Source: CCTV.com
03-06-2009 08:45
A port city along the Pearl River, Macao is a place where a confluence of western arts reaches the door of China. Its position at the forefront of imported arts has nurtured a stream of indigenous artists exploring the various aspects of Macao with a touch of individuality. Altogether three hundred paintings are on show in Beijing chronicling a history since the 19th century. Confluence" Collection from the Macao Museum of Art" opened on Wednesday afternoon at the National Art Museum of China.
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| Its position at the forefront of imported arts has nurtured a stream of indigenous artists exploring the various aspects of Macao with a touch of individuality. |
The small fishing village in the sixteenth century has seen a steady influx of foreign merchants and diplomats eagerly seeking cross-border trades with China. Macao is the route they took to conduct a brisk business. With their arrival in China, they have created a series of sketches, watercolors and oils featuring the landscape along the Pearl River Delta region.
George Chinnery is the first English painter to settle in China. He's viewed as the forerunner of the fine arts in Macao, painting scenes from the local avenues, alleyways, churches, ports and the local population. While his own paintings are on display at the exhibition, his artistic influence also found its way into a series of adjacent portraits by Chinese painter Lam Qua, who studied after George Chinnery, and became well-known and skilled in Western Style of portraiture.
While the historical paintings limit its subject matters mainly to landscapes and local people, contemporary paintings attempt a variety of subjects on a mixture of media. The confluence of mixed cultural background is even more prominent with works created by immigrant artists from Singapore, Australia, Russia and Portugal. Representative works like "The Macanese" and "Chinese Opera" from Carlos Marreiros offer a western interpretation of Chinese people and art.
