HKMA-8

Discovering Borget

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The exhibition Auguste Borget: A Painter-Traveller on the South China Coast, opened last month at the Macao Museum of Art (MAM), as part of Le French May. The exhibition features 19th century French painter Auguste Borget’s documentary works, made during his travels in the Far East, presenting a glimpse of the folk customs and cultures of Macau and its surrounding areas in the 19th century.

MAM is showcasing over 120 pieces of Borget, on loan from nine cultural entities from Macau, Hong Kong, France and the United Kingdom, as well as seven private organisations and collectors. They include sketches, watercolours, oil paintings, prints and antique books. 

Over 40 paintings are themed on Macau in the 19th Century, while the rest depict areas like Hong Kong and Guangzhou during the same period. In particular, the oil painting “A-Ma Temple, Macao” which was acquired by the King of France, Louis Philippe I, is also shown in this exhibition located at the Gallery of Special Exhibitions, on the 2nd floor of the Museum, and open to the public until October 9.

 

MACAU FASCINATION

 

Born in the French town of Issoudun, the French painter and traveller Auguste Borget (1808 – 1877) was the son of a banker. With a passion for art since childhood, Borget studied with Jean-Antoine Gudin in his early years in Paris, where he made acquaintance with prominent French writer Honoré de Balzac, who would have a deep impact on Borget. Although Borget has never been regarded as a great French artist, his talent in both writing and painting were in fact considered very rare in France at that time.

In October 1836 the adventurous Borget embarked on a four-year-long voyage around the world. In 1838 he arrived in China, visiting Macau, Hong Kong, and Guangdong and Fujian provinces. During his stay in China, Borget spent over eight months in Macau, this was where he stationed the longest in China. One of the icons of the city, the A-Ma Temple, was described by Borget as the “best architecture ever seen”, and his art series on the temple is the most famous among his various series. 

Upon his return to France, Borget published the book Sketches of China and the Chinese in Paris in 1842, an illustrated volume with renderings of scenes and landscapes he had captured in China, which helped enrich French knowledge about the other side of the world. In an age before photography, Borget’s paintings captured the landscapes of the South China coast and his work serves as an important historical record of the folk customs and the precious legacy of Sino-Western cultural exchange. 

 “Auguste Borget: A Painter-Traveller on the South China Coast” has thematic exhibition guided tours in Cantonese available on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays between 3pm and 4pm, starting from 16 July. Guided tour services are also available in Cantonese, Mandarin and English for groups and schools by advance booking. The event “Go on an Adventure with Borget – Children Group Visit Exhibition” will open on 19 July. 

The show is organized by the Macao Museum of Art, in collaboration with the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau and the Alliance Française de Macau.

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