Sculptor Goon T. Chan (1893 – 1951) – A Missing Page/

A specially curated retrospective exhibition of the works of the contemporary Chinese sculptor, Goon T. Chan, provided by his sons in Canada, will be shown at the Chinese Cultural Centre Museum from May 1 to 30, in celebration of the Asian Heritage Month. This exhibition is supposed to fill a missing page in the history of development of contemporary Chinese sculpture.

Sculpture in China has often been regarded as a craft than art. That is until the 1930’s, when shoals of students who studied abroad returned with fresh ideas of the Western civilization. Traditional Chinese concept was that sculpture served for both the dead and religion (the supernatural). Famous archeological findings, such as the terra cotta soldiers in battle array of the Qin Dynasty (221-206 B.C.) and the Buddhist grottos from the 3^rd to 5^th centuries on the Silk Road, impressed the world of the uniqueness of Chinese sculptural art. But there was a decline in last 600 years.

Goon T. Chan belonged to the first generation of Chinese sculptors, who studied in West and gained expertise to return to China to help develop the art. Originally from Tai Shan in the maritime Guangdong Province, which had close relationship with overseas Chinese communities, he came to Montreal, Canada, through the assistance of the missionaries, to study English, with the hope to become a physician in 1907. He later switched to fine art and sculpture and studied for 12 years from 1917 to 1928 at the Boston Museum School of Fine Arts. Upon graduation, he obtained scholarships to further his art at the Paris studio of Antoine Bourdelle (1861-1929), the famous master and assistant to Augustine Rodin (1840-1917), and Florence Academy of Art in Italy. He made his first masterpiece of a Carrara marble bust of a 10-year old Italian boy in Florence. It made a heart-warming ceremony and international news when in September, 2008 the Chan family escorted this masterpiece to Boston and donated it to the permanent collection of Goon’s alma mater Boston Museum School of Fine Art.

Upon return to China in 1931, Chan taught sculpture at the Canton School of Fine Arts and became a professor at the provincial Shang Qin University until 1936. With World War II ravaging in 1937, he moved with his family to Hong Kong. He received many commissions, and was selected as one of the five finalists in a bid for a statute of Dr. Sun Yat-sen (1866-1925), the first President of modern China at the Nanjing Mausoleum. With the fall of Hong Kong to Japanese occupation in 1942, he refused to sculpt for the enemy and escaped to the city Zhanjiang (Canton Bay). He returned to Hong Kong after World War II in 1945, and stayed until his death in 1951.

Although his names has been cited as an early pioneer in many reference books relating to the history of contemporary sculptural art, his works being mostly in private collections were seldom seen. The Hong Kong Art Museum has in its collection two of his works, while his other works were sighted at public locations unrecognized in that city.

The current exhibition, which includes 40 photographs, 20 sculpture in bronze and plaster and 60 oil and water-color paintings, marks the 60^th anniversary since his works were last shown in Hong Kong. It amounts to a re-discovery of an important Chinese sculptor/painter in fitting with the theme of the heritage month. It will open at the C.C.C. Museum. 555 Columbia St., Vancouver at 2 p.m. on Saturday, 1 May.

For further enquiry, please contact Paul Yeung, C.C.C, Museum at 604-658-8881.