In honour of Mr Lai Ming, maestro of contemporary Lingnan painting, a monograph entitled Lai Ming – Macao’s Child Prodigy was published in the exhibition “Painting Nostalgia – Ink Works by Lai Ming” organized by the Cultural Affairs Bureau of Macao SAR government in 2006. The nickname “Macao’s child prodigy” may well explain the relationship between Mr Lai and his hometown Macao, where he was under the personal tutelage of Lingnan master Gao Jianfu. It also embodies the story about the development of Lingnan school of painting in Hong Kong and Macao.

　　Born in Macao in 1929, Mr Lai started studying painting under master Gao during his sojourn in the small Portuguese colony in 1940.His young artistic talent can be seen from the fact that he was accepted by the eminent master Gao as his personal student at the time when he was only a teenage boy. This is further exemplified by his work “Turkeys and Wisteria” completed at the age of 18, in which the turkeys are vividly depicted in details with appropriate mix of ink and colours. Another work by Mr Lai, “St Paul’s Ruins at Dusk”, created when he just reached the age of 20, shows inspiring style of Lingnan painting when compared with the early works of “Five Storey Pavilion” and “An Old Tower at Dusk” by his teacher Gao Jianfu. The sharp lines of the buildings and the perfect blending of ink and colours in the “St Paul’s Ruins at Dusk” effectively conveys a quiet and peaceful feeling.

　　In terms of painting skills, Mr Lai is adept at using meticulous re-colour painting method and proficient in both xieyi style (freehand brushwork) and gongbi style (detailed and fine brushwork). The subjects of his works range from birds, animals, flowers, insects, fish to landscape and human figures. Among his works, his painting of peacocks in vivid details and glamorous colours is the most famous. The Hong Kong Heritage Museum and the Museum of Art have in collection his masterpieces of “White Peacock” and “Peacock” respectively. A book titled Lai Ming’s Ink-colour Painting of Peacocks published by Beijing Arts and Crafts Press in 2008 is devoted to introducing this special theme of his works to readers.

　　Mr Lai’s works are usually in medium size of about 1 metre in length and width, but recently he has embarked on large painting. The “One Hundred Birds Chirp and Twitter on Blooming Bauhinia” completed in 2005 is a spectacular work drawn on a scroll of nearly 4 metres in length. The meticulous and sophisticated details of Song school style with perfect blending of ink and colours in this work convey a poetic mood. Another rare, large painting by Mr Lai is the “Ten Thousand Miles of Water Run through My Mind” on a scroll of 5 metres in length. With the theme on landscape, the painting has added Tang poet Li Bai’s verse as inscription: “The Yellow River flows from the sky to the East Sea; ten thousand miles of water run through my mind. With the monkeys’ adieus the riverbank are loud, my skiff has left ten thousand mountains far away.” This large scroll of painting effectively presents a spectacular view of mountains and water. From delicate works of medium size to spectacular paintings of large scroll, Mr Lai actually adheres to the Lingnan spirit that constantly drives for new forms of expressing art.

　　Lesley Lau Fung-ha

　　Curator (Art) of Hong Kong Heritage Museum

　　PhD Candidate of the Chinese University of Hong Kong