Visual Studies Commons^™

Hong Kong Ink Painting : Its Role In The Development Of Chinese Painting In The Second Half Of The Twentieth Century And Beyond, Hung Sheng

Theses & Dissertations

This research investigates the field of modern ink painting, in particular the advocacy of shuimohua (水墨畫, literally water ink painting) which appeared in Hong Kong in the mid-1960s. The research is based on textual materials such as artworks, writings, treatises, newspaper and periodical documentation, as well as interviews with artists or artists’ families.

Because of the emergence of numerous terms related to ink painting and ink art in recent decades, it is crucial to trace their origins in order to develop a foundation from which to understand the complexities of the field related to ink. The starting point chosen for …

Collaboration Between Art Museums And Universities In Hong Kong : Benefits, Difficulties And Methods, Yi Zhu

Theses & Dissertations

Museums have the responsibility to meet the needs and expectations of audiences with different backgrounds, including families, students, adults and the elderly. However, the needs of higher education students can easily be overlooked in Hong Kong art museums because their age and educational background fall into different target segments. By the late twentieth century, learning opportunities for higher education students, especially those who were majoring in fine arts, art history and museum studies were inadequate in Hong Kong. In view of the increasing arts programmes offered by tertiary institutions in 2000s Hong Kong, art museums play an important role in …

World Cinema Beyond The Periphery : Developing Film Cultures In Bhutan, Mongolia, And Myanmar, Nis Grøn

Theses & Dissertations

According to UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity there exists a need in light of the “imbalances in flows and exchanges of cultural goods and services at the global level” to enable “all countries, especially developing countries and countries in transition, to establish cultural industries that are viable and competitive at a national and international level” (2001).

The dissertation explores ways in which viable cultural industries can be established in developing countries. More specifically, the focus is on the development of film industries in countries in transition. Three national film industries, examined in light of their historical development and contemporary …

Defining Community Art : Theoretical And Practical Reconstruction, Kei Shun, Samson Wong

Theses & Dissertations

This research investigates the area of practice commonly known as community art, defined to be where a gathering of people participates in facilitated collaborative art making aimed to be increasing their autonomy in generating artistic and social satisfaction and enrichment. This definition is a result of integrating existing research, literature, interviews with practitioners and analyses of their work. It is an interdisciplinary research conducted through a grounded methodology where data from practitioners and literature mutually inform to yield insights into a seemingly unstructured practice.

Seven interviewees were chosen to represent a coherent and recognized body of practice. They are practicing …

Portrayals Of Women In Chen Hongshou’S Figure Paintings, Lai Na Wan

Theses & Dissertations

Chen Hongshou (1598/1599-1652), a famous artist of late Ming and early Qing China, was particularly well-known for his figure paintings, which exerted a noticeable influence on later generations and has been the subject most commonly discussed by scholars. Among Chen’s figure painting oeuvre, this study is especially concerned with his portrayals of women ranging between the 1630s and 1650s with an intention to explore what their representations, audience and function reveal about the artist. The existing monographs on Chen’s female figures is limited to only few case studies, from which the artist’s depictions of women have not been clearly sorted …

A Study Of The Aesthetics Of The Hong Kong Built Environment : Architectural Harmonisation Versus Urban Incivility, Kwok Wah Tung

Theses & Dissertations

The aim of the study is to evaluate the aesthetic qualities of the Hong Kong built environment. To this end, it adopts the framework of the philosophy of architecture in the analytic tradition as proposed by Roger Scruton in his classic The Aesthetics of Architecture, which was first published in 1979. Central to this framework is our aesthetic sense of appropriateness, which leads to a distinctive reading of architecture as an art of the ensemble. From this perspective, the chief architectural task is to establish right visual relations among the parts of a whole. Aesthetically, this results in the …

The Art Of Irene Chou (Zhou Luyun, 1924-2011) : A Case Study Of Ink Painting, Hung Sheng

Theses & Dissertations

Ink Painting was first initiated by Lui Shou Kwan (1919 - 1975) in the 1960s and it had a significant and remarkable influence on Hong Kong painters. It aimed to revitalize Chinese painting as a reaction largely triggered by the dominant trend of imitative practice of the Lingnan School in Hong Kong at the time. Lui stressed the importance of gen (根 root) and shi (適 adaption) and signaled many possibilities of ink painting as a new category. Gradually, a group of artists pursuing the same goal gathered and made the Ink Painting Movement possible. Irene Chou was one of …

Extending The Local : Documentary Film Festivals In East Asia As Sites Of Connection And Communication, Tit Leung Cheung

Theses & Dissertations

East Asian cinema is receiving increasing global attention. This attention is not focused merely on the fiction and feature films produced in the region, but also on the documentaries produced there; films such as Petition (2009) by Chinese director Zhao Liang which premiered at Cannes Film Festival in 2009. This attention to East Asian documentary can be traced to the documentary film festivals organised in the region, particularly those that devote their programming to independent documentary productions from the region. These festivals open a window that enables such works to be exhibited for the rest of the world.

But these …

Red-White-Blue And Hong Kong Installation Art, Nga Ying Liu

Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to analyse the interaction between art and contested notions of Hong Kong identity by examining recent installations that employ the red, white and blue-striped plastic fabric, locally known in Hong Kong as red-white-blue (紅白藍). The red-white-blue fabric has, in recent years, become a signifier of the collective identity of Hong Kong people and of the ‘Hong Kong spirit’, with specific reference to the traits of the working class in the 1960s. The repeated articulations of this material in artworks show that there are certain qualities in this material with which local people identify. This …

Appropriateness In Design, Wing Man, Karen Ma

Theses & Dissertations

When the term ‘design object’ is used to refer to artifacts, we presuppose that they can serve mundane functions and provide aesthetic pleasure. In many cases, the visual form of a design object is a result of achieving aesthetic function and practical function. What is the relation between these two functions? In the design process, designers also strike a balance between aesthetic pursuit, utilitarian purpose and other factors, such as environmental protection. What is the balance of these aims (aesthetic aim and the non-aesthetic aims)? My research on this topic suggests that it may be useful to conceive it in …

馬家寶之藝術, Ni Na, Camellia Ng

Theses & Dissertations

馬家寶（1925-1985）是1949 年後香港第一代油畫家，他活 躍於五十年代中至八十年代中的香港畫壇，以寫實風格的油畫著稱。 傳統藝術史一直關注代表不同地區及時代的主流藝術風格，而六十至 七十年代的港英政府和社會大眾均較為注重現代主義藝術的發展，馬 氏寫實風格的藝術創作與之相比有點守舊，所以他的藝術一直未能得 到研究香港史的學者和藝術家們足夠的關注和深入的研究。

雖然從傳統藝術史的角度來看，馬家寶的藝術只是六十至七 十年代少數、不具代表性的藝術創作，但是從藝術社會學和意識形態 學看來，驅使馬家寶畢生採用寫實的形式來創作藝術，和社會環境對 他的藝術創作所造成的影響，卻是個值得探索的問題。因此，此次研 究會將馬氏之藝術按時序分為三個階段，結合歷史、文化和社會背景 並進行對比，從而探索他堅持以寫實風格為終生藝術創作形式的原 因、藝術的觀點和藝術的追求。籍著對馬家寶藝術的個案研究，希望 本論文能為關注香港本地藝術發展史的學者和藝術家，提供一份參 考，從一個新的角度回顧及審視香港藝術史。