The Big 4-0
Daphne King-yao celebrates 40 years of Alisan Fine Arts
This year marks Alisan Fine Arts’ 40th anniversary and gallerist Daphne King-yao celebrated with a bang back in May, when she opened an exhibition of works by the legendary painter Chu Teh-chun to coincide with Art Basel Hong Kong.
Chu was one of the most important Chinese artists of the 20th century, famous for combining traditional Chinese painting and western abstract art. He lived for much of his life in Paris, where he became the first ethnic Chinese member of the prestigious Académie des Beaux-arts and where he is still widely celebrated today. The French consul general in Hong Kong, Alexandre Giorgini, co-hosted the exhibition opening with King-yao.
“This is the fifth exhibition Alisan Fine Arts has hosted of Chu’s work over the years,” said King-yao. “The first was hosted back in 1997, the year after I joined the gallery.”
Alisan Fine Arts was co-founded in 1981 by King-yao’s mother, Alice King, and the late Sandra Walters. It was one of the first galleries to open in the
city and is now one of the longest-running.
Art collectors and members of the city’s art community turned out in force for the Chu exhibition, including Maria Mok, the director of the Hong Kong Museum of Art, and Louis Ng, director of the Palace Museum Hong Kong. The event was also something of a family reunion: among the crowd were Kingyao’s father, Roger King, an adjunct professor of finance at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology; her brother, Stephen King, who is an acclaimed photographer and a managing partner of investment fund Violet Hill Partners; her uncle, shipping tycoon Tung Chee-chen; and her cousin, Leigh Tung-chou.
King-yao has other plans in the works to celebrate the gallery’s anniversary, including an exhibition of work by another worldfamous Chinese artist that she hopes to open later this year.