Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government
This year celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Yu Un Chinese Calligraphers and Painters Association of Macao. Seven decades ago, a group of Chinese calligraphy and painting enthusiasts shared their passion and founded the association in Macao. It is named after the ‘Yu Un Restaurant’, which the art enthusiasts frequented in Travessa do Auto Novo. The restaurant was owned by Mr Chui Tak Kei, one of the founders of the Yu Un Chinese Calligraphers and Painters Association of Macao. Since its inception, the association has continuously brought together local calligraphers, painters and seal carvers while promoting artistic exchange at home and abroad. With an ever-growing team, it now has over three hundred members. This longest-standing and largest local arts organisation has received the most significant number of Chinese calligraphy and painting enthusiasts in Macao. It has a tremendous influence on Macao’s art scene and is an important cog in the development of modern Chinese calligraphy and painting in the city. Yu Un has continuously fostered artistic exchange in the last seventy years with its peers in the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan through exhibitions and arts events. It has become one of the city’s largest-scale and active art organisations.
To celebrate the association’s anniversary, the Macao Museum of Art, under the Cultural Affairs Bureau, has joined hands with the Yu Un Chinese Calligraphers and Painters Association of Macao to present A Gathering of Treasures: The 70th Anniversary Art Exhibition of the Yu Un Chinese Calligraphers and Painters Association of Macao. The show displays Chinese paintings, calligraphy works and seal carvings by seven revered artists from the association: Chui Tak Kei, Deng Fen, Luo Shuzhong, Situ Qi, Gan Heng, Lin Jin and U Kuan Wai. It showcases Chinese art lovers’ enthusiasm and pursuit of Chinese culture and art in the past and pays tribute to the veteran painters and calligraphers who had devoted to developing local calligraphy and painting.
The themes of two hundred artworks widely range from landscapes, flowers and birds to figures. The printings unfold diverse forms, and the calligraphy works and seal carvings showcase superb artistry. The exhibits comprehensively display the seven Yu Un veteran artists’ styles. I believe the audience, while appreciating their artworks, will witness the growth of the Yu Un Chinese Calligraphers and Painters Association of Macao and gain a deeper knowledge of the evolvement of calligraphy, painting and seal carving in Macao over the last seven decades.
I sincerely wish the exhibition a complete success!
Deland, Leong Wai Man
President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government