Exhibition: Images Through Time: Photos of Old Hong Kong
影藏歲月 ─ 香港舊照片展
Venue: Museum of History, Tsim Sha Tsui East
Period: Dec 2013 - 21 April 2014
http://hk.history.museum/en_US/web/mh/exhibition/current.html
Photography has become the most direct medium for people across the world to understand China since its introduction of photography to the country in the mid-nineteenth century. Owing to the special political circumstances, Hong Kong then became a natural stopover for foreign photographers on their way to the Mainland. These photographers took many pictures on the early development of Hong Kong, while some of them even established studios in Hong Kong specializing in taking portraits and selling scenery pictures of South China. These pictures are all invaluable research materials for studying the history of modern China and the history of photography in China.
The Hong Kong Museum of History has established a sizable collection comprising a great variety of historical artefacts. Among them, the old photo collection with 14,000 prints and other related items is the most significant hoard of the museum. The exhibitions on old photos staged over the past decades were all very well received.
In mid-2012, Moonchu Foundation agreed to loan about 10,000 old photos of China (including those taken in Hong Kong) recently purchased in the United Kingdom together with batches of valuable old China photos acquired through auctions to the Hong Kong Museum of History for exhibition and research purposes. The collection of Monnchu Foundation captures precious historical scenes, covering streets and everyday life, leisure and commercial activities of the city, vividly illustrating the social development of Hong Kong from the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century. With this offer, we embarked on the organisation of a mega photo exhibition. In collaboration with the Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEI), the exhibition will employ advanced technology and creative skills for producing a series of multimedia programmes, in which the scenes of old Hong Kong will be reconstructed through utilizing the old photos offered by Moonchu Foundation and the museum's old photo collection. It will surely give visitors an extraordinary experience of travelling back in time and visiting some scenic spots in old Hong Kong.
http://hk.history.museum/zh_TW/web/mh/exhibition/current.html
攝影術自十九世紀中葉傳入中國後，便成為世界其他地方人士認識中國最直接的媒介。由於當時獨特的政治情勢，早期 不少外國來華攝影師都是取道香港而進入內地，他們拍下不少香港風光的照片，有些甚至在這裏開業，專門替人拍攝人像照片，並以出售華南風光圖片為生，這些作品都成為今日研究中國近代史及中國攝影史的珍貴資料。
香港歷史博物館藏品種類繁多，數目龐大，其中尤以歷史照片最負盛名，相關藏品已經超過一萬四千件。過去曾經舉辦過多次香港歷史圖片展，皆大受歡迎。
二零一二年中，夢周文教基金會同意提供一批從英國購得的約一萬張珍貴的中國（包括香港）歷史圖片，以及數批從拍賣會購買的珍貴中國歷史圖片予香港歷史博物館作展覽及研究之用。夢周文教基金會的藏品包括不少非常珍貴的歷史影像，除一般街景、城市面貌外，尚有關於民生、娛樂及商業活動的真實紀錄，見證了香港從十九世紀中葉至二十世紀初的發展歷程。
為此，我們特別籌辦是次展覽，透過館藏和夢周文教基金會的歷史圖片，並與香港高等科技教育學院合作，以先進科技和創新手法製作多媒體節目，把香港舊貌重現觀眾眼前，讓觀眾穿梭時空，置身於香港的今貌舊影之中，感受非一般的歷史圖片展覽。
