The visual art of Hong Kong, or Hong Kong art, refers to all forms of

visual art The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and texti ...

in or associated with

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

throughout its history and towards the present. The history of Hong Kong art is closely related to the broader history of

Chinese art Chinese art is visual art that originated in or is practiced in China, Greater China or by Chinese artists. Art created by Chinese residing outside of China can also be considered a part of Chinese art when it is based on or draws on Chine ...

, alongside the art of Taiwan and

Macau Macau or Macao is a special administrative regions of China, special administrative region of the People's Republic of China (PRC). With a population of about people and a land area of , it is the most List of countries and dependencies by p ...

. Hong Kong art may include pottery and rock art from Hong Kong's prehistoric periods; calligraphy, Chinese ink painting, and pottery from its time under Imperial China; paintings from the New Ink Painting Movement and avant-garde art emerging during Hong Kong's colonial period; and the

contemporary art Contemporary art is a term used to describe the art of today, generally referring to art produced from the 1970s onwards. Contemporary artists work in a globally influenced, culturally diverse, and technologically advancing world. Their art is a ...

practices in post-handover Hong Kong today. The consciousness of

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

and international art movements may be observed in Hong Kong in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The emergence of the New Ink Painting Movement during that period saw aspects of Chinese ink painting incorporated with the gestural brushwork of

Abstract Expressionism Abstract expressionism in the United States emerged as a distinct art movement in the aftermath of World War II and gained mainstream acceptance in the 1950s, a shift from the American social realism of the 1930s influenced by the Great Depressi ...

. Hong Kong is now considered a significant regional art market due to its unique historical development and geographical position.

Prehistoric Hong Kong

Prehistoric Hong Kong Prehistoric Hong Kong is the period between the arrival of the first humans in Hong Kong and the start of recorded Chinese history during the Han dynasty. The history of the southern region (which may possibly include Hong Kong) is reckoned to ...

is the period between the arrival of the first humans in

and the start of recorded Chinese history during the

Han dynasty The Han dynasty was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China (202 BC9 AD, 25–220 AD) established by Liu Bang and ruled by the House of Liu. The dynasty was preceded by the short-lived Qin dynasty (221–206 BC ...

Neolithic pottery

Excavations of Tung Wan Tsai North (

Ma Wan Ma Wan is an island of Hong Kong, located between Lantau Island and Tsing Yi Island, with an area of .Sha Tau Kok Sha Tau Kok () is a closed town in North District, Hong Kong. It is the last remaining major settlement in the Frontier Closed Area and is Hong Kong's northernmost town. Its residents are mostly descendants of Hakka farmers and Hoklo fisher ...

revealed instances of pottery from the

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

period. These include pottery with geometric patterns, along with tools like stepped

adze An adze () or adz is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing or carving wood in ha ...

, shouldered adze and other ground stone implements.

Rock carvings

Rock carvings dating back to what was the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

have been found in Hong Kong. There are nine officially listed Bronze Age rock carvings, featuring geometric and zoometric patterns carved into rocks, mostly found at coastal cliffs facing the sea. File:Coarse pottery pot with zigzag pattern, Late Neolithic period, from Tung Wan Tsai, Ma Wan, Hong Kong - Hong Kong Museum of History - DSC00729.JPG, Late Neolithic pottery found in Tung Wan Tsai,

Ma Wan Ma Wan is an island of Hong Kong, located between Lantau Island and Tsing Yi Island, with an area of .Hong Kong Museum of History File:Cheung Chau Rock Carving 1.jpg, 3000 year-old rock carving on

Cheung Chau Cheung Chau (; ) is an outlying island of Hong Kong, located southwest of Hong Kong Island. It is also called Dumbbell Island () due to its dumbbell-like shape. It has been inhabited for longer than most other places in Hong Kong, and had ...

