Under the patronage of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province and the Cultural Affairs Bureau (IC) of the Macao SAR Government and organised by the Macao Museum of Art (MAM) of IC and the Guangdong Museum, with the support of the Hong Kong Museum of Art under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government, the large-scale exhibition “Focus: Integration of Art between China and the West in the 18^th-19^th Centuries” was inaugurated today (10 May) at MAM. The opening ceremony was officiated in a lively atmosphere by the Acting President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, Cheang Kai Meng; the Chief of the Division of the Department of Publicity and Culture of the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government in the Macao SAR , Wang Huijie; the First-Class Investigator of the Sociocultural Museums and Relics Division, Sun Xuliang, representing the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province; the Director of the Guangdong Museum, Xiao Haiming; and the Director of the Hong Kong Museum of Art under the Leisure and Cultural Services Department of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Maria Mok Kar Wing.

As one of the programmes integrated in the 34^th Macao Arts Festival, the exhibition is of an unprecedented scale, featuring over 300 pieces/sets of exhibits from the Guangdong Museum, Hong Kong Museum of Art, MAM and the Macao Museum. Divided into three sections focusing on painting styles, painting skills and painting materials, the exhibition presents a full account of export paintings, showcases the dialogue and integration between Chinese and foreign artists amid globalisation of the visual arts during the 18^th and 19^th centuries, and highlights Macao’s significant role in the encounter between the Chinese and Western cultures. The Chinese and Western historical paintings displayed in this exhibition are historical traces and testimonies of a specific epoch, and the diverse artistic styles and aesthetic tastes reflected in the artworks are inspiring to viewers for transcending different eras and geographical boundaries.

Featuring a wide selection of export paintings, the sections “Acclimation of the Painting Skills” and “Adaptation of the Painting Materials” reveal the unceasing acclimation and integration of Chinese and Western painting skills along the South China coast and the mutual learning between Chinese and Western artists regarding the use of painting materials. These two sections are open on the 4^th floor of MAM until 11 August. The section “Integration of the Painting Styles: George Chinnery and His Painting Styles”, which is now open on the 3^rd floor of MAM, displays many rarely seen artworks created by Chinnery and his followers such as Marciano Antonio Baptista, Thomas Boswall Watson, Lamqua, Sunquaq and Youqua and reveals Chinnery’s significant influence on export paintings. This section is held until 15 September.

Various extended activities will be successively launched during the exhibition period, and guided tours in Cantonese will be available for the public from 18 May at 3pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. The theatrical guided tour “Strolling in the Macao Museum of Art” will be held on 25 May. On 26 May, Chen Ying, the Cultural Relics and Museum Research Fellow of the Guangdong Provincial Cultural Relics Preservation Committee, will present the lecture “Looking at the World from the Pearl River Delta: Reinterpreting Qing Export Painter Lam Qua from Canton”.

For more information about registration, please stay tuned to the updates on the MAM website at www.MAM.gov.mo.  

The MAM is open from 10am to 7pm (no admission after 6:30pm) including on public holidays, and is closed on Mondays. Admission is free.