Featuring around 300 stunning treasures and archival records from the 19th century that highlight the impact of Chinese aesthetics on women's lifestyles and global fashion
The Hong Kong Palace Museum (HKPM), Hong Kong’s new cultural landmark in the West Kowloon Cultural District, today celebrates the opening of its new exhibition, “Cartier and Women”. Organised and curated by the HKPM with the support of Cartier, this is the world’s first major exhibition that focuses on the role and influence of women in Cartier’s history. This exhibition features approximately 300 stunning treasures created by Cartier, including jewellery, timepieces, precious objects, accessories, and archival records from the 19th century to the present day. The exhibition will be open to public from 14 April until 14 August 2023.
The opening ceremony for the exhibition was held at the HKPM today, officiated by Henry Tang, Chairman of the Board of West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (WKCDA); Pierre Rainero, Image, Style and Heritage Director of Cartier; Wang Yuegong, Deputy Director of the Palace Museum; Christile Drulhe, Consul General of France in Hong Kong and Macau; Winnie Tam, Chairman of the HKPM Board; Betty Fung, Chief Executive Officer of WKCDA; Nigel Luk, Regional Managing Director of North Asia, Cartier and Dr Louis Ng, Museum Director of the HKPM.
Henry Tang, Chairman of the Board of WKCDA said, “The ‘Cartier and Women’ exhibition not only underscores HKPM’s global vision and innovative curatorial approach, but also testifies to the Museum’s mission to solidify Hong Kong’s position as an East-meets-West centre for international cultural exchange. The exhibition will lead visitors on a journey that explores a series of captivating stories between these stunning treasures and many legendary women past and present, tracing the contribution of women to Cartier’s history. We hope visitors can appreciate these wonderful pieces that marry Eastern and Western aesthetics and at the same time be mesmerised by the creativity and history of women embodied in these works.”
Cyrille Vigneron, President & CEO of Cartier, said, “Women are part of Cartier’s essence. It does not mean that Cartier only creates for women, nor does it mean that Cartier has a conventional view on women or men. Cartier appreciates and values character and personality. Be it bold, strong, daring, as well as delicate and sensitive. The exhibition “Cartier and Women” is an exploratory journey into femininity as a whole, into the human kind, its nature, condition, and dreams.”
Rare glimpse into the fascinating connections between women and jewellery across time
As the third major special exhibition after HKPM’s opening exhibitions, “Cartier and Women” delves into the enchanting stories of the bond between women and jewellery, with a focus on how Chinese arts and culture have inspired Cartier’s creations in terms of style, motif, material, and craftsmanship. The exhibition celebrates the role and influence of women throughout Cartier’s history by showcasing a wide variety of artefacts spanning nearly 200 years. Some of the works on display illustrate the impact of Chinese aesthetics on the development of women’s lifestyles and global fashion.
The exhibition comprises four thematic sections. The first, “Royal and Aristocratic Women: Elegance and Prestige”, celebrates the significant role that royal and elite women played in the early history of Cartier in the 19th century. The second section, “New Women: Breaking with Tradition”, examines advances in jewellery design that reflected women’s emancipation, featuring Cartier’s first female Creative Director Jeanne Toussaint (1887-1976) who revolutionised modern and contemporary jewellery. The influence of art from China and other parts of the world that enlivened Cartier creations for women and fulfilled a universal thirst for novelties are explored in the third section, “Inquisitive Women: Cross-cultural Inspirations”. The fourth and final section, “Influential Women: Glamorous Legends”, explores the close relationship between Cartier jewellery and modern and contemporary female icons. Highlights include pieces from the collections of important and well-known women, including Grace Kelly, the Princess of Monaco (1929-1982); actresses Elizabeth Taylor (1932-2011), Carina Lau, and Brigitte Lin; and businesswoman Pansy Ho.
