Speech for Le Petit Louvre: Grand Exhibition 2001
Dr. Patrick Ho, Chairman of Hong Kong Arts Development Council
Date: May 17, 2001
Time: 6:00 p.m. - 6:40 p.m.
Venue: The Landmark, Hong Kong

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The world is surely getting smaller, as we can see reproduced artworks from museums in Paris now displayed in Hong Kong. The word "petit" in French doesn't only mean small or little, but connotes a sense of intimacy and closeness. The Petit Louvre at the Landmark brings masterpieces of fine arts close to the Hong Kong people from all walks of life. The exhibitions here are reproduced by master hands approved by the museum authority. Even if you are obsessed with the original, the real thing in the Louvre or Rodin Museum, watching these refined reproductions still give you good pleasure and inspiration.

Though the paintings and castings are also meant to be sold to art-lovers, they stand here primarily to make art accessible to all people in Hong Kong. You need not pay an entrance fee. There are fewer guards here; you can watch it with your kids eating an ice cream. I suppose when van Gogh did his painting in the countryside, people might just walk past and watch, as something that happened in our daily life. As the authentic masterpieces are very costly in our generation and thus guarded with top-security, their reproductions are made more accessible to people and close to life.

In this sense the Petit Louvre in Hong Kong is a lively and flexible way of cultural exchange. Local people passing a shopping mall can simply stop and admire the magic of the classics of art. Hong Kong Arts Development Council fully recognizes the importance of cultural exchange, which is set out as a core topic in our Three-Year Plan. As the Chairman of the Arts Development Council, I look forward to see more of these kinds of cultural exchange between France and Hong Kong.

In 1998, The Grand Exhibition of castings and reproduction paintings from the Louvre and the Rodin Museum in Paris rapidly won over Hong Kong people's heart. I hope they will have more success this year so that the Petit Louvre in Hong Kong will be made a tradition. Thank you very much.