, discovered in 1970

Hong Kong under Imperial China (221 BC–1841 AD)

The territory that now comprises Hong Kong was loosely part of China during the

Qin dynasty The Qin dynasty ( ) was the first Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China. It is named for its progenitor state of Qin, a fief of the confederal Zhou dynasty (256 BC). Beginning in 230 BC, the Qin under King Ying Zheng enga ...

(221–206 BC), and the area was part of the ancient kingdom of Nam Viet (203–111 BC). During the Qin dynasty, the territory was governed by Panyu County until the time of the

Jin dynasty Jin may refer to: States Jìn 晉 * Jin (Chinese state) (晉國), major state of the Zhou dynasty, existing from the 11th century BC to 376 BC * Jin dynasty (266–420) (晉朝), also known as Liang Jin and Sima Jin * Jin (Later Tang precursor) ...

. The territory remained largely unoccupied until the later years of the

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

when

Imperial China The history of China spans several millennia across a wide geographical area. Each region now considered part of the Chinese world has experienced periods of unity, fracture, prosperity, and strife. Chinese civilization first emerged in the Y ...

ceded the region to

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

under the 1842

Treaty of Nanking The Treaty of Nanking was the peace treaty which ended the First Opium War (1839–1842) between United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Great Britain and the Qing dynasty of China on 29 August 1842. It was the first of what the Chinese ...

, whereupon Hong Kong became a

British Colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...

. More broadly, the art of Imperial China from this period encompasses examples such as Buddhist art, murals, calligraphy, ink painting, and pottery.

Colonial Hong Kong (1841–1941)

Hong Kong was a

colony A colony is a territory subject to a form of foreign rule, which rules the territory and its indigenous peoples separated from the foreign rulers, the colonizer, and their ''metropole'' (or "mother country"). This separated rule was often orga ...

and later a

dependent territory A dependent territory, dependent area, or dependency (sometimes referred as an external territory) is a territory that does not possess full political independence or sovereignty as a sovereign state and remains politically outside the controll ...

of the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

from 1841 to 1997. The colonial period began with the British occupation of

Hong Kong Island Hong Kong Island () is an island in the southern part of Hong Kong. The island, known originally and on road signs simply as "Hong Kong", had a population of 1,289,500 and a population density of , . It is the second largest island in Hong Kon ...

in 1841, during the

First Opium War The First Opium War ( zh, t=第一次鴉片戰爭, p=Dìyīcì yāpiàn zhànzhēng), also known as the Anglo-Chinese War, was a series of military engagements fought between the British Empire and the Chinese Qing dynasty between 1839 and 1 ...

between the British and the

. The Qing had wanted to enforce its prohibition of

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

importation within the dynasty that was being exported mostly from

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

, as it was causing widespread

addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to use a drug or engage in a behavior that produces natural reward, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use can ...

among its populace. The island was ceded to Britain by the

, ratified by the

Daoguang Emperor The Daoguang Emperor (16 September 1782 – 26 February 1850), also known by his temple name Emperor Xuanzong of Qing, personal name Mianning, was the seventh List of emperors of the Qing dynasty, emperor of the Qing dynasty, and the sixth Qing e ...

in the aftermath of the war of 1842. It was established as a

crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by Kingdom of England, England, and then Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English overseas possessions, English and later British Empire. There was usua ...

in 1843. In 1860, the British took the opportunity to expand the colony with the addition of the

Kowloon Peninsula The Kowloon Peninsula is a peninsula that forms the southern part of the main landmass in the territory of Hong Kong, alongside Victoria Harbour and facing toward Hong Kong Island. The Kowloon Peninsula and the area of New Kowloon are collect ...

after the

Second Opium War The Second Opium War (), also known as the Second Anglo-Chinese War or ''Arrow'' War, was fought between the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and the United States against the Qing dynasty of China between 1856 and 1860. It was the second major ...

