On Macau Trade Paintings: Creating a new painting category

Guest Speaker:
Prof. Cristina Osswald (MPU)

Theme:
Discussion of a number of Macau and Pearl River Delta Region art representations, produced in the XVIII and XIX centuries and shown in the West.

In Brief:
This presentation deals with a new painting category, Macao Trade Paintings distinct from China Trade Painting. This rather small array of circa three hundred paintings is dated to a short period of time, between the end of the 18th century and the mid-19th century.
In addition to oil on canvas portraits, also watercolours, gouache, and to a lesser extent glass reverse paintings and the Chinese rice on paper paintings, have depicted Macao's urban and architectural specificities, like seaports, harbour views, rural landscapes, different religious rituals, the everyday life of its multi-ethnic population and the emergence of Macao as an international tourism hub.
Understanding this artistic production requires a multi-disciplinary research strategy that integrates data and methodological tools from across a wide range of disciplines, including literature, sociology, and economic history.
Macao Trade Art emerged from commissions originally from Western (rarely Portuguese) patrons, followed by requests from Chinese and other Asian clients. These paintings were produced by Western painters, mostly amateurs living in or visiting Macao, inspired by prototypes taken to the West, and with the participation of a few Chinese professional painters and craftsmen workshops.
The participation of Western and Chinese painters and mixed patronage, the blending of local techniques with Western techniques and materials, and the subjects reflecting the Portuguese administration of Macao, the presence of Westerners against the back-ground of the Canton Trade System, and the broader Chinese context, all contributed to their particular transcultural character.