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(Due to changes to the exhibition schedule, the exhibitions “Celebrating the Year of the Ox” and “Amazing Clay: The Ceramic Collection of the Art Museum” will end on 11 April 2021. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.)

To celebrate the Year of the Ox and the 50^th anniversary of the Art Museum of The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), the Art Museum will present three special exhibitions in Spring 2021, including Celebrating the Year of the Ox (29 January 2021 – 31 May 2021), Artistic Confluence in Guangdong: Selected Painting and Calligraphy from Ming to Mid-Qing China (Collection of the Art Museum, CUHK) (Phase I: 29 January 2021 – 16 May 2021), and Amazing Clay: The Ceramic Collection of the Art Museum (June 2020 – May 2021). Free admission for all members of the public. In view of the pandemic situation, advance booking is required for all visits to the exhibitions. For details, please visit the museum’s website.

The Art Museum will also organise online talks with experts invited to offer insights on Guangdong paintings, calligraphy and culture from February to May. Online learning resources and activities will also be available on the museum’s website and social media platforms, encouraging everyone to stay in touch with arts at home.

Meet with Ox-related Artworks for New Year’s Celebration

2021 is the Year of the Ox according to Chinese zodiac. The exhibition Celebrating the Year of the Ox will feature 12 ox-related items from the Art Museum’s collection, including paintings, calligraphy and ceramic wares that showcase the ancient cattle culture.

Highly respected throughout Chinese history, oxen not only served as a main source of food and sacrificial offering, but also as an important beast of burden, pulling carts and ploughing fields. In addition, cow bones could be used in divination and glue-making, while cowhide and cow horns were raw materials in ware production. Altogether, they demonstrate the diverse functions of oxen. Likewise, Chinese characters with ox as the radical express a wide range of meanings and form the basis of the language. In ancient literature and art, it is not uncommon to find works praising, depicting, metaphorising and personifying the animal, which further show its rich humanistic implications.

Discover Guangdong Cultural Treasures

The first among the series of exhibitions celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Art Museum, Artistic Confluence in Guangdong: Selected Painting and Calligraphy from Ming to Mid-Qing China, is a journey of retrospection and reconstruction that leads audiences to delve into the flow of thought of Guangdong cultural elites in relation to arts, culture, and history. It also illustrates the unparalleled efforts and enthusiasm of these pioneers in their quest for applying their learned knowledge of statecraft to practical affairs and attaining a place in the nation’s intellectual community. Featuring around 130 pieces of painting, calligraphy, and object by well-known artists during the Ming and Qing dynasties such as Chen Xianzhang, Lin Liang, Zhang Mu and Chen Gongyin, two phases of the exhibition will be held in the spring and autumn of 2021 respectively. If you want to read the artworks and research articles thoroughly, the exhibition catalogue is a good pick. It was penned by the curator Dr. Peggy Ho and will be published in March.

Diverse Ceramics on Display

Amazing Clay: The Ceramic Collection of the Art Museum provides audiences with an understanding of culture and history through a wide range of Chinese ceramics from the collections. The long history of ceramics in China reflects the advancement of craftsmanship, the growing popularity and economic relevance of ceramics, cultural exchanges among communities, and the multifaceted lifestyles and culture of ancient Chinese. Since the Tang and Song dynasties, Chinese ceramics have grown to be global cultural commodities. The flourishing export of Chinese ceramics has contributed to the rise of trade and exchanges between China and the rest of the world.

Details of the Exhibitions

Celebrating the Year of the Ox

Artistic Confluence in Guangdong: Selected Painting and Calligraphy from Ming to Mid-Qing China (Phase I: Ming to Early Qing)

Amazing Clay: The Ceramic Collection of the Art Museum

Visiting details of the Art Museum

About the Art Museum, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Founded in 1971, the Art Museum, CUHK serves the University community and public in Hong Kong by collecting, preserving, researching and exhibiting a wide range of artifacts illuminating the rich arts, humanities, and cultural heritage of ancient and pre-modern China. The Art Museum promotes the excellence of both its permanent collections and loan collections of Chinese art, and their use for scholarly endeavours and outreach efforts. As a university teaching museum, it offers in-depth practice of museology and archaeology as well as the teaching of art history through direct and sustained access to original Chinese works of art in collaboration with the Department of Fine Arts and the Centre for Chinese Archaeology and Art. With the support of different faculties, it advocates interdisciplinary approaches to the social, cultural, technological, and historical context of Chinese art. Adhering to the purpose of the University, the Museum is committed to promoting Chinese culture and academic exchanges as well as contributing to society.

For posters and photos of the exhibitions, please download at:
https://bit.ly/2Xz3P3m

Online learning resources and activities:
http://www.artmuseum.cuhk.edu.hk/en/training/current/
http://www.artmuseum.cuhk.edu.hk/en/training/resource/

Attachment: Exhibit highlights