, while the Qing was embroiled in handling the

Taiping Rebellion The Taiping Rebellion, also known as the Taiping Civil War or the Taiping Revolution, was a civil war in China between the Qing dynasty and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom. The conflict lasted 14 years, from its outbreak in 1850 until the fall of ...

. With the Qing further weakened after the

First Sino-Japanese War The First Sino-Japanese War (25 July 189417 April 1895), or the First China–Japan War, was a conflict between the Qing dynasty of China and the Empire of Japan primarily over influence in Joseon, Korea. In Chinese it is commonly known as th ...

, Hong Kong's territory was further extended in 1898 when the British obtained a 99-year lease of the

New Territories The New Territories (N.T., Traditional Chinese characters, Chinese: ) is one of the three areas of Hong Kong, alongside Hong Kong Island and Kowloon. It makes up 86.2% of Hong Kong's territory, and contains around half of the population of H ...

Early art clubs and exhibitions (1920s–1930s)

Chances to view modern Western art were scarce in the early colonial period, with few foreign artists residing or exhibiting in Hong Kong, leaving the territory largely removed from international art movements. The main exception to this was Hong Kong's first art organisation, the Hong Kong Art Club, founded in 1925. The Hong Kong Art Club was established and managed by wealthy British expatriates, with its members entirely composed of Europeans, most of whom were visiting artists staying temporarily in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Art Club carried the most extensive collection of literature on modern Western art in the territory at the time. Its members predominantly practiced Western realism, depicting local scenery in the styles of the English landscape tradition and the Barbizon school, using

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) and lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturate ...

and

watercolour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour ( Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin 'water'), is a painting method"Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to the ...

. Rather than being for artistic exchange, the club was primarily a context for social gathering. While artworks produced by the Club displayed minimal association with local Hong Kong artists, they are an early instance of organised artistic activity and significant for documenting the landscapes of Hong Kong at that specific moment in time. A short announcement on the opening of a solo exhibition by Luis Chan was published on 16 April 1935 by ''Kung Sheung Daily News'' or the ''Industrial and Commercial News'' (). It was one of the earliest articles on arts and culture in Hong Kong newspapers, being the first of many short reports on art events, also documenting local activity for art at the time. Chan was a

painter known for his naturalistic landscapes.

Japanese occupation of Hong Kong (1941–1945)

The Imperial Japanese occupation of Hong Kong began when the

Governor of Hong Kong The governor of Hong Kong was the representative of the United Kingdom, British The Crown, Crown in British Hong Kong, Hong Kong from 1843 to 1997. In this capacity, the governor was president of the Executive Council of Hong Kong, Executiv ...

, Sir Mark Young, surrendered the

British Crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony governed by England, and then Great Britain or the United Kingdom within the English and later British Empire. There was usually a governor to represent the Crown, appointed by the British monarch on ...

to the

Empire of Japan The Empire of Japan, also known as the Japanese Empire or Imperial Japan, was the Japanese nation state that existed from the Meiji Restoration on January 3, 1868, until the Constitution of Japan took effect on May 3, 1947. From Japan–Kor ...

on 25 December 1941. The surrender occurred after 18 days of fierce fighting against the overwhelming Japanese forces that had invaded the territory.Snow, Philip.

004 004, 0O4, O04, OO4 may refer to: * 004, fictional British 00 Agent * 0O4, Corning Municipal Airport (California) * O04, the Oversea-Chinese Banking Corporation * Abdul Haq Wasiq, Guantanamo detainee 004 * Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine * La ...

(2004). The fall of Hong Kong: Britain, China and the Japanese occupation. Yale University Press. , .Mark, Chi-Kwan.

(2004). Hong Kong and the Cold War: Anglo-American relations 1949–1957. Oxford University Press publishing. , . p 14. The occupation lasted for three years and eight months until Japan surrendered at the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The length of this period (, ) later became a

metonym Metonymy () is a figure of speech in which a concept is referred to by the name of something associated with that thing or concept. For example, the word "wikt:suit, suit" may refer to a person from groups commonly wearing business attire, such ...

of the occupation.

