Bulletin Spring‧Summer 2006

Chinese University Bulletin Spring • Summer 2006 ( From left ) Prof. Mayching Kao, Dr. J.S. Lee, Prof. James C.Y. Watt and Prof. Peter Y.K. Lam in 2001 foresight of Dr. J.S. Lee, the founder of the Art Museum, that the society, the first of its kind in Hong Kong, was founded in 1981. In a quarter of a century, members of the Friends provide steadfast support to the Museum not only through donations, grants and scholarships, but also by volunteering as docents, researchers and editors, and assisting in the preparation for exhibitions.Theireffortshavefurtheredthepublic reach of the Art Museum. The Friends has also been an ambassador for the Museum, bringing people together and making the Museum known not only in Hong Kong but worldwide. Over the years, the society has endowed the Art Museum with a substantial amount of cash donations, with which an acquisition fund has been set up. The 800 odd art objects purchased by the fund has become an integral part of the Museum Collection. To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Friends in 2006, the Museum published a pictorial album titled Friendship And Scholarship — The First 25Years ,whichcatalogues the art objects donated by the Friends alongside a brief history and chronology of the society’s activities since its birth. In these 35 years, the Art Museum has held about 200 exhibitions, including the graduation exhibition jointly organized with the Fine Arts Department in May and June every year. To complement an exhibition, a catalogue is published. Jointly with other research titles, the Museum has published almost 100 books. Art objects were loaned from private collectors for exhibitions in the 1970s when the Art Museum was trying to acquire its own collections. ‘The Paintings and Calligraphy by Ming I-min from the Chih Lo Lou Collection’ and the ‘Trade Pottery in East and Southeast Asia’ exhibitions, respectively held in 1975 and 1978, were large-scale events that attracted much attention. An international symposium was also held for each exhibition to promote research on the subject. From the 1980s onwards, the Art Museum began to introduce collections of mainland China’s museums to the Hong Kong public. It is also the first local museum to join hands with museums in mainland China in holding exhibitions. The earliest partners of the Art Museum were the Guangdong Provincial Museum and the Guangzhou Art Gallery. This was partly due to the Art Museum’s collection of Guangdong paintings and calligraphy, and partly, the proximity of Guangzhou. The Art Museum also held three exhibitions with the Beijing Palace Museum, including ‘Paintings of the Ming Dynasty’ which turned out to be a huge success. Other partners have included the Shanghai Museum, Hubei Provincial Museum, Nanjing Museum, Liangzhu Cultural Museum, Zhejiang Provincial Museum, the Beijing University Library, Jiangsu Provincial Museum, Jingdezhen Ceramic Museum, and Hunan Provincial Museum. ‘The many exhibitions presented with these museums have brought magnificent art resources and the latest archeological finds to Hong Kong for the appreciation and study of the university community and the general public. They have also helped to establish the Art Museum as a hub for exhibition, publication