Inauguration of the Exhibition ‘One Century of Austrian Art’
The first grand western art exhibition at the Macao Museum of Art (MAM) in 2016, titled ‘One Century of Austrian Art 1860-1960’, was inaugurated today (29/1) at 6:30pm at the Gallery of Special Exhibitions of the MAM, on the 2nd floor, featuring 89 works by 54 representative Austrian painters, illustrating the country’s most magnificent 100 years in painting, from inception to maturity. Organised by MAM under the Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Beijing World Art Museum and the Chinese-Austrian Academy of Fine Arts, the exhibition has been shown at the Beijing World Art Museum, the Dalian Modern Art Museum and the Hubei Provincial Museum since April 2015. Macao will be the final stop of the tour. The opening ceremony was officiated by the President of the Cultural Affairs Bureau of the Macao S.A.R. Government, Ung Vai Meng; the Consul General of Austria in Hong Kong and Macao, Claudia Reinprecht; the Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Culture of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Macao S.A.R., Zhang Xiaoguang; Deputy Director of the Department of Policy Research of the Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China in the Macao S.A.R., Li Yang; the President of the Chinese-Austrian Academy of Fine Arts and Curator of the exhibition, Josef Schütz; the Deputy Director of the Beijing World Art Museum, Zhou Wei; the Director of the Albergue da Santa Casa da Misericórdia, Carlos Marreiros and the President of the Macao Artists Association, Lai Ieng. The Director of MAM, Chan Hou Seng, accompanied the guests in a tour of the exhibition. The exhibition brings together a trove of rare and precious objets d'art selected from the collections of 34 institutes and private collectors across Austria, namely works by iconic artists like Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele, as well as by less known yet excellent painters, including drawings, sketches, oils, crayon paintings and watercolours, offering a rich variety of themes encompassing figures, landscapes and stills. From 1860 to 1960, Austria experienced the end of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, the two World Wars, and the deadly 1918 flu pandemic. However, the suffering and traumas stimulated the artists’ self-analysis and reflection about this tumultuous era, fostering a cultural flourishing. It was against this backdrop that emerged in 1897 the Vienna Secession, a movement with the motto ‘To the age its art, to art its freedom’, which vigorously challenged the prevailing classicism, with outstanding artists setting new trends, trailblazing a path for abstractionism. The exhibition focuses on this eventful century, with artists becoming narrators and their work the epitome of that special era. Shown in four sessions, namely ‘Fin-de-Siècle Refinement and Degeneration’, ‘the Seeker: Secession and Innovation’, ‘the Seeker: Legacy and continuation’, and ‘Revelation: Leadership and Vision’, the exhibition presents the developmental stages in Austrian art history, revealing the Vienna Secession’s different movements, as well as the mutual influences between its distinctive style and other arts. Free collateral events of this exhibition include ‘Curator’s talk: Austrian Art (1860-1960) from the perspective of artistic economy’ by the curator Josef Schütz, in German (with Mandarin interpretation) to be held on Saturday (30/1) at 3:00pm at the Gallery of Special Exhibitions of the MAM, on the 2nd floor, as well as exhibition leaflets, exhibition guide APP, guided tours, special events for schools and groups and prize winning games. For registration and details, please visit the Cultural Affairs Bureau website www.icm.gov.mo or the Macao Museum of Art website www.MAM.gov.mo, or call 8791 9814 during office hours for more information. The exhibition is open until 3 April. The Macao Museum of Art is located at Av. Xian Xing Hai, and is open from 10am to 7pm (no admittance after 6:30pm; closed on Mondays). The admission fee is MOP5.00, and admission is free on Sundays and Macao public holidays.
