M+, Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture in the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK) in Hong Kong, is pleased to present Canton Modern: Art and Visual Culture, 1900s–1970s. The Special Exhibition showcases twentieth-century Cantonese art and visual culture in its full complexity, highlighting its significance as an important chapter in visual and artistic modernism in China and beyond. Bringing together over 200 works from institutional and private collections, many of which are on public display for the first time, the exhibition will open to the public from Saturday, 28 June to Sunday, 5 October 2025 in the Main Hall Gallery at M+. The exhibition is generously supported by Major Sponsor HSBC.

Canton Modern: Art and Visual Culture, 1900s–1970s tells a locally rooted story that reflects issues of contemporary and global resonance, including individual and collective identities, the meaning of images in a changing society, and the politics of culture. The port cities of Guangzhou (Canton) and Hong Kong were the birthplace of China’s modern revolution and centres for radically new ways of thinking about art and its purpose. In the early twentieth century, Cantonese artists departed from the elegant poetics of classical ink painting to create a new socially oriented realism, depicting subjects ranging from leisure and labour to war and disaster. They worked as journalists and publishers, using mass mediums like print, photography, and cartoons to reflect and even reform society. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, Guangdong and Hong Kong went on divergent paths. Cantonese artists in the mainland shaped the nation’s self-image through Socialist Realism and propaganda, while their contemporaries in Hong Kong continued to embrace international movements. Nonetheless, a complex sympathy endured, grounded in a shared artistic legacy.

This Special Exhibition showcases works in various mediums by Guangdong and Hong Kong artists, including ink painters Chao Shao-an, Gao Jianfu, Guan Shanyue, and Wong Po-yeh; oil painters Lee Byng, Ou Yang, Ting Yin Yung, and Wong Siu-ling; printmakers Gu Yuan, Huang Xinbo, and Li Hua; cartoonists Liao Bingxiong, and Yip Yan-chuen; and photographers Chan Chik, Sha Fei, and Yau Leung. It offers fresh but historically grounded perspectives on the role of art and artists in driving social reform and constructing contemporary realities through four thematic sections:

• Image and Reality

Early twentieth-century Cantonese artists advocated realism in painting as part of a national drive towards modernisation. Borrowing from Japanese and Western art, they departed from traditional literati poetics to address the concerns and experiences of the real world. They were keenly aware of the power of images, becoming early adopters of mass mediums like photography, print, and pictorial publications to distribute news and ideas. This section establishes the relationship between image and reality as a theme of the exhibition as it explores the dynamics of this connection across different historical periods and political environments.

• Identity and Gender

During the upheavals of the twentieth century, Cantonese artists had multiple identities as revolutionaries, government officials, journalists, fundraisers, and propagandists. Leftist artists aligned themselves with the working class and made unflinching representations of wartime suffering and social inequalities. This section also considers the changing role of women, juxtaposing traditional works that objectify women with those in which female artists confidently assert their agency. In Socialist Realist art, the modern ‘new woman’ is co-opted as a symbol of national vigour to legitimate her new role in the public sphere.

• Locality and Nationhood

Modern Cantonese artists documented their region’s culture and geography with realist specificity and pride, while wartime strife and displacement also encouraged them to represent the nation as a whole. After 1949, they played a pivotal role in shaping the image of the new People’s Republic. Notably, Guan Shanyue, an important artist of the Lingnan School, was commissioned to co-create the monumental painting This Land So Rich in Beauty with Fu Baoshi for the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 1959. As Cantonese artists gained recognition, they also became part of the national agendas.

• Parallel Worlds

The final section addresses the connections and disconnections between Guangdong and Hong Kong after 1949. It features artistic representations of water shortages and fires in Hong Kong’s squatter settlements during the 1950s and 1960s, which impacted many mainland immigrants and reflected broader issues of poverty and cultural identity. During the Cultural Revolution, propaganda art and theatre productions promoted Communist Party ideals and shaped everyday behaviour in the mainland. Across the border in Hong Kong, Communist sympathisers replicated these theatrics of mass mobilisation.

Suhanya Raffel, Museum Director, M+, says, ‘I am pleased to witness another milestone for M+, with this exhibition bringing our region’s rich cultural heritage to a broader global audience. This exhibition traces the evolution of Cantonese art and visual culture and its relationship with Hong Kong, offering a profound reflection on how artistic practices emerge and develop in dialogue with their sociopolitical, linguistic, and cultural contexts. It underscores the contributions of Cantonese artists to global modernism, showcasing their artistic expressions and engagement with international artistic movements amid the complexities of their time.’

Tina Pang, Curator, Hong Kong Visual Culture, M+, and Alan Yeung, Associate Curator, Ink Art, M+, say, ‘Canton Modern: Art and Visual Culture, 1900s–1970s is a remarkable opportunity for visitors to delve into stories of war, revolution, cultural identity, and artistic agency while reflecting on contemporary resonances. Today we live in a world saturated by images and take for granted their essential role in shaping our perceptions and realities. By foregrounding artists who pioneered modern visual languages and novel approaches to image production and consumption in the twentieth century, the exhibition takes us back in time as witnesses to the formation of our image-driven world.’

To celebrate the launch of the exhibition, M+ will host an opening ceremony tonight. In attendance will be Bernard Chan, Chairman of the M+ Board; Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator, M+; Tina Pang, Curator, Hong Kong Visual Culture, M+; Alan Yeung, Associate Curator, Ink Art, M+; Cheuk Shum, Managing Director and Head of Marketing, Hong Kong, HSBC; as well as some of the featured artists, their family members, or their representatives.

