Chao Shao-an’s Lingnan School Paintings on Display

Description

The Hong Kong Heritage Museum is exhibiting paintings by Chao Shao-an, including rarely seen works on loan. Organised along three themes — Friendships with His Peers in Art, Artistic Journey Modelling from Nature and Footprints from a Life of Travel — the exhibition features a wide range of Chao’s works, including paintings of birds and flowers that earned him praise from Xu Beihong, a pioneer of modern Chinese art. Other works shown include paintings of animals and landscape like “Ruins,” which is a depiction of a triumphal arch and the Colosseum.

This exhibition celebrates the 120th anniversary of the birth of Chao, a master of the Lingnan School of Painting. Following in the footsteps of his mentor Gao Qifeng, Chao pushed for the modernisation of Chinese painting in the 20th century by combining the spirit of Chinese painting with ideas from Eastern and Western art.