Ninety pieces of advertisement paintings, all of them focussing on Chinese feminine beauty, will be shown from October 11 to February 8 at the Macau Museum of Art. Titled “Modern Times: Chinese Women in Advertising” this exposition features a chance to “glimpse feminine beautification from the 1920s to1940s, but also the spirituality of women at the time and gauge how men’s sense of feminine beauty has evolved.
“The most discerning viewer will also perceive how trading companies and printing technology combined to produce art in those pioneering years”, says the Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau and Macau Museum of Art, organisers for the event.
In 1904 (the 30th year of Emperor Guangxu’s reign), the Wenming Press in Shanghai importehttps://www.macaudailytimesnews.com/files/d a chromatic printing machine, which marked the beginning of china’s colour printing industry. Stone plate printing could disgorge large volumes of printed material so it was very cost effective; the use of zinc and rubber plates was to follow later. By 1915 (the 4th year of the Republic), colour-printing machines capable of producing 12 colours became available and Chinese businesses began to vie for supremacy in the use of Western advertising methods. The graphic advertising of those years employed a repertoire of imagery stereotypes supported by a plethora of advertisers. Those printed goods produced to meet the season’s needs evolved into practical graphic art – and a means of marketing.
Regarding the themes employed for this type of graphic art, the ‘fashion girl’ was the star performer. This type of advertising graphic art was similar in nature to traditional Chinese paintings depicting beautiful women.
This free admission exhibition can be seen from 10:00 am to 19:00 pm everyday except Tuesdays.