Album of Hong Kong Sketches Leaf 1

Wong Po-yeh started to travel frequently between Hong Kong and Guangdong beginning in 1924, and he founded the Hong Kong branch of the Guangdong Association for the Study of Chinese Paintings with Pan Dawei (1880–1929), Deng Erya (1883–1954) and Cai Zhefu (1879–1943) in about 1926. Wong settled in Hong Kong since 1949, and since then this city became his home for the latter half of his life, and the stage of his artistic career.

Wong was an aficionado of Hong Kong landscape. He joined the Hong Kong hikers’ union, the Yung Society, in 1950, and often went on excursions to the countryside of Hong Kong, Kowloon, the New Territories, and even remote outlying islands with members of the group. During these trips he made plenty of sketches that helped him establish his own style. This album of twelve leaves titled Album of Hong Kong Sketches, created in 1958, depicts sceneries of Ngong Ping, Po Toi Island, Fat Tong Mun, Pat Sin Leng, Lau Fau Shan, Waglan Island, Pok Liu Island, etc., some in pure ink and some with subtle colours. His landscapes developed from sketches are especially delightful with the way the artist made a breakthrough from traditional conventions. For example, in the second leaf of Ngong Ping, Wong shaped the hill in the foreground with short vertical texture strokes, then coloured it with indigo, hematite, and a light wash of ink. This highlights the lush vegetation of the hill, and gives the painting a child-like sense of joy. The seventh leaf is a record of what the artist saw during a trip to Lau Fau Shan where he drank and enjoyed oysters. Cactuses on sand dunes behind a beach are accompanied by fishing boats in the background. The fourth leaf depicts his journey to Fat Tong Mun with Jen Yu-wen (1896–1978) and Wu Baling (1904–1976), founder of the Yung Society. The eighth leaf depicts his journey to Waglan Island with Feng Qingtang, while the ninth leaf expresses the artist’s love for Pok Liu Island for its otherworldly atmosphere.

Wong Po-yeh held a solo exhibition titled “Hong Kong in Paintings” in St. John’s Cathedral. Hong Kong landscape had been a staple motif in Wong’s oeuvre, and this album is undoubtedly his tour de force. The album demonstrates Wong’s innovation and courage, and shows us how an artist achieves the essence of art, expresses the spirit of landscape, and finds his own artistic language from feeling nature.