A Match Made in Painting: Selected Works of Xie Zhiliu and Chen Peiqiu from the Jingguanlou Collection

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In the history of Chinese painting, there are quite some painter couples. Few, however, have the husband and wife matching each other in artistic accomplishment as did Xie Zhiliu (1910 – 1997) and Chen Peiqiu (1923 – 2020), both of whom were leading calligrapher-painters of the Shanghai School in their own right. On his part and on hers, they found in each other not only a companion on their journey of life but also a soulmate during their exploration of art. Treading their own paths, they devoted themselves to studying and advancing traditional Chinese art, eventually achieving individuality through their compatible yet dissimilar practice of brush and ink. More than just artists, both husband and wife were eminent authenticators and researchers, contributing immensely to the development of modern Chinese painting both as an art and as an academic discipline.

The couple’s great friendship with local collector Dr Leo Wong Kwai-kuen went back to the mid-1980s. It is not surprising, therefore, for their works to feature prominently in the donations that Dr Wong has made from his Jingguanlou Collection to the Hong Kong Museum of Art since 2021. Among the donations, a fine selection of 99 masterpieces is now on display to showcase the evolvement of their art over the years with the aim of uncovering how eagerly this loving pair of Shanghai School artists explored the tradition as they experimented for innovation and how they accompanied and supported each other in their artistic pursuits.