An anonymous collector of Hong Kong art has donated a “transformative” trove of 131 artworks to the Vancouver Art Gallery in Canada in a move that elevates the international profile of Hong Kong art.
The collection, titled Art Continuum Hong Kong (ACHK), was assembled over three decades by a Hong Kong-based collector, the museum said on December 8. The works by 78 artists have been added to the gallery’s permanent collection.
Diana Freundl, the Vancouver Art Gallery’s senior curator, who helped secure the donation, notes that the donor considered several institutions before choosing the gallery.
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Vancouver is a city with a long-established Hong Kong diaspora, the size of which has only increased since Hong Kong’s political unrest of 2019 and the subsequent introduction of Canada’s “lifeboat” immigration scheme.
For the gallery, a collection of such depth and scope transforms its ability to tell a richer narrative of Hong Kong’s contemporary art history, Freundl says.
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