(April 2010, Hong Kong) Harbour City’s Gallery by the Harbour and Wan Fung Art Gallery will present to you the “Poem by the Harbour–Fine Arts Exhibition of Liu Maoshan” from 1^st to 18^th May 2010. The exhibition will showcase more than twenty masterpieces of Mr. Liu Maoshan. Exhibits include his famous paintings of the southern part of Suzhou and other cities worldwide which had inspired Liu during his travels. You can follow his footsteps and experience the poetic scenes that he had portrayed.

 

When people talk about Chinese ink paintings, they would think of Chinese mountains and streams, flowers-and-birds or human portraits. Liu''s paintings, on the other hand, focus more on the minute details. His ideas came from different places around the world, not only his homeland, the Jiangnan Suzhou Water Village but also the other places that he had visited, such as Hong Kong, Japan, America, Europe and Russia, etc. From the famous attractions and sceneries to small towns and streets, Liu put them into pictures with his unique and exquisite style.

 

Liu Maoshan paints like a poet. He paints with his heart. The harmony between his feelings and the sceneries can be seen from his paintings and will move our hearts. Among the exhibits we display, the “Waterfront in Hong Kong” and “Impression of Hong Kong III” depict the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre and the Victoria Harbour with romance and beauty and will surely touch the Hong Kong audience.

 

As a master of Chinese painting, Liu has definitely demonstrated a superb level of craftsmanship as well as the ability to extract the extraordinary beauty from common things. He expends a lot of time and effort to observe and digest the image that he sees. Sometimes, he would go to some small streets or lanes or even walk into a local home just to look for inspirations. He first paints with his mind, with the whole picture in his head. When he is satisfied with the overall design, he would then put it down with his paints.

 

 

 

 

 (Shop 207, Level 2, Ocean Center, Harbour City – Close to Fendi)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Liu Maoshan was born in 1942. He is a native of Suzhou, Jiangsu province and is a renowned Chinese landscape painter. He is currently a member of Chinese Artists Association, the vice-president of Suzhou Art Academy, as well as a professor of the Fine Arts Faculty of Suzhou University. He has also paid visits to Saginaw Valley State University in The United States as a visiting professor. He is rated as a national first class artist and receives special allowance from the State Council for his outstanding expertise.

 

Liu graduated from the Suzhou Institute of Arts and Crafts in 1962. He studied western painting at an early age and did profound and extensive research in the works of classical European masters and modern impressionism. He later altered his path of artistic pursuit to Chinese landscape painting.

 

Liu’s landscape paintings are characterized by a distinctive, colourful and poetic style, and his signature works of Jiangnan water village scenery are highly commended for its extraordinary freshness, tranquility and serenity. Liu has also successfully embodied the elements of western paintings such as the manifestation of light and colour, thus enhancing the sense of modernity in traditional Chinese paintings, yet preserving the essence of tradition through composition and the use of powerful and graceful brushstrokes. He is especially good at delicately depicting the sensual world of nature by employing contrast and gradation of hues, tone and rhythm.

 

In recent years, Liu has frequently visited the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Japan, Russia etc., where he held solo exhibitions as well as participated in many cultural and academic exchange activities. His works are published and highly acclaimed by Chinese and overseas media, and collected by many museums and galleries home and abroad. His name is listed in the “American Who’s Who” and the “International Who’s Who” published by the Center of International Who’s Who in Cambridge, Britain. His publications include “Rongbaozhai Book of Paintings (38)- Liu Maoshan’s Water Country”, “Liu Maoshan Poems of Water Village’, “Collection of Liu Maoshan Works”, “Exotic Moods．Selected New Works by Liu Maoshan”, “The Painting Technique of Jiangnan Water Village”, “Poetic Scenery．Exquisite Works by Liu Maoshan” and others of 26 Albums.