My first visit to "Princely Treasures: From the House of Liechtenstein" exhibition

"Princely Treasures: From the House of Liechtenstein" is an exhibition that I have been waiting for. This exhibition is held at the National Museum of Singapore from 27 Jun - 29 Sep 2013.

I was excited to be one of its first few visitors when the exhibition open to the public on 27 Jun 2013. There was a considerable number of visitors at the exhibition even though it was a Thursday morning.

The exhibition has caught my interest because it features a selection of 91 masterpieces from the Liechtenstein Collections. The collections contain major works of European art spanning five centuries. It is among the most important private collections in the world. Some of these masterpieces are representative examples of High Renaissance, Baroque, Neo-classical art styles.

Given that the opportunities to travel overseas to see original masterpieces by brilliant artists has yet to be very easy for the average Singapore citizen, the exhibition allowed visitors like myself to appreciate first-hand the works of great masters such as Raphael, Rembrandt, Peter Paul Rubens, Canaletto, Waldmüller and so forth, without having to travel out of Singapore. I am feeling very thankful that Liechtenstein, The Princely Collections, the National Museum of Singapore with the support of various sponsors have made works of important European artists accessible to the people living in the Singapore.

Compared to art styles such as Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, I am less familiar with art styles such as High Renaissance and Baroque. When I was visiting this exhibition, I was especially intrigued to realize how Renaissance and Baroque art has in some ways influence the way people think about visual art.

Raphael's Portrait of a Man was the only work by Raphael that was featured in this exhibition. Yet, from the placement of this work and the marketing material, it was clear that this was one of the masterpieces that is being featured in this exhibition. This is also one of the works in this exhibition that was imprinted strongly in my visual memory. Somehow, Raphael has the gift of immortalising the sitter. The use of bold colours in the sitter's dressing against an atmospheric background in this painting seemed to have made the image of the sitter in this painting stick vividly in my mind.

Raphael's Portrait of a Man.

There are many other works in this exhibition that are worthy of mention. One of the works is Anthony Van Dyck's Portrait of Maria de Tassis. I was in awe at Van Dcyk's mastery of the art of portraiture. Notice how the lace and the folds of the fabric were being painted in Van Dyck's Portrait of Maria de Tassis and you are likely to be mesmerized like I was.

Accompanying this exhibition is a display of historical portrait paintings from Singapore's National Collection It was an interesting experience to compare and contrast the paintings from this section with the rest of the exhibition to appreciate the typical conventions of portrait painting between the late 19th century and mid 20th century.

It appears that Princely Treasures: From the House of Liechtenstein has a strong focus on portrait paintings. While this is possibly so, I do wish to stress that the artworks that are being exhibited in this exhibition ranges from paintings, prints, tapestries, sculptures to decorative art objects. Please do check out the decorative art objects in this exhibition. I have found a few of them extremely intriguing. I shall visit this exhibition again in the near future.

The guided tours will commence on 8 Jul 2013 (according to the exhibition's programme guide). Each guided tour will be limited to 15 participants per session on a first come, first served basis. The meeting point will be at the entrance to the exhibition galleries 1 and 2, at the basement of the National Museum of Singapore. The guided tours are subjected to the availability of the volunteer guides. Admission fee to the exhibition still applies. (Please take note that there will be no guided tours on 20 Jul, 21 Jul, 8 Aug, 9 Aug, 28 Sep and 29 Sep.)

Princely Treasures: From the House of Liechtenstein
27 Jun - 29 Sep 2013
National Museum of Singapore
93 Stamford Road
Singapore 178897
Opening hours: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. daily.
Admission: $10 per adult

Bukit Brown Our Roots, Our Future (29 Jun - 7 July 2013)

Bukit Brown: Our Roots, Our Future
(In Mandarin and English)
29 Jun - 7 Jul 2013
9 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Venue: Chui Huay Lim Club,
190 Keng Lee Road, Level 4, Singapore 308409
For media enquiries, please email a.t.bukitbrown@gmail.com
https://www.facebook.com/bukitbrown.today


This is an event for heritage and nature enthusiasts to look out for. All Things Bukit Brown and Chui Huay Lim Club will be presenting an exhibition and a series of talks on the Bukit Brown Cemetery tracing its history and significance to the development of Singapore.

Bukit Brown Our Roots, Our Future has four themes: history, our pioneers, tomb culture, the living cemetery.

For more information, please visit: Bukit Brown: Our Roots, Our Future by a.t Bukit Brown
For the full programme of the talks, please visit: Our Roots, Our Future: The Talks by a.t Bukit Brown

Teochew Cultural Festival - Teochew Music and Opera at the Teochew Building

If Teochew Music and Opera interest you, please visit the Teochew Building at 97 Tank Road this weekend.

On the evening of 14 Jun 2013, I have had the great pleasure to attend the Opening Ceremony of the Teochew Cultural Festival at the Teochew Building. This is the first "Teochew Cultural Festival" presented by the Ngee Ann Cultural Centre, a subsidiary of Ngee Ann Kongsi. The theme for the festival is Teochew Music and Opera.