Modern Hong Kong under British rule (1945–1997)

In the aftermath of the Japanese surrender, it was unclear whether the United Kingdom or the Republic of China would assume sovereignty of the territory. The

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

's Chiang Kai-shek assumed that China, including formerly European-occupied territories such as Hong Kong and Macau, would be re-unified under his rule. However, the British moved quickly to regain control of Hong Kong. On 30 August 1945, British Rear Admiral Sir Cecil Halliday Jepson Harcourt sailed into Hong Kong to re-establish the British government's control over the colony. On 16 September 1945, Harcourt formally accepted the Japanese surrenderDillon, Mike.

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * "008", a fictional 00 Agent In Ian Fleming's James Bond novels and the derived films, the 00 Section of MI6 is considered the secret service's elite. A 00 (pronounced "Double O") is a field agent who ho ...

(2008). Contemporary China: An Introduction. , . p 184. from Maj.-Gen. Umekichi Okada and Vice Admiral Ruitaro Fujita at Government House. By November 1945, government controls were lifted and free markets restored.Carroll, John Mark.

007 The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

(2007). A concise history of Hong Kong. , . p 123-125, p 129. The population returned to around one million by early 1946 due to immigration from China. The emergence of art collectives and societies from the late 1940s onwards, in addition to the opening of the city's first purpose-built visual art spaces, marked new developments in Hong Kong's art scene. While Hong Kong art in the 1950s saw little support from the government, the decade would still see the growth of art education in Hong Kong, through new art courses and the establishment of new institutions for teaching art. By the 1950s, large numbers of mainland Chinese artists had entered the territory and dominated the local art scene, with Hong Kong serving as a temporary site for them to continue working in traditional Chinese styles. These early immigrant artists, mainly from Shanghai and Nanjing, brought along with them wealth and artistic influences from the Shanghai School and the Jin Ning School. Stylistically, these works continued the orthodox traditions of Chinese ink painting, with little concern towards forming a specific Hong Kong identity. Artists from or based in Hong Kong would also begin participating in major international art exhibitions, with Wucius Wong and Ho Siu Kee participating in the 1959

São Paulo Art Biennial The São Paulo Art Biennial ( Portuguese: ''Bienal de São Paulo'') was founded in 1951 and has been held every two years since. It is the second oldest art biennial in the world after the Venice Biennale (in existence since 1895), which serves as ...

. On 19 December 1984, British Prime Minister

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

and Chinese Premier

Zhao Ziyang Zhao Ziyang; pronounced (17 October 1919 – 17 January 2005) was a Chinese politician. He served as the 3rd premier of China from 1980 to 1987, as vice chairman of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from 1981 to 1982, and as the CCP general ...

signed the

Sino-British Joint Declaration The Sino-British Joint Declaration was a treaty between the governments of the United Kingdom and People's Republic of China signed in 1984 setting the conditions in which Hong Kong was transferred to Chinese control and for the governance o ...

, in which Britain agreed to return not only the New Territories but also Kowloon and Hong Kong itself when the lease term expired. China promised to implement a "

One country, two systems "One country, two systems" is a constitutional principle of the People's Republic of China (PRC) describing the governance of the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macau. Deng Xiaoping developed the one country, two systems ...

" regime, under which for fifty years Hong Kong citizens could continue to practice capitalism and political freedoms forbidden on the mainland. In 1995, the Hong Kong government established the

Hong Kong Arts Development Council The Hong Kong Arts Development Council (HKADC) is a Statutory authority, statutory body in Hong Kong tasked with development of the arts in the territory. The HKADC was created in 1995, under the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Ordinance, ...

to "plan, promote and support the wide development of arts (including literature, performance, visual and film arts) and arts education," also including a visual arts sub-committee.

