Then & Now | The growth of Hong Kong’s art clubs, from hobby groups to wartime camps and post-WWII success
Art clubs and societies have helped shape the city’s vibrant and diverse cultural landscape, since the 19th century
Newspaper notices from the 1850s record examples of public meetings convened by a few interested people to help locate other residents with similar hobbies. These early call-outs sometimes led to the formation of long-lasting clubs and societies.
Art clubs of various kinds, in particular, have a long local history. That time-worn cliché – that Hong Kong was a cultural desert until relatively recently – was never entirely true. The Hong Kong Art Club, established in the pre-war era, held regular exhibitions in the late 1930s, and the group continued to expand throughout the 50s and 60s. Membership was diverse; local Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and European residents were all drawn together by a mutual appreciation of individual artistic pursuits. While multi-ethnic in composition, the Hong Kong Art Club was predominantly composed of English speakers.
As most artists have a deep-seated need to display the fruits of their solitary, painstaking work, quality public exhibition venues were an essential adjunct. From the inauguration of Hong Kong’s first City Hall on Queen’s Road Central in 1869 until its demolition in 1933, regular exhibitions were held there. After its closure, other publicly available venues, such as the hall of St John’s Cathedral in Central, were periodically used. The University of Hong Kong’s Museum and Art Gallery on Bonham Road, which opened in 1953, was another popular venue.
Two cataclysmic events catalysed the creation of new artistic movements in post-war Hong Kong, and the more formalised support networks that these special-interest clubs provided to individual artists.