; the Vice President of the Yu Un Chinese Calligraphers and Painters Association of Macao, Sio Chun Iun; the Honorary President of the Macau Artist Society, Ung Si Meng and Ao Cam Iong.
Established in 1956, the Macao Artist Society (formerly the Macao Art Research Association) is one of the most influential art organisations in Macao and has made a remarkable contribution to local art development. To commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Macao Artist Society, MAM holds this anniversary exhibition to commemorate the distinguished works of pioneer artists and support the local artistic development.
The exhibition features a selection of calligraphy and oil paintings, watercolours and painting in traditional Chinese ink, as well as a series of rare collaborative paintings created exclusively for the National Day of the People’s Republic of China. Encompassing Chinese and Western techniques, the artworks are of different genres, ranging from Chinese traditional paintings of natural landscapes, flowers and birds, portraits and still life, calligraphy, collage, abstract paintings as well as comics. These products of the Chinese and Western cultures are items of Macao’s cultural heritage featuring Macao’s unique human characteristics.
Throughout six decades, this generation of artists has generated and cultivated, against all odds, the emergence of Macao’s artistic identity. They have elevated the city’s artistic standard significantly and laid a solid foundation for its modern art development, demonstrating their far-reaching impact on the overall advancement of art in Macao.
The exhibition “60th Anniversary of the Macao Artists Society – A Retrospective” is open until 4 December at the Handover Gifts Museum of Macao, located at Avenida Xian Xing Hai, and is open daily from 10am to 7pm including on public holidays (no admission after 6:30pm; closed on Mondays). Admission is free. For details about the exhibition, please visit www.MAM.gov.mo. For enquiries, please call IC through tel. no. 8791 9814 during office hours.