Art publications and education

On 25 November 1948, the ''Overseas Chinese Daily News'' () began publishing articles on art and culture. These articles were more detailed than those previously published in other newspapers, now including news on exhibition openings, art competitions, and commentaries on challenges faced by the cultural industries. In 1948, the ''Overseas Chinese Daily News'' also began publishing the ''Hong Kong Year Book'', an annual publication on Hong Kong that continued until 1991. The 1950s saw the growth of courses and institutions for art education in Hong Kong. In 1951, the first art course in Hong Kong was launched at the Grantham College (now the

Education University of Hong Kong The Education University of Hong KongUniversity titl ...

). The following year in 1952, the Hong Kong Academy of Fine Arts opened. In 1953, the University of Hong Kong's (HKU) Department of Chinese launches an undergraduate course in Chinese art and archeology.

The Modern Literature and Art Association (1958–1964)

In December 1958, the Modern Literature and Art Association was established by a group of writers and artists. Its mission, outlined in its founding manifesto, was to bring cultural workers together and reinvigorate declining cultural development in China. The association organised exhibitions, such as the Hong Kong International Salon of Paintings, and published periodicals. From 1959 to 1960, the association would publish ''New Currents'' (). In 1963, the association would publish ''Modern Editions'' (), a 13-issue periodical on arts. The association became inactive from 1964 onwards. Members of the association would include artists and writers such as Hon Chi-fun, Quanan Shum, Cheung Yee, David Lam Chun-fai, King Chia-lun, Van Lau, and Wucius Wong.

''Hong Kong Art Today'' (1962)

From 25 May to 4 July 1962, the exhibition '' Hong Kong Art Today'' () was held at the

Hong Kong City Hall Hong Kong City Hall (HKCH, ) is a building located at Edinburgh Place, Central, Hong Kong, Central, Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong. In the 19th century, the British founded the Victoria, Hong Kong, City of Victoria in the present-day Centra ...

Museum and Art Gallery (later renamed

Hong Kong Museum of Art The Hong Kong Museum of Art (HKMoA) is the first and one of the main art museums of Hong Kong, located in located in Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, near the Victoria Harbour waterfront, providing a scenic view of Hong Kong’s skyline. It is a publ ...

in 1975). Featuring a total of 120 exhibits by 65 artists, it was the first major exhibition of the Museum and Art Gallery after its opening in March, as well as the first large-scale art competition organised by the

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

. ''Hong Kong Art Today'' was thus significant as the first exhibition with Hong Kong art as its theme. The museum's curator, John Warner, wrote in his introduction for the exhibition catalogue that the selected works were "valid" in their "preference for material quality, intelligent experiment and originality rather than outworn cliche, dull technical skill and cheap imitation." The exhibition reflected how naturalism in art had become

passé Obsolescence is the process of becoming antiquated, out of date, old-fashioned, no longer in general use, or no longer useful, or the condition of being in such a state. When used in a biological sense, it means imperfect or rudimentary when comp ...

and that

abstract art Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a Composition (visual arts), composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world. ''Abstract art'', ''non-figurative art'', ''non- ...

was favoured at that moment in Hong Kong. In his 2001 article examining the incident and its consequences, Jack Lee, then studying for his PhD in art history, argued that, " arner'sprejudice for modern and abstract art influenced directly the museum's later exhibitions and its collection policies, which in turn caused some artists to turn to abstract art in the hope that their works would become appealing to the museum. Their conversion in due course formed a new tendency in Hong Kong art." Apart from the usual practice of inviting participating artists, the event also incorporated an open call for submissions, which generated immense interest from the local art scene. However, the open call also led the exhibition to become controversial due to the rejection of established artists. Artist Luis Chan, an established naturalist watercolour painter active since the 1930s, was among the many artists whose works were rejected in the open call. Attempting a new direction in his practice, Chan had submitted several abstract paintings, though only one was accepted. Chan decided to make the rejection public, writing a long article about his frustrations with the exhibition titled "My Unsuccessful Submission to the City Hall Art Exhibition" (Chinese: 大會堂畫展落選記), which was published in serial form in the local Chinese newspaper ''Wah Kiu Yat Po'' over a period of time.

