Christie's HK Autumn Auction 2009 Preview of Southeast Asian Modern and Contemporary Art

In conjunction with Christie's Hong Kong Autumn Auction 2009 which will be held from 28th to 30th November 2009, we are pleased to offer a guided tour of the highlights from the Southeast Asian Modern and Contemporary Art collection. We will be guided by Keong Ruoh-Ling, Head of Christie's Southeast Asian Modern and Contemporary Art, who is based in Singapore.

We will view an impressive array of works spanning the 20th & 21st centuries, including modern paintings of exceptional quality from Belgian artist Adrien Jean Le Mayeur who spent his artistic career in Bali; Indonesian modern masters Affandi, S. Sudjojono, Widayat, and other established Southeast Asian modern artists such as Thai Damrong Wong-Uparaj and Vincente Manansala. These works are featured alongside those of contemporary artists including Indonesians Yunizar and Rudi Mantofani, and Filipino Bencab.

Keong Ruoh-Ling first joined Christie's Southeast Asian Pictures department in Singapore in 1996. She was instrumental in the team that brought the Southeast Asian art sale to Christie's Hong Kong Auction in 2002. Since then, this category has become one of the most dynamic in sales that draws in new collectors at every season alongside seasoned connoisseurs.

As an additional treat, Elizabeth Hammer, who took us on a guided tour last year, will lead us on a viewing of Chinese paintings immediately following the Southeast Asian gallery tour. We will view the exhibition of Fine Chinese Classical Paintings, featuring artworks from the Song dynasty to the end of the Qing dynasty, in all major themes, of landscape, figure paintings and birds-and-flowers. Paintings and calligraphy have long been considered the finest art forms in China, as they provided a means of personal expression and communication of the artist's spirit. Together, we will examine the delightfully delicate and realistic Song dynasty fan paintings of natural images and consider ink landscape paintings, made using abstracted calligraphic brushwork by noted masters. We will focus on how connoisseurs evaluate paintings and calligraphy and some of their historical and philosophical contexts. Finally, we conclude by looking at how these artistic trends and ideas influenced artists of the modern period.

Elizabeth Hammer is Vice President/Specialist for Chinese Paintings and is based in New York. She worked for Christie's Chinese Paintings department from 1991 to 1995 and rejoined the company in 2007. In between, she worked at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in the Education Department, where she prepared and conducted programs and materials on East Asian art for all audience groups. Elizabeth also teaches and writes on related topics regularly.

Do join us for a morning of delightful discoveries.