Nurturing the public’s appreciation of East-meets-West arts and culture from fresh perspectives
This special exhibition is a testimony to Hong Kong’s positioning as a centre for international cultural exchange. Echoing the HKPM’s mission of advancing dialogue among world civilisations, the Cartier Collection embodies the essence of Eastern and Western cultures, bearing witness to changes in social and fashion trends. In the past three decades, the Cartier Collection has been exhibited in over 30 most prestigious cultural institutions in the world. Cartier has also enjoyed close collaboration with the Palace Museum in the past decade or so. In addition to co-hosting two thematic exhibitions in 2009 and 2019, Cartier and the Palace Museum partnered to restore a few timepieces from the Palace Museum’s collection.
To accompany the special exhibition, the HKPM will offer a wide variety of educational programmes. As part of the HKPM Talk Series, curators from the Museum and international experts will share their new research on the Cartier Collection and how Chinese aesthetics have influenced women’s lifestyles and global fashion. Two special music performances by the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra and Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra will be held at the Museum's auditorium in April and June 2023 to celebrate women's artistic achievements. HKPM Movies will present documentaries about outstanding women in the creative industries, including a film director, Cantonese opera performers and a novelist. A workshop on jewellery making will be launched in May. In addition, Cartier has sponsored 5,000 complimentary admission tickets for the underprivileged.
“Cartier and Women” will open in Gallery 8 of the HKPM on 14 April 2023 and runs until 14 August 2023. Tickets for the exhibition, which allow access to all galleries in the HKPM, are priced at HK$120 for adults and HK$60 for concessions and are now available for sale through West Kowloon Cultural District’s online ticketing platforms and ticketing partners.
Remarks
About the Hong Kong Palace Museum
The Hong Kong Palace Museum aspires to become a leading cultural institution committed to the study and appreciation of Chinese art and culture, while advancing dialogue among world civilisations. The Hong Kong Palace Museum is a collaborative project between the West Kowloon Cultural District Authority and the Palace Museum, which is funded by The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust with a donation of HK$3.5 billion for its establishment.
Embracing new curatorial approaches, the Museum offers a Hong Kong perspective and a global vision, presenting the finest objects from the Palace Museum and other important cultural institutions around the world. Through research, exhibitions, and educational and professional exchange programmes, the Museum will build international partnerships and help position Hong Kong as a global hub for art and culture. At heart a resource that belongs to the community of Hong Kong, the Museum will inspire community engagement, foster dialogue, and promote creativity and interdisciplinary collaboration.
About the Cartier Collection
In the 1970s, Cartier began to gather together pieces that had been produced in its earlier years; jewellery, timepieces and other precious accessories were thus collected for conservation, leading to the foundation of the Cartier Collection in 1983.
Today, the Cartier Collection includes pieces dating from as early as the 1850s until as recent as the 2000s. These pieces act as material records of Cartier’s over 170-year history of style and creativity and also provide a wider historical account of evolutions within the decorative arts as well as in society since the end of the 19th century.
With approximately 3,500 pieces and still growing, the Cartier Collection has sparked the attention of museums worldwide. Since its first major exhibition in 1989 at the Petit Palais in Paris, the Cartier Collection has shown selections of its pieces at some of the world’s most renowned institutions, amongst them the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York (1997), the British Museum in London (1998), the Kremlin Museums in Moscow (2007), the Palace Museum inside the Forbidden City in Beijing (2009 and 2019), the Grand Palais in Paris (2013-14), the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra (2018), the National Art Center in Tokyo (2019), the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris (2021-2022), the Dallas Museum of Art (2022), and lately the Museo Jumex in Mexico (2023).
About the West Kowloon Cultural District
The West Kowloon Cultural District is one of the largest and most ambitious cultural projects in the world. Its vision is to create a vibrant new cultural quarter for Hong Kong on 40 hectares of reclaimed land located alongside Victoria Harbour. With a varied mix of theatres, performance spaces, and museums, the West Kowloon Cultural District will produce and host world-class exhibitions, performances, and cultural events, providing 23 hectares of public open space, including a two-kilometre waterfront promenade.
https://www.westkowloon.hk/