Circle Art Group (1964–1973)

In 1964, the Circle Art Group was founded by 9 local artists and remained active for about decade. Considered Hong Kong's "avant-garde", the artists used the circle as a symbol for the experimental synthesis of the Eastern and Western philosophies they explored in their work. The group was described in an early exhibition invitation as “a group that has no beginning, no ending and no leader”. The group's membership would fluctuate between 9 and 11 male artists and included many members of the Modern Literature and Art Association. Members included Hon Chi-fun, Wucius Wong, Cheung Yee, Van Lau, King Chia-lun, David Lam Chun-fai, Jackson Yu (You Shaozeng), Paul Chui Yung-sang, Gilbert Pan Sze Chiu, Kuo Ven-chi, and Chen Ping Yuon.

New Ink Painting Movement (late 1960s–early 1970s)

The painter

Lui Shou-Kwan Lui Shou-Kwan ( zh, 呂壽琨 (Lü Shoukun); 1919–1975) was a Chinese painter, one of the most prominent ink painters of the 20th century and a founder of the Hong Kong New Ink Movement. Early life Lui was born in Guangzhou. His father, Lui C ...

initiated the New Ink Painting Movement, which saw aspects of Chinese ink painting heritage being incorporated with the simplified abstract structures and gestural brushwork of Abstract Expressionism. Although the People's Republic less open to outside influences during this period, Hong Kong artists were engaging with then-current Western signifiers of contemporaneity, along with their Taiwanese counterparts.

International auction houses

International auction houses such as

Sotheby's Sotheby's ( ) is a British-founded multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine art, fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

and

Christie's Christie's is a British auction house founded in 1766 by James Christie (auctioneer), James Christie. Its main premises are on King Street, St James's in London, and it has additional salerooms in New York, Paris, Hong Kong, Milan, Geneva, Shan ...

are based in Hong Kong. In the early 1970s, the international auction house Sotheby's first entered Hong Kong. In 1986, Christie's would also set up in Hong Kong. Later, both Sotheby's and Christie's moved their Asian headquarters from Taiwan to Hong Kong in 1999 and 2001 respectively.

Videotage

Videotage () was founded in 1986 as an

artist collective An artist collective or art group or artist group is an initiative that is the result of a group of artists working together, usually under their own management, towards shared aims. The aims of an artist collective can include almost anything t ...

composed of artists Comyn Mo, Ellen Pau, May Fung, and Wong Chi-fai. It was initially set up at a space borrowed from the experimental theatre group Zuni Icosahedron's headquarters in Happy Valley, Hong Kong Island. Videotage was the earliest organisation in Hong Kong to focus on video art and new media. Videotage's name is a

portmanteau In linguistics, a blend—also known as a blend word, lexical blend, or portmanteau—is a word formed by combining the meanings, and parts of the sounds, of two or more words together.

of "video" and "montage," first used as the title of a screening programme organised by the Phoenix Cine Club in June 1986. The screening featured works by Jim Shum, Neco Lo, Wong Chi-fai, and David Som, with a distinct focus on alternative time-based work. After the Phoenix Cine Club closed, some of its members, Comyn Mo, Ellen Pau, May Fung, and Wong Chi-fai, re-purposed the name Videotage for their art collective, seeking to preserve the experimental ethos of the earlier Phoenix Cine Club programme.

Para Site

Para Site () is Hong Kong's first artist-run art space, founded in 1996 by artists Patrick Lee, Leung Chi-wo, Phoebe Man Ching-ying, Sara Wong Chi-hang, Leung Mee-ping, Tsang Tak-ping, and Lisa Cheung.

