With the support of the University of Hong Kong Museum Society, the exhibition is jointly presented by the University Museum and Art Gallery of The University of Hong Kong and the Consulate General of France in Hong Kong and Macau as a programme of Le French May 2011.
Xie Jinglan (1921–1995), better known as Lalan, was born in China and studied music at the Hangzhou College of Art and the Shanghai College of Music. In 1941, she married the artist Zao Wou-ki (Zhao Wuji, b. 1921) and the couple moved to France in 1948. Once there, Lalan continued her studies, initially in composition at the National Conservatoire, then modern dance at the American Art Centre in Paris. She and Zao divorced in 1957 by which time Lalan had begun to experiment with abstract painting.
Lalan’s artistic career was a rich and multi-faceted one that included her work as a painter, composer, dancer, choreographer and poet. Having lived in France for almost fifty years, her artworks reflect the dual influences of both China and France. This retrospective exhibition presents Lalan’s works from the 1960s to the 1990s drawn from the collections of her son Zhao Jialing and a private collector Jean-Michel Beurdeley.