Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2001

Propelling the Creation and study of Art T he University's Department of Fine Arts is an important driving force behind the development of contemporary art in Hong Kong, Besides nurturing expertise in studio art, art research, and art administration, it has been setting new directions for art education at the tertiary level. Where Art Education at Tertiary Level Begins Thefirstto provide art education at the tertiary level m Hong Kong, the department has its origins in the two-year art specialization programme offered by New Asia College in 1957. It expanded into a department two years later, offering a four-year curriculum. On becoming part of The Chinese University in 1963 ， New Asia's Department of Fine Arts was then the only unit in a local university with a visual arts programme. According to Prof. Lee Yun Woon (left), himself an alumnus of the department, the department gives equal emphasis to the traditional as to the new, to Eastern as to Western art. The aim is to promote traditional Chinese culture and to effect communication between Chinese and Western art. Such a stance is in line with the thinking of the founding fathers of New Asia College — Ch'ien Mu, Tang Chun-i, Tchang Pi-kai — who were of the view that students should be given the opportunity to develop artistically, and an effective art curriculum should strike a balance between East and West. Prof. Lee's teachers at the time included such big names as Chen Shih-wen, Ting Yin-yung, Tseng Kuo-ch ü en, Chao Ho-ch'in, Ku Ching-yao, Yung Cho-ya, Chang Pi-han, Lai Yuk-hay, L. S. Shaw, C.C. Wang, Johnson Chow, Ch ê ng Y ü eh-po, and Chin Ch'in-pai. They used works from their own collections or borrowed famous originals to illustrate their lectures, which were always inspiring and insightful. Fine Arts students sketching during class Hong Kong Culture: A Multiplicity of Colours 23