Hong Kong after the handover (1997–present)

Sovereignty of Hong Kong was eventually handed over to the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

(PRC) in 1997, after the 1984 Sino–British Joint Declaration. The Republic of China government is now based in Taipei, having lost the mainland in the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

shortly after the Japanese surrender. Hong Kong Visual Arts Center

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department set up an arts promotion office in April 2001, responsible for public arts, community arts and a visual arts centre. In August 2005, the Hong Kong Arts Development Council announced the "One Year Funding 2006" program for visual arts. The program encouraged art groups to engage in various forms of artistic activities such as creation, publishing, exhibitions, forums, seminars, workshops, and courses to enhance the community's understanding and support for visual arts in Hong Kong. Due to the increasing emphasis on art and culture in Hong Kong society from the 1990s, studying the history of Hong Kong art has become a greater priority in colleges and universities. The Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook is one of the commissioned research projects hosted by the Chinese University of Hong Kong's Art Department. The Hong Kong Visual Arts Yearbook has been published annually since 2015. Through collection, collation, and classification, the data in the yearbooks document the development of art in the city, while art historical articles contribute to academic and professional art-historical analyses of Hong Kong art.

Ha Bik Chuen Archive

Made accessible to the public in 2013, the Ha Bik Chuen Archive is an important resource in the study of Hong Kong art history. Ha Bik Chuen, known largely as a sculptor and printmaker, also had a practice of photographing many of the exhibitions he attended, further collecting materials like illustrated magazines and artist portraits, which Ha also used to make book collages. By the time of Ha's death in 2009, he had amassed at his Hong Kong studio in

To Kwa Wan To Kwa Wan () is a bay and an area of the eastern shore of Kowloon peninsula. The area is part of urban Hong Kong, and is situated between Hok Yuen, Hung Hom, Ma Tau Chung and Ma Tau Kok. Administratively, the area belongs to the Kow ...

an archive of over 100,000 photographs, 3,500 contact sheets, exhibition ephemera, and periodicals from the 1950s onward, all largely related to Hong Kong art. In 2013, the Ha family invited the

Asia Art Archive Asia Art Archive (AAA) is a nonprofit organisation based in Hong Kong that documents the recent history of contemporary art in Asia within an international context. AAA incorporates material that members of local art communities find relevant ...

(AAA) to map, assess, and selectively digitise the archive, making Ha's collection public for the first time. In July 2016, Ha's archive was relocated to a new space in

Fo Tan Fo Tan () is an area of Sha Tin District, New Territories, Hong Kong. It was developed as a light industrial area, but this activity has declined markedly in recent years. There are residential areas to the east, alongside the MTR line, and in t ...

by AAA due to the deteriorating conditions of Ha's To Kwa Wan studio. Materials from the Ha Bik Chuen Archive have further been used as part of curatorial and exhibition projects like ''Excessive Enthusiasm: Ha Bik Chuen and the Archive as Practice'' (2015) and ''Striated Light'' (2016), along with an imagined collaboration between Ha Bik Chuen and fictional artist Suha Traboulsi, conceived by the Lebanese artist

Walid Raad Walid Raad (Ra'ad) (Arabic: وليد رعد) (born 1967 in Chbanieh, Lebanon) is a contemporary media artist. The Atlas Group is a fictional collective, the work of which is produced by Walid Raad. He lives and works in New York, where he is curr ...

in a project titled ''Section 39_Index XXXVII: Traboulsi'' (2014).

