ENG-1977 — Page 246

RECREATION AND THE ARTS

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The small auditorium, with a seating capacity of 1,500 people, has been designed to suit the staging of opera, ballet, drama and chamber music, recitals, and film and variety shows. A special feature will be a multi-purpose stage and orchestra pit that can be raised to form part of a protruding stage suited for theatrical presentations. The large auditorium will seat 2,500 people and its main function will be to hold orchestral and operatic performances, using the hall's natural acoustics to full advantage.

The administration building will provide the Cultural Services Division of the Urban Services Department with its headquarters and will house an arts library of 925 square metres. Both the Museum of Art and the Museum of History will be housed in the new museum building and the entire complex will be fully operational by 1983.

Hong Kong Museum of Art

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At present, the Hong Kong Museum of Art is located on the top three floors of the City Hall High Block. It collects and exhibits contemporary and historical works.

Some 18 exhibitions of Chinese and Western art from Hong Kong and overseas were staged in 1977. The overseas exhibitions included 'International Children's Art', 'Austria Presents Hundertwasser' and 'Contemporary German Art'. Some displays in the exhibitions of Ukiyo-e woodblock prints and of Shek Wan pottery came from overseas. In October, four art exhibitions were presented simultaneously by the museum in conjunction with the Second Festival of Asian Arts. During the year, 254,574 people visited exhibitions an average of 697 a day.

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In an extension of the museum's activities, small travelling exhibitions have been set up and these are loaned, without charge, to schools, libraries and cultural institu- tions. During the year, the Urban Council presented 12 art awards to prominent local artists.

Some significant acquisitions were made by the museum in 1977. These included a saucer-shaped green dragon dish of the Cheng Te period (1506 to 1521); a Ting-yao dish of the Sung Dynasty (960 to 1279) featuring a moulded design of two fish in a lotus pond; 206 embroidered buttons, buckles, perfume lockets and hair pins; a rare Wu-tsai fish bowl of the Wan-li period (1573 to 1620); a large blue and white vase and an unusual Tou-tsai-type bowl of the Ch'en Lung period (1736 to 1795); and two pink ground bowls of the Tao Kuan period (1821 to 1850).

Six illustrated exhibition catalogues on monochrome ceramics, fan paintings, contemporary Hong Kong art, Ukiyo-e, Shek Wan pottery and snuff bottles were produced. These have been added to the libraries of many museums and universities around the world. The catalogues on monochrome ceramics and Shek Wan pottery were produced in colour.

Hong Kong Museum of History

Staff of the Museum of History, in Star House, Kowloon, were active throughout 1977 collecting and documenting material for the ethnographic and local history collections.

In April and May, a three-week archaeological investigation at a site near the village of Sha Tsui, High Island, resulted in important new discoveries.