The University Museum and Art Gallery (UMAG) and the Jao Tsung-I Petite Ecole, both of the University of Hong Kong (HKU), are delighted to once again be collaborating on a celebration of the highly personal and enduring artistic oeuvre of Professor Jao Tsung-i. A renowned Chinese literary scholar and artist, Professor Jao began his career at HKU in 1952, setting out to develop an international network of likeminded academics.

Embracing Landscapes: The Artistic Journey of Professor Jao Tsung-i, has been organised to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Petite Ecole. The exhibition displays twenty paintings and calligraphic works related to Professor Jao’s travels since the 1960s, as well as fifty vintage photos commemorating his friendship with artists, art historians and connoisseurs during the five decades of his distinguished career. Amidst contemporary painters, few individuals have explored the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Australia as extensively as Professor Jao. Poems he wrote along the way became the inspiration for his paintings of foreign landscapes.

The exhibition features interpretations of landscapes from different corners of the world, including large-scale paintings that depict well known sites in Hong Kong, China and overseas. Individual artworks reflect the distinctive character of each site and are represented through Professor Jao’s use of the traditional Chinese medium of ink and brush, as well as western painting techniques. The paintings are also a testament to the monumental effect of the various landscapes and exemplify the care he took in merging the essence of painted images and commemorative poems. Through these exhibits, the audience has the unique opportunity to retrace Professor Jao’s footsteps and experience his profound impressions of diverse continents across the globe.