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Bank of America Merrill Lynch will fund the Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong to restore 30 works by Lui Shou-kwan, one of the most innovative and influential painters in Hong Kong in the 20^th century, as part of the bank’s global Art Conservation Project. 

The restoration, a joint project with the Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, will focus on some of Lui’s most important works including his interpretation of classical masterpieces from the 10^th to 20^th century. Lui’s paintings are known to contain important annotations on the meaning and purpose of art, a valuable resource for academics and researchers to better understand his contribution to Hong Kong’s artistic traditions. The project is scheduled for completion in 2016, when the works will be put on display in a special exhibition. 

“We are honored to support the conservation of this culturally significant body of work,” said Matthew Koder, Asia Pacific president of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “As a socially responsible company, we believe in encouraging cultural exchange through art, and we hope that this project will build greater understanding of the city’s artistic legacy for generations to come.” 

The restoration work will be done in the Art Museum’s mounting studio, the largest in Hong Kong, and will be led by Xie Guanghan, the Art Museum’s conservator and a renowned specialist in this field. 

“We appreciate the generous support of Bank of America Merrill Lynch. This will enable us to use the world’s best talent and resources in order to restore these paintings to their original beauty, thereby facilitating greater appreciation and understanding of Lui’s repertoire,” said Josh Yiu, associate director of the Art Museum. “As a pioneer in Chinese painting, he created an artistic identity for Hong Kong and contributed to the birth of the rich artistic life in the city. The preservation of his work is therefore tantamount to preserving the artistic legacy of Hong Kong.” 

The bank’s Art Conservation Project is a unique program that provides grants to nonprofit museums around the world to conserve historically or culturally significant paintings, sculptures, archaeological or architectural pieces and other media that are in danger of degeneration. The purpose is to retain their cultural value for future generations and includes works that have been designated as national treasures. Since the program’s inception in 2010, Bank of America Merrill Lynch has provided grants to museums in 27 countries supporting 72 conservation projects. In Asia Pacific, the bank has provided grants to projects in Hong Kong, India, China, Japan and Australia. 

In 2013 and 2014, the Art Conservation Project supported the restoration of a diverse range of works including Tudor portraits of Queen Elizabeth at the National Portrait Gallery in London; Augustus Saint-Gaudens’s ‘Diana’ at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; ancient ceramics at the Shanghai Museum; stone sculptures at the Beijing Stone Carving Art Museum; two copies of the Magna Carta at the Society of Antiquaries of London; three paintings by Watanabe Kazan at the Tokyo National Museum; Frederick McCubbin’s iconic ‘The North wind’ at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne; and India’s ‘Panchatantra’, a compilation of five books of charming animal fables housed in Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya Museum. 

Notes to Editors 

Bank of America Merrill Lynch and the Arts

As a company serving clients in more than 100 countries, Bank of America Merrill Lynch is committed to a diverse program of cultural support that engages individuals, organizations and communities in building mutual respect and recognition. Our commitment to the arts is based on the belief that a thriving arts and culture sector connects societies and economies throughout the world.   Our program includes major sponsorships, grants for arts education, loans of our own collection in complete exhibitions to museums free of charge, the Bank of America Art Conservation Project, and support of theater, dance and music.  In this work we partner with hundreds of nonprofit arts organizations around the world each year.  For more information, please visit www.bankofamerica.com/arts. 

Bank of America Merrill Lynch Corporate Social Responsibility

Developing solutions for social and economic challenges is at the core of Bank of America Merrill Lynch’s responsibility platform. In more than 90 countries around the world, we partner with employees, clients and stakeholders to help make financial lives better. The firm focuses on responsible business practices, environmental sustainability, advancing opportunity in local communities through education and employability programs and investing in global leadership development. We realize the power of our people and value our differences, recognizing that our diversity makes us a stronger firm and allows us to better service our stakeholders. By harnessing our intellectual resources, sharing knowledge and connecting capital with need, we are providing opportunities that effect positive change. Learn more at www.bankofamerica.com/about and follow us on Twitter at @BofA_News. 

About the Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong

The Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, serves the community by collecting, preserving, researching and exhibiting a wide range of artifacts illuminating the rich arts, humanities, and cultural heritage of China. The Art Museum promotes the excellence of both its permanent collections and loan collections of Chinese art and their use for scholarly endeavors and outreach efforts. As a university teaching museum, it offers in-depth practice of museology and teaching of art history and heritage through direct and sustained access to original Chinese works of art by collaborating with the Department of Fine Arts. With different University faculties it advocates interdisciplinary approaches to the social, cultural, technological and historical context of Chinese art. Founded in 1971, the Art Museum has been taking an active role in achieving the objectives of the University in promoting Chinese culture and heritage, and facilitating academic exchange between China and other countries, as well as enriching the cultural lives and spiritual well-being of society.