Thirty years ago, Catherine Kwai left the finance industry to open Kwai Fung Hin Art Gallery. The gallerist looks back at her decades-long career and shares how being self-taught was a blessing in disguise
In the early nineties, Catherine Kwai bid adieu to a comfortable career in finance to take on a new role as a gallerist. With no background in the arts, Kwai had her work cut out for her. “When you work for a bank, you don’t leave to open another bank. I didn’t want to work for other people, so I became an entrepreneur,” she says.
The gallery became known for its representation of leading Chinese artists like Zao Wou-ki, Ju Ming and Li Huayi, and has also been a champion of new talents. Over three decades, Kwai Fung Hin has staged hundreds of exhibitions, with Kwai curating more than 100 of them. These include collaborations with the Shanghai Art Museum, Suzhou Museum and Asia Society Hong Kong. In 2021, the gallery opened a new space inside the Tai Kwun Centre for Heritage and Arts, followed by the opening of the Kwai Fung Salone, a new platform for art and cultural events, also at Tai Kwun.
Here, Kwai speaks to Tatler about why she made that career move, how she selects artists to work with and the way she preserves Chinese culture within her own family.
Without using the words “mother”, “gallery owner” or “philanthropist”, I would describe myself as someone who likes a challenge. I’m very curious and I like to read a lot. My friends say that I have a lot of energy, drive and motivation. The older I get, the more energy I seem to have [laughs].
My parents loved to collect antiques. It was sort of a hobby in the family. I was born and raised in Hong Kong. Every Saturday, [when I was a child,] my parents would walk to Hollywood Road [where there are antique shops] and bring me with them. I started to understand the meaning of being a collector. I would always wonder why my mother would never buy a handbag, but instead, a worn-out antique. It sparked my interest [in antiques] and I began to appreciate her collection.
My father was a big believer in maintaining our Chinese heritage. I’ve passed this on to my own three children Vanessa, Henry and Joseph. Every summer, I would send them to summer camp at Tsinghua University for a two-month course on Chinese culture. At the camp, the kids wake at 7am, eat congee, learn calligraphy and visit museums and heritage sites. My daughter used to quarrel with me and complain that all her friends were going abroad to the US, Europe or Japan to holiday instead [laughs].
