ENG-1974 — Page 250

RECREATION

City Museum and Art Gallery

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The City Museum and Art Gallery is accommodated in the three top floors of the High Block of City Hall. It was established in 1962 and at present has four sec- tions: Chinese art and antiquities, local history, archaeology and ethnography, and local and contemporary art.

The Chinese antiquities section has a comprehensive collection of ceramics. Although the items may not be of great value individually, they are representative of ceramics of various periods of Chinese history. In addition to the ceramics there are interesting pieces of bronze, jade, lacquerware, cloissonne and embroidery. The Chinese art section boasts a substantial collection of paintings and calligraphy by Kwangtung artists which are important to any comprehensive study of the art history of Kwangtung in the last two centuries. There are also notable works by Chinese artists of other regions.

The collections of historical pictures, largely made up of the Chater, Hotung, Law and Sayer collections, have been augmented by many new acquisitions. The total of about 800 items forms a valuable and informative group of pictorial records of Sino-British relationship since the 18th century. A collection of more than 2,000 photographs depicts the evolution of Hong Kong from a fishing village in 1870 to a modern city.

The collection of local archaeological finds continued to grow, as a result of ex- cavations conducted by the Hong Kong Archaeological Society. Archaeological work during the year was extensive, and the results impressive, the finds ranging from Han objects to neolithic artifacts. The ethnographical collection has been increasing steadily and includes items such as models of extinct Chinese fishing junks.

The local and contemporary art collection consists of painting, sculpture and prints by local artists as well as by artists of other Asian countries, many of whom are of Chinese origin.

Apart from the permanent display of Chinese antiquities in the museum section, the first half of 1974 was marked by major exhibitions organised during the Arts Festival, including ‘A Century of Chinese Paintings' in the art gallery and 'Chinese Puppets' in the exhibition hall, both attracting many visitors. Exhibitions from overseas were also well attended, the most popular being the 'Original Graphics by Picasso' and 'Contemporary Italian Sculpture'.

During the later part of the year, a series of exhibitions of materials from the collection was presented and, in November, a number of special displays organised in connection with 'Urbco '74', the exhibition designed to show the overall activity of the Urban Council.

The Lei Cheng Uk Tomb, discovered in 1955 and preserved as a site museum, was closed in July for urgent repairs. The total attendance for the first six months was 7,612, averaging 42 per day, as compared with 8,440 and 56 for the same period in 1973.