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Hong Kong Heritage Museum seeks to explore the spirit of Hong Kong's heritage from many different angles. This year, the Museum presents the "Print Art Festival 2001" with a series of exhibitions and education activities focusing on the theme of print art, aiming to offer the audience an opportunity to explore different facades of the art of printing. The "Impressed Dimensions - the Art of Printmaking" and "The Enchanting Years - A Donation from the KWAN Family", which will be opened for the public from tomorrow (May 18) onwards, are the first two exhibitions of the festival.

The Chief Curator of the Museum Mr Yim Shui-yuen noted that the development of print art had a close link to that of human civilization of the Chinese. Historically, print art can be traced back to the oracle bones of Shang dynasty (1600-1100BC), the seal engraving of the Qin (221-206BC) and the Han dynasty (206BC-220AD) and the stone inscription of the Han dynasty. New print arts were developed through the years: from the wood-engraved scriptures and Buddhist images of the Sui dynasty (581-618) and the Tang dynasty (618-907), to the relief printed books of the Song dynasty (961-1279), and to the colour printing of the Ming dynasty (1366-1644). The significant role it plays in human civilization is wide and far-fetched especially in the dissemination of knowledge and thoughts.

Mr Yim also said that the series exhibitions organised by the Heritage Museum under the theme of print art attempted to extend and include other related art forms such as photography and poster design with the aims to arouse imagination, and to stimulate cross-boundary examination of issues in art, technology, business and other interesting discourse.

"Print Art Festival 2001" consists of five exhibitions. Apart from the current two exhibitions, three more will come later this year, namely "Nature Imprint", "Poster Power - Hong Kong International Poster Triennial 2001" and "A Century of Hong Kong Art Photography 1900-2000".

As technology continues to advance, printing is no longer confined to the traditional printing plate. It continues to challenge the definitions of art, to expand its own realm and to open up dimensions beyond the normal bounds of convention and imagination. The art of printmaking is sometimes known as "indirect art" because the production of a print involves the making of a printing plate followed by a series of printing or image transfer procedures. Printing thus distinguishes itself from other art forms because of a different mindset and different technical skills applied, and because of the visual effects and satisfaction generated.

Printing has also earned the name of "art in plural" as a printing plate can produce more than one original work. In manipulating the reproducibility granted by technology, printing has revolutionised the uniqueness associated with art. And as it has adapted developing technology to art, print art is closely related to people's changing lives.

The "Impressed Dimensions-the Art of Printmaking" features about 50 print works by 38 local artists from the 1950s up to the present. The print works are divided into the textual dimensions of planography, serigraph, relief printing and itaglio, and grouped under four themes, namely City, Life, Tradition and Art, to showcase the various aspects involved in the application of the printing medium to art. Highlighting the textual dimensions of the art form, the works on show also mirror the changing social and cultural landscape of Hong Kong over the years.

The exhibition is complemented by an educational display that reveals the behind-the-scene secrets of the art - from the artist's conception of a print work to its production and completion. A series of videos featuring demonstrations by artists will foster an appreciation of the art in visitors, who will also have the chance to make their own prints. A catalogue, with articles recounting the developments in print art in Hong Kong and sharing the experiences of practicing artists, will also be published. The exhibition will end on August 31, 2001.

The exhibition of "The Enchanting Years - A Donation from the KWAN Family" presents about 80 works of Kwan Wai-nung, commonly known as the "King of Calendar Posters", the most important poster artist in Hong Kong in 1920s and 1930s. Kwan Wai-nung (1880-1956) was a native of Xiqiao, Nanhai county, Guangdong province. He studied traditional Chinese painting from Ju Lian, the master of the Lingnan School of Chinese painting. Kwan moved to Hong Kong around 1905, and later he published the "Twin Beauties Embroidering a Flag" which was painted with watercolours in western style. This publication brought him to public awareness. When the artist Gao Jinafu founded the magazine "Truth Pictorial" in Shanghai in 1912, he used two of Kwan's watercolours, "Fishing on Desolate Pond" and "Studying at Dawn", on the cover of the inaugural and the second numbers. Such high-profile publicity further brought Kwan to the notice of the Shanghai art circle.

In 1915, Kwan founded Asiatic Lithographic Printing Press, he then immersed himself in designing and printing advertisements for many brands of local products and services including the well-known Twin Beauties of Kwong Sang Hang. His business expanded so rapidly that the market of poster design and printing business at that time was almost monopolised by him. Since early advertising posters always took the form of pictures printed with a calendar, Kwan was thus called as the King of Calendar Posters.

The majority of calendar posters of the 1920s and 1930s were dominated by the image of beautiful ladies, with the product, the trademark and the catchy slogan relegated to less conspicuous places. These ladies, well proportioned and of graceful bearing, were carefully made up and dressed in the height of fashion, embodied the ideal of feminine beauty of the time. Calendar posters were printed by the colour lithographic process. They preserve the painters' meticulous draftsmanship, reveal aesthetic tastes, as well as record the goods which were popular at the time. They can be enjoyed as works of art and as visual documents of economic and social history.

Focusing on how Kwan Wai-nung developed his artwork as well as on his artistic style, the exhibition at the Hong Kong Heritage Museum also introduces the Asiatic Lithographic Printing Press which Kwan established and the lithographic printing technique prevalent at the time. The exhibition will end on October 31, 2001.

Located at 1 Man Lam Road in Sha Tin, the Museum is a mere 15-minute walk from Shatin KCR station. Public transportation accessible includes bus numbers A41, E42, 72A, 80M, 86,89, N271, 280P and 282. Besides, there are free shuttle-bus services available between Shatin KCR station and the Museum from 10 am to 6 pm on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays.

Admission fee is $10, with half-price concession for senior citizens, people with disabilities and full-time students. Admission on Wednesdays is free. The Museum opens from 10 am to 6 pm from Tuesday through Sunday (except Friday) and on public holidays. It opens from 10 am to 9 pm on Fridays and closes on Mondays (except public holidays).

For further details, please visit the Museum's website at www.heritagemuseum.gov.hk or call 2180 8188.

End/Thursday, May 17, 2001

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