Teochew Building.

After the Open Ceremony, members of the audience were treated to various performances that showcase Teochew Music and Teochew Opera. Members from Er Woo Amateur Musical and Dramatic Association, Thau Yong Amateur Musical Association, Eng Tiang Huat, Nam Hwa Amateur Musical and Dramatic Association, Hwa Siah Musical Association and The Teochew Drama Association have came together to make the event a great success.

Although I do not understand Teochew, it was very helpful that the organizers provided both English and Mandarin subtitles that accompanied the Teochew opera and the Teochew vocal performances. I have found it equally useful to focus on listening to the background music, especially the rhythms of the percussion section, so as to appreciate the emotional nuances that the performers were attempting to convey.

I learnt from the programme notes that the origins of Teochew music can be traced to the reign of the Tang and Song dynasties. As for Teochew Opera, it is a genre of Chinese opera performed in the Teochew dialect with over 450 years of history.

Other than appreciating the Teochew Music and Opera performances, I have had the pleasure to learn more about Teochew Music and Opera by viewing the various artefacts that were on display in the exhibition hall. The exhibition will be held daily from 11 a.m. - 7 p.m. from 14 - 20 Jun 2013 in Teochew Building.

Here are the upcoming programmes that will be held in conjunction with Teochew Cultural Festival - Teochew Music and Opera.

15 Jun 2013 (Sat) and 16 Jun 2013 (Sun):
2.00 p.m. - 5.00 p.m. Teochew Gongfu Tea Ceremony
3.00 p.m. - 4.30 p.m. Teochew Music presentation by Hwa Siah Musical Association

Teochew Gongfu Tea Ceremony. Uploaded on 15 Jun 2013.
I learnt more about tea appreciation from the tea master.

Teochew Music presentation by Hwa Siah Musical Association.
The performers showed dedication to their art.

14 Jun 2013 (Fri) to 20 Jun 2013 (Thu):
11.00 a.m. - 7.00 p.m. (daily) Exhibition on Teochew Music and Opera

Teochew Cultural Festival 2013 - Teochew Music and Opera
Teochew Building
Ngee Ann Exhibition Hall and Auditorium
97 Tank Road
Singapore 238066
Nearest MRT station: Dhoby Ghaut.

Event page: http://www.ngeeann.com.sg/en/eventslist/tcw/

artFIESTA 2013! at Emily Hill

It was my very first visit to Emily Hill at 11 Upper Wilkie Road. My main driving force was to experience the  pre-war building at Emily Hill. The secondary reason was to check out artFIESTA 2013! organised by Maya Gallery. artFIESTA 2013! presents a series of exciting art activities to spend the weekend on 8 and 9 Jun 2013 at Emily Hill.

Visitors to artFIESTA 2013! can find themselves treated to a series of art activities such as face painting, batik painting, sand-art drawing, art jamming and more. Some of these activities are free while others are charged at a fee.

On the second level, local author Hidayah Amin of The Mango Tree drew her participants into the fascinating world of story-telling. I learnt that the story-telling event is available only on 8 Jun 2013 (Sat).

At this event, I met Karto who makes beautiful hand-made pin-hole cameras with love and passion. I learnt about the art of taking photographs with pin-hole cameras from him. Thanks to Karto for sharing about pin-hole camera with me. His sharing seemed to make the science and art of pin-hole camera come alive.

One of the activities that intrigued me was the sand-art drawing. With the guidance and help of the artist, Ms Tan Sock Fong, I created a sand-art drawing of a tree. It was fun to experiment making art with a medium that was new to me, i.e. sand.

After my visit, I learnt from award-winning blogger, Mr Jerome Lim, that the white building that sits at 11 Upper Wilkie Road was previously known as the Osborne House. It was subsequently turned into the Japanese Consul-General's office in 1939. To learn more about this building, please read Jerome's A last reminder of an old-fashioned corner of Singapore.

If you are looking for a family-friendly art activities this weekend, artFIESTA 2013! may be worth a good consideration.

For more information, please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/events/533929226653427/

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artFIESTA 2013!
Organised by Maya Gallery
Venue: Emily Hill, 11 Upper Wilkie Road
Date: 8 - 9 Jun 2013
Time: 11 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Suggestions to get there: Find your way to Wilkie Edge. Walk along Wilkie Rd. After Wilkie Terrace, continue to walk until you past 68 Wilkie Road. Look to your right and you will see some stairways that leads up to Mount Emily Park. Walk up the stairs and you will find Emily Hill, 11 Upper Wilkie Road fairly nearby.
If time permits, please make time to visit Displacements at 13 Wilkie Terrace.

For more information, please contact Tel: 62911760, art@mayagallery.com.sg
http://www.mayagallery.com.sg
https://www.facebook.com/mayagallerysingapore