Exhibition merchandise

Coinciding with the opening of Canton Modern: Art and Visual Culture, 1900s–1970s, the M+ Shop is launching a new range of merchandise inspired by the artworks in the exhibition. Select products include tote bags and postcards. The merchandise is available at the M+ Shop on the ground floor of the museum and online.

Dai Guangyu: And Thus Is This Land

In conjunction with this Special Exhibition, And Thus Is This Land, a participatory performance by artist Dai Guangyu, is now ongoing in the Focus Gallery on L2 until Sunday, 10 August 2025. More than 200 artists and art students collaborate in recreating This Land So Rich in Beauty (1959), a monumental landscape by Fu Baoshi and Guan Shanyue, a master of the Lingnan School. Over the course of a month, participants will each paint a segment of the landscape, and these parts will be assembled into a complete composition. Navigating the tension between copying and adapting, the participants will create a brand-new work that honours the 1959 original, which is an icon of modern Chinese art history and a symbol of Cantonese art’s rise to national prominence.

Ticketing arrangements

From Saturday, 28 June to Sunday, 13 July 2025, tickets for visiting both Special Exhibitions Canton Modern: Art and Visual Culture, 1900s–1970s and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Series: Picasso for Asia—A Conversation are HKD 240 for adults and HKD 120 for visitors eligible for concessions*. Visitors with Special Exhibition tickets can access all galleries.

Starting on Tuesday, 15 July 2025, M+ is changing to a new single-price admission ticket. Under this new system, all admission tickets grant entry to all M+ galleries, including Canton Modern: Art and Visual Culture, 1900s–1970s. Tickets are HKD 190 for adults and HKD 100 for visitors eligible for concessions*. Kid and Adult Combo Tickets are also available for HKD 250 for one adult and one child or HKD 400 for two adults and one child. The new M+ tickets will be available for online purchase via the M+ website, WestK website, WestK App, Cityline, China Travel Service (Hong Kong) Limited, Fliggy, Klook, KKday, and Trip.com. For details, please refer to the M+ website.

*Concession tickets are available for full-time students, children ages 7 to 11, senior citizens ages 60 and above, persons with disabilities and one companion, and Comprehensive Social Security Assistance (CSSA) recipients. 

M+ Membership

M+ annual membership and patron membership offer an exclusive experience of contemporary visual culture for visitors of all ages and backgrounds. Starting from Tuesday, 15 July 2025, M+ will launch a new single-price admission. M+ Members will enjoy unlimited admission to all M+ exhibitions, including upcoming Special Exhibitions. They also enjoy access to the exclusive M+ Lounge, M+ Private Viewings, priority ticket purchasing, and much more. The annual fee for individual membership is HKD 600 and dual membership is HKD 1,000. Young Member and Senior Member are available at half price. Family Membership is available with an annual fee of HKD 1,200. Meanwhile, M+ Patrons can enjoy unlimited admission to all exhibitions with up to three guests per visit. M+ Members and Patrons can also enjoy exclusive previews to Special Exhibitions prior to public opening and thirty to fifty per cent discounts on Special Exhibition tickets. For more information, please visit the M+ website.

About Dai Guangyu

Dai Guangyu (Chinese, born 1955) has worked in community-based performance art for over three decades. His projects gained widespread attention in his native Chengdu in the 1990s, inviting participation by local artists as well as members of the public with no previous exposure to contemporary art. In 1995 and 1996, he organised large-scale performances and exhibitions in Chengdu and Lhasa respectively as part of the Keepers of the Water project, drawing attention to water pollution. In 1998, he led a group of artists in a site-specific public performance that protected a Ming-dynasty city wall in Chengdu from demolition by a real-estate developer. Born to a scholarly family, Dai Guangyu was trained in Chinese painting and calligraphy from a young age and has realised many public performances using ink, both in China and internationally.

About M+

M+ is Asia’s global museum of contemporary visual culture. Located in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK), it is dedicated to collecting, exhibiting, and interpreting visual art, design and architecture, moving image, and Hong Kong visual culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The landmark M+ building on Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbourfront was designed by the world-renowned architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron in partnership with TFP Farrells and Arup. It spans a total floor area of 65,000 square metres, featuring thirty-three galleries alongside a Learning Hub, Moving Image Centre, Research Centre, and Roof Garden, among other event and programming spaces. The M+ Facade is one of the largest LED screens in the world, showcasing commissioned artworks on the Hong Kong skyline every evening. The museum stewards a multidisciplinary permanent collection that includes objects from regions across Asia and beyond. A highlight is the M+ Sigg Collection, one of the world’s most extensive collections of Chinese contemporary art. Today, M+ is a nexus for researching and presenting contemporary visual culture, inspiring thought and curiosity.

About the West Kowloon Cultural District (WestK)

WestK is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural hubs in the world and Hong Kong’s new cultural tourism landmark, spanning forty hectares alongside Victoria Harbour. WestK comprises a mix of landmark arts and cultural facilities, including world-class museums M+ and the Hong Kong Palace Museum, intricately designed performing arts venues the Xiqu Centre and Freespace, the eleven-hectare Art Park with a waterfront promenade, and the upcoming WestK Performing Arts Centre.

Hosting over 1,000 exhibitions, performances, programmes, and events each year, WestK provides a vital platform for both emerging and established artists. WestK welcomes more than ten million visitors each year, evolving as the international cultural brand of Hong Kong and strengthening the city’s strategic role as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange.