Exhibition shows marriage of art between East and West during Victorian era

An exhibition of British Victoria-era art and craft opened at Guangdong Museum in Guangzhou, Guangdong province on Friday - the first of its kind in China.

Entitled Splendour, Art in the Age of Victoria, the exhibition includes oil paintings, water color paintings, sculptures, garments, pieces of jewelry and ceramics categories.

More than 100 artworks come from Britain’s National Museums Liverpool, which are joined by collections from Guangdong Museum, Guangzhou Thirteen Hongs Museum and China National Silk Museum.

The Victoria era（1837-1901）marks the height of the British Industrial Revolution and gave birth to a boom of British culture and arts. Some items on show reflect the combination of Western and Eastern elements amid the trade globalization.

“The exhibition explores fine and decorative arts from the extraordinary period of British history, the reign of Queen Victoria. ...Our trade and relationship with China is one that we cherish and one that is really important to us to continue into the modern day,” said Laura Pye, director of National Museums Liverpool in a video message at the exhibition launching ceremony on Thursday night.

During the Victorian era, blue-and-white porcelains were eagerly collected by influential British artists and fast became fashionable within a growing middle class. “From European objects to oriental porcelain, the exhibition collections also chart the history of cultural interactions between the East and West,” said John Houlihan, vice-consul general of the British consulate general to Guangzhou.

The exhibition will run until Aug 20.