Presented by Sociedade de Jogos de Macau, S.A. (“SJM”), Unbroken Kite String – relationship between concrete and abstract – A Tribute to Wu Guanzhong on his 100^th Birth Anniversary, an exhibition of master Wu Guanzhong’s paintings, was being held at Grand Lisboa from 1 to 30 July 2019. This was the second of the seven exhibitions of SJM’s “ART • Appreciation • Legacy” series after Paul Gauguin’s exhibition last June.

In commemoration of Wu Guanzhong’s centennial birthday, a total of nine paintings were featured in the exhibition: A Pair of Swallows, Flower Basket after Song Masters, Hibiscuses, Lion Grove Garden, The Three Gorges of the Yangtze River, Sunrise in Mount. Huang, Mount. Yulong, Spring Shoots among Bamboos, and Lotus, with A Pair of Swallows exhibited at the hotel lobby and the other eight paintings at Peach Blossom Room on the seventh floor of Grand Lisboa. 

Born in 1919 in Jiangsu Province, China, Wu Guanzhong graduated from Hangzhou National Art College in 1942. He travelled to Paris to study at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in 1947, and returned to China in 1950. He then started to teach in several universities, including China Central Academy of Fine Arts and Tsinghua University. He is known for works that combined traditional Eastern ink wash drawing with Western oil painting.

Throughout Wu Guanzhong’s lifetime, his artworks have always revolved around Jiangnan, intermittently recording his artistic impression of his hometown. Amongst the numerous artworks under the theme of Jiangnan, A Pair of Swallows was Wu’s favourite. As an ink wash painting, it did not display traces of predecessors’ artworks, and although he made use of western modern art visual science and created visual tension by rearranging shapes in the painting, he did not replicate the western painting style. A pair of swallows was deliberately added alongside lively tree trunks and branches, enthusing a poetic eminence in the painting filled with the vigour of springtime. The profound cultural awareness of the East and West was molten together by the passion and wisdom of the artist.

In support of the first edition of Macau’s mega culture event “Art Macao”, SJM’s “ART • Appreciation • Legacy” acknowledges both East and West cultures and plays host to seven multitudinous exhibitions at Grand Lisboa, Lisboa, Oceanus at Jai Alai, Ponte 16 Resort and Regency Art Hotel from June to October. In addition to Special Exhibition of Coin du Jardin by Paul Gauguin and A Tribute to Wu Guanzhong on his 100^th Birth Anniversary, the upcoming shows will be Visions of Chinese Tradition – Chinese Lacquer works and Art in Motion – Video art from Portugal (1 – 30 August), the 4^th Y Show (1 – 29 September), as well as exhibition of works by Portuguese speaking authors from the collection of The PLMJ Foundation and Contemporary Glass Art Exhibition by Shu MENG (1 – 31 October). Featuring works from various periods and culture backgrounds created with an array of media, SJM’s “ART • Appreciation • Legacy” aims to foster a new brand of cultural tourism while enabling Macau’s residents and visitors to be immersed in a unique East-meets-West art experience.