Message: IC
Since its establishment 20 years ago, the Macao Museum of Art (MAM) under the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao has been striving to enrich its collections through purchase, acquisition and donation, as well as from inheriting the entire collection from the former Luís de Camões Museum, and has been regularly showcasing its priceless pieces of art to the public. In the MAM collections, the modern and contemporary artworks featuring Macao’s historical landscape between the 18th and the 20th centuries and those themed around Macao have received the most attention from the public, as though they are iridescent pearls shining in the dark. Using ‘Wandering across the Landscape’ as the theme of this exhibition, the MAM exhibits a variety of works featuring Macao’s natural landscape and culture by painters of Western diplomatic corps, travelling and foreign artists. The works range from export paintings created in earlier times to modern and contemporary oil paintings, ink paintings, prints, sculptures and video installations.
‘Wandering’ (‘yu you’ in Chinese) also implies the meaning of pleasant travels. Hence, I would like to recommend three light-hearted ways to observe Macao, which are also reflected in the three sections of this exhibition, namely:
1. Topographical Images: Prints from the 17th to the 19th Centuries;
2. Chinnery’s Shadow: The Artist, His Companions and Students;
3. Traces of Modern Art: Works from the 20th to the 21st Centuries.
All of the creators are the most representative figures of their times. For instance, British painter George Chinnery, who had an indissoluble bond with Macao, came to Macao from India in 1825. Since then, he resided in the city for 27 years until his death and was buried in the Protestant Cemetery of Macao. Chinnery’s visit to Macao and his Macao-themed paintings symbolise the introduction of British art to Southern China in the 19th century and his influence is still present and evident today. French painter Auguste Borget stayed in Macao for 10 months in 1839, during which time he captured the city’s architecture, streetscapes, traditions and customs of that era. Russian painter George Smirnoff, who had a transitory and roving life, sojourned in Macao from 1944 to 1945. Today, we genuinely appreciate the city’s landscape he depicted, such as the tranquil streets and churches, as well as the shady trees and the glittering reflections left underneath when the sunlight filters through them. When we, from another time and space, realise the artist’s yearning for serenity and melancholic state of mind as suggested in his works, a pleasant feeling comes into our mind as though we are meeting with an old friend. This is exactly the best interpretation of ‘Wandering across the Landscape’.
In addition to the abovementioned, artists from the United Kingdom, France, Portugal, United States, Germany, Netherlands, Japan and China (mainland, Hong Kong and Macao) will also introduce us to Macao’s landscape over the past centuries with their unique styles and perspectives.
I wish all get great pleasure and enjoyment as you feast your eyes on the artworks while wandering across the landscape.
Mok Ian Ian
President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government