Art of the Umbrella Movement

Artistic works were created as part of the

Umbrella Movement The Umbrella Movement () was a political movement that emerged during the 2014 Hong Kong protests. Its name arose from the use of umbrellas as a tool for nonviolent resistance, passive resistance to the Hong Kong Police Force's use of pepper ...

in Hong Kong, a political movement emerging from the Hong Kong democracy protests of 2014 that demanded democracy in the election of the territory's top leader. Most of the physical works of art were located within the three main protest sites of Admiralty,

Causeway Bay Causeway Bay is list of buildings, sites and areas in Hong Kong, an area and Victoria Park, Hong Kong, a bay on Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong, straddling the border of the Eastern District, Hong Kong, Eastern and the Wan Chai District, Wan Chai ...

and

Mong Kok Mong Kok (Chinese language, Chinese: 旺角), also spelled Mongkok, often abbreviated as MK, is an area in Kowloon, Hong Kong. The Prince Edward, Hong Kong, Prince Edward subarea occupies the northern part of Mong Kok. As one of the major sho ...

, with some works originating from outside of Hong Kong. For the students involved in the "

Umbrella Revolution A series of sit-in street protests, often called the Umbrella Revolution and sometimes used interchangeably with Umbrella Movement, or Occupy Movement, occurred in Hong Kong from 26 September to 15 December 2014. The protests began after t ...

", art functioned as a vehicle of expression and a method of documenting political events. Use of the umbrella—an everyday item that protects users against the rain and the sun—by the protesters to deflect pepper spray and tear gas of the police, has given the object iconic status at a political level, symbolising resistance and the underlying social grievances. File:Escalator installation 2.jpg, Origami mobile and escalator eyes (Umbrella Square) File:2014.10.37 Hong Kong protests.JPG, Patchwork canopy from umbrella fabric (Umbrella Square) File:Tim Mei Avenue Umbrella Artwork 20141001.jpg, Installation on the Tim Mei Avenue roundabout (Umbrella Square) File:Cage installation.jpg, Birdcage (Causeway Bay)

Art of the 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests

Activists and artists taking part in the

2019–2020 Hong Kong protests The 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests (also known by other names) were a series of demonstrations against the Hong Kong government's introduction of a bill to amend the Fugitive Offenders Ordinance in regard to extradition. It was the largest ...

used artwork, painting, music, and other forms of artistic expression as a

tactic Tactic(s) or Tactical may refer to: * Tactic (method), a conceptual action implemented as one or more specific tasks ** Military tactics, the disposition and maneuver of units on a particular sea or battlefield ** Chess tactics ** Political tacti ...

to help spread awareness about the political events occurring in the city. Individuals who create protest art are commonly referred to as being part of the movement's "publicity group" (). Creating protest art is seen as a peaceful, alternative way for citizens to express their views without participating in protests. Most members work under pseudonyms to protect their identity and stay in line with the movement's leaderless nature. File:Hong Kong IMG 0235-edit (48791114973).jpg, Protest artwork referencing

Eugène Delacroix Ferdinand Victor Eugène Delacroix ( ; ; 26 April 1798 – 13 August 1863) was a French people, French Romanticism, Romantic artist who was regarded as the leader of the French Romantic school.Noon, Patrick, et al., ''Crossing the Channel: ...

's ''

Liberty Leading the People ''Liberty Leading the People'' ( ) is a painting of the Romantic era by the French artist Eugène Delacroix, commemorating the July Revolution of 1830 that toppled King Charles X (''r.'' 1824–1830). A bare-breasted “woman of the people” w ...

'' (1830) File:Hong Kong IMG 2831 (49137647612).jpg, Posters mocking the pro-Beijing camp's electoral defeat after the

2019 Hong Kong local elections The 2019 Hong Kong District Council elections were held on 24 November 2019 for all 18 District Councils of Hong Kong. 452 seats from all directly elected constituencies, out of the 479 seats in total, were contested. Nearly three million people ...

, November 2019 File:2019-09-29 全球反極權大遊行 Anti-totalitarianism rally (Hong Kong) 091.jpg, Folded origami "Freenix" during the anti- CCP protest, September 29, 2019 File:20190807 Hong Kong anti-extradition bill protest (48480850197).jpg, Protesters creating a light display by pointing laser pointers at a newspaper, mocking the police demonstration

References

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