The major donation includes pieces by important Hong Kong artists made over the past two decades
M+ museum has received a major donation of artworks from the collection of renowned Hong Kong architect, art collector and artist William Lim and his wife, Lavina Lim. The endowment comprises 90 works by 53 artists from Hong Kong and overseas. It also includes Pawn Shop, an artistic project that features the work of 46 international artists. The Lims’ treasury, the Living Collection, is regarded as one of the most significant private collections of Hong Kong art from the past two decades.
William and Lavina started their collection in the early 2000s; since then, Hong Kong’s art scene has boomed: the city is now a global art hub and local artists are receiving increasing international recognition.
That change is reflected in the extensive range of pieces compiled by the Lims, which were previously installed in an industrial building in Wong Chuk Hang, and where they regularly welcomed fellow art collectors, artists, academics and students to view the pieces. The Lims are excited that, at M+, the art will be seen by even more people.
“I consider the donation a time capsule where artworks by Hong Kong artists can be preserved and assume an important role in the future history of the city. With the donation, more people will be able to discover the art created by some very exceptional artists, and learn more about Hong Kong contemporary art,” said William.
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“The Living Collection reflects the collector’s resolve to record the unique evolutionary trajectory of Hong Kong art in the 21st century,” said Doryun Chong, deputy director, curatorial and chief curator at M+. “As Hong Kong’s local art scene started to take shape in the 2000s, private collectors have been an important pillar in the local artist community, especially in a young and emerging scene with an unestablished structure. William Lim excelled in this role by expanding his commitment from pure collecting to being actively engaged with art institutions, as well as advocating for Hong Kong artists on the international stage.”
Of the artists represented, 26 are local, and more than 20 of them being represented in the M+ Collections for the first time.
Some of the most notable local works include Yeung Tong Lung’s diptych painting, Wong Chuk Hang – Industrial Building and a Portrait; Au Hoi Lam’s installation Sixty Questions for My Father (or for Myself); Lam Tung Pang’s large-scale painting The Huge Mountain; Tang Kwok-hin’s The Lonely Island; Nicole Wong’s early works from 2013, Acrylic on Canvas (Pink Checks) and Acrylic on Canvas (Yellow Checks); Morgan Wong’s piece I Got Time; and 54:10: Artist’s Table, a work by William Lim himself.
Significant pieces by artists from elsewhere in Asia also feature, such as Lee Bul’s sci-fi Sculpture W6-2 and Haegue Yang’s Underwater Ventilation.
On the importance of the donation to M+, Suhanya Raffel, the museum’s director, said: “From the inception of M+’s collecting efforts, Hong Kong visual culture has been a core area of acquisition and currently constitutes an important part of the M+ Collections. The addition of these works supports M+’s ambition to enrich Hong Kong’s cultural landscape and reinforces M+’s position as the first global museum of contemporary visual culture in Asia.”
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