Guangdong Museum
Message
Canton was a historically important node in the international trade network throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. Against the backdrop of commercial globalisation, the region emerged as a portal and window for the exchange of art and culture between China and the West. Export painters from the Canton port began employing various Western painting techniques and materials in their works to meet the aesthetic demands of the new era, resulting in a new artistic form distinct from the traditional Chinese and Western aesthetics. This marked the beginning of a new stage of artistic dialogue and integration between China and the West.
Under the guidance of the Department of Culture and Tourism of Guangdong Province and the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao SAR Government, the Guangdong Museum (Guangzhou Luxun Museum) and the Macao Museum of Art have collaborated to present Focus: Integration of Art between China and the West in the 18th-19th Centuries. Building upon a previous Guangdong Museum exhibition held in 2022 under the same theme, this exhibition showcases over 300 remarkable works from the museum’s collection, as well as collections from several other cultural institutions in Hong Kong and Macao that house historical paintings. It highlights the visual art of the ‘Bay Area Era’ created together by Chinese and Western artists throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, detailing the integration of painting styles, skills and materials.
The Focus exhibition displayed Chinese export paintings from the Guangdong Museum collection for the first time after the museum had been acquiring the paintings for two decades. It also marked another large-scale, original exhibition of the museum under its ‘Chinese Exported Paintings Series’. In 2022, Focus won the International and Hong Kong-Macao-Taiwan Co-operation Award at the 20th National Top Ten Museum Exhibitions event.
This exhibition offers a ‘panoramic view’ of Chinese export paintings from the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area and its presentation in Macao holds special significance. Over the past 400 years, the city has witnessed the collision and integration of Chinese and Western cultures. The resulting cultural complementarity and diversity have positioned Macao as a global paradigm for artistic exchange. In the early years of the export painting industry in Canton, Macao not only nurtured artistic talents but also became a frequent subject of countless works by these painters. Under the guidance of the Western painters who lived in Macao, many paintings depicting the city were crafted. These works hold significant value in Macao’s art history, providing a glimpse from the folk perspective of the city’s character, people and life of the bygone eras.
Leveraging its geographical advantage at the Greater Bay Area, the Guangdong Museum has been committed to the collection, protection, research and display of cultural relics from the Maritime Silk Road for many years. It strives to tell the stories of China, the Greater Bay Area and the Lingnan regions to the public from a global perspective. It also aims to establish the museum as a leader when it comes to explaining Lingnan culture to the world and as an essential platform for artistic and cultural exchanges between the globe’s many civilisations.
Finally, I sincerely wish the exhibition great success.
Xiao Haiming
Director of Guangdong Museum