IC
Message
Export paintings play a crucial role in the collection of the Macao Museum of Art (MAM). The genre emerged in the mid-18th century and rose to prominence in the 19th century, encompassing various media such as oil paintings, watercolours, gouache, paintings on pith paper, and reverse glass paintings. In 2022, the Guangdong Museum presented the exhibition titled Focus: Acclimation of Art between China and the West in the 18th-19th Centuries. The exhibition brought together significant Chinese export paintings from several cultural institutions in Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao. It also systematically complied and displayed the integration of Western painting, from techniques to materials, in the Pearl River Delta region. With the support of the Macao SAR Government’s Cultural Affairs Bureau, six rare works were meticulously selected from the MAM collection for the exhibition. These works include pieces by the influential Western painter George Chinnery, who had a profound impact on the South China region, as well as his disciples Marciano António Baptista, Lamqua and his studio.
In 2024, coinciding with the 250th anniversary of Chinnery’s birth, the Cultural Affairs Bureau presents the Focus exhibition at the MAM. Building upon the previous edition, the current exhibition has additionally included over 100 paintings created by Chinnery, who had a close connection to Macao, as well as his disciples and the painters he deeply influenced. In total, over 300 works are displayed, comprehensively revealing the visual dialogue and interplay between Chinese and foreign artists while highlighting Macao as an early gateway to the collision and integration of Chinese and Western cultures.
Export paintings are highly realistic and serve as invaluable historical records. They provide rich references for researching modern history of Canton and the development of Chinese and Western paintings in the late Qing dynasty. These paintings depicting various landscapes and realistic representations allow viewers to glimpse the social conditions and commercial activities in Canton, Hong Kong and Macao, thus holding enormous historical significance and academic value.
On behalf of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, I would like to express my gratitude for the immense support of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province, the Guangdong Museum, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art of the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. I anticipate that the cultural institutions of Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao will strengthen their collaboration, thoroughly implementing the ‘Jointly Developing a Cultured Bay Area’ strategy listed in the ‘Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area’. In addition, by fully utilising the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area Alliance of Museums as an exchange platform, we can promote comprehensive and in-depth cultural cooperation in the Greater Bay Area, thus laying a more solid academic foundation for constructing the Cultured Bay Area.
Deland, Leong Wai Man
President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau
of the Macao SAR Government