Hong Kong felt like Singapore’s seedy brother. Perhaps it was the overarching Chinese presence that I felt just trying to get on and off the ship. First, Drake was ‘randomly’ selected to undergo Chinese Immigration scrutiny at 6:45am. We discovered this at the end of the previous day. Of course, the ship was one hour late arriving into port due to the heavy shipping traffic. We all sat there waiting. Just what you want to do on vacation. Then, the scrutiny involved a 2 second (literally) wave of some Chinese guy’s hand, and we were done. I’m always so happy in the morning, and all I could think of was the 2 hours of sleep I lost.
Onward….. We planned our own excursion the first day. We managed two museums. The first, the Maritime Museum of Hong Kong was somewhat of a bust, most of the galleries were inaccessible from their elevator! Anyway, I did love the painters’ views of Hong Kong showing how much it had changed over the centuries. It reminded me of San Francisco pre/post 1849 Gold Rush.
This picture is from 1846, and is hand drawn. It would accompany a nautical map of the region, so sailors could identify land formations to plot their positions. As you can see, nothing is there. The British already had their eyes on the Hong Kong harbor which is sheltered from the worst of the Pacific Typhoons.Here’s an 1846 painting of the Hong Kong harbor, and it’s easy to see why the naval powers in the Far East lusted after it.
It wasn’t until the 1860’s that the British managed to get a toehold in China, and wrest Hong Kong away from the Imperial Court of China. They did it with Indian opium. They introduced opium to China - paying for Chinese goods with opium until a significant number of the population were addicted. Even so, the British had to fight the Chinese junks for control of the valuable harbor.
If you want a fun way to understand how the British managed to gain control of Hong Kong, read James Clavell’s novel Taipan. (He’s also the author of Shogun.)These paintings are in the Maritime Museum which has some great ship models, but was ultimately disappointing because I couldn’t see the main galleries about Hong Kong’s maritime history. I did like this picture which shows all the naval flags which have visited Hong Kong between 1841 and 1950.
This is a SMALL portion of what Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbor looks like today
The second museum was much more successful. It is called M+. It is the contemporary art museum. Don’t turn off on me yet. This museum has a lot going for it. First, the building was done by a premier architectural firm: Herzog & deMuron.This is not my picture, but it shows the top floor, and how lovely it is. Here’s my stairway to heaven pictures. (It’s actually the stairway to the swank restaurant.)I didn’t realize until later that this was the back side of the staircase. It’s pretty lovely, don’t you think? Then, I took this picture of the front side and you’ll get why I think of it as the ‘stairway to heaven’.The yelllow part is florescent lights. So cool.Not only is the building beautiful, I discovered two new artists. One has worked during the 20th century, and the other is working during the 21st century.
Zao Wu Ki (1920-2013) is renowned as a master printmaker. He perfected the technique in the 20th century beginning in 1940 and continuing almost to the end of his life. As all great artists do, he was constantly evolving and innovating.
This is Zao Wu Ki at the top of his profession. He was Beijing born, but he lived most of his life in France. Here are some of his renowned works:1951 - “The Red Sun”
1948 - “Landscape with Birds”
Gradually, his style changed. He became influenced by Paul Klee when he traveled to Italy. He removed the horizon line, and these boats appear to float in space
His cats were definitely influenced by the rising modern art trend.
By 1965 he was not only print making, but he was also oil painting and etching as in the following painting.
Gradually, at the end of his career, his work became even more abstract.
His final print (lithograph) was done in 2000 when he was 80.
In most museums, this would be the most outstanding exhibition with no other coming close to its quality. In THIS museum, there was another artist, unknown to me, working in the 21st century.
Her name is Lee Bai, and her imagination is awe inspiring. She was born in 1964 in South Korea. She grew up as South Korea transformed from a dictatorship to a flourishing democracy and an economic powerhouse. Her art is almost indescribable.
To enter her exhibition, patrons are encouraged to walk through a mirror path
This was hard to capture. Here is Drake emerging from this sculpture.
(Sorry it’s so blurry.)
When you emerge from this mirror walk, this is what you see:
She used mirrored tiles in both traditional mirrors, as well as shiny black and white tiles to enhance her sculptures. This was one of the largest:
The white portion is actually lights from all types of lit light bulbs:
This sculpture is entitled “City of the Sun”. The mirrors behind it are distorted like fun house mirrors.
Another startling piece which captures max attention is this one:
This work is entitled “Beware of the Sweetness of Things”. Here are other works I particularly liked which are more traditional abstract art. She calls them her “Perdu” series - all paint applied in a controlled style.
Another set of pieces that were fascinating were collages created with mother of pearl:
I figured everyone would want a closeup of the ‘starship’.
We also had an opportunity to piggyback on some Dutch friends’ attendance to a concert pianist’s performance at a Hong Kong venue at City Hall. We saw this woman, and she was amazing. We’ve seen enough piano performances to know when our socks have been blown off. Her recording of John Field Nocturnes was the #1 classical record in Apple Records.
Here she is:
Finally, we even got to see a sliver of Hong Kong’s lighted buildings.
If I’m lucky, all my Hong Kong photos are here:
