We’ve been fans of the Long Museum West Bund from the get-go, its vast halls make for a truly remarkable space and the variety of exhibitions we’ve enjoyed there have been second to none – and that’s before we even get into the eccentric antics of the museum’s owner.
The latest exhibit to open is one of our favorites yet. If you’ve found Chinese ink painting inaccessible in the past, Rendering Change is a rare and wonderful chance to see some paintings from a recent era, all drawn from the private M K Lau collection, and the vast majority were created between 1949 and 1979 as a ‘new China’ emerged. As such, the paintings contain traditional landscapes combined with new themes such as communes, industrial development and political leaders.
Speaking recently at M on the Bund, co-curator Catherine Maudsley highlighted the collection’s uniqueness. M K Lau founder Mr. Victor Lo relentlessly pursued paintings for his collection over a period of 30 years and has assembled well over a hundred pieces of huge political and historical significance, many of them by lesser-known artists. With reference to the Shanghai exhibition in particular, Maudsley highlighted ‘Steel Foundry’ by Lin Fengmian which depicts a scene from the city’s industrial 1950s and noted its relevance to the Long Museum itself, a venue that has been founded on the remains of a former coal loading facility on the banks of the Huangpu. An excellent exhibition well worth a look.
Rendering Change is at the Long Museum West Bund until December 10th. 3398 Longteng Avenue, Xuhui.
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