Government House, Hong Kong

Location

Country: China
City: Beijing
Place: British Embassy

Dennis Creffield's semi-stylised drawing shows the former residence of the British Governors of Hong Kong. Government House was built in 1855 and was redesigned under Japanese occupation during the Second World War. Creffield made this study in 1997, the year of the handover of Hong Kong from Britain to China. Since then, Government House has been used for functions under the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China. Dennis Creffield studied under David Bomberg (1890-1957) and something of the older artist's expressionist approach can be seen in Creffield's paintings and charcoal drawings of architecture.

Dennis Creffield was born in London and studied under David Bomberg at Borough Polytechnic, London, from 1948 to 1951, after which he attended the Slade School of Art between 1957 and 1961. In 1961, Creffield was a prizewinner in the John Moores Painting Prize, held at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool. He would go on to teach at the University of Leeds and Leeds College of Art, as well as other colleges in Britain and abroad. In 1987 the Arts Council commissioned Creffield to draw all 26 medieval cathedrals of England, a project for which he produced more than 600 drawings. His works of art can be found in numerous collections including the Arts Council Collection, Leeds City Art Gallery, the Towner Art Gallery in Eastbourne, and the University of Sussex.

Places

Far East, China, Hong Kong

Subjects

topography, government building, house

Materials & Techniques

paper (as artists material), charcoal, charcoal drawing

Artist

Dennis Creffield (1931 - 2018)

Title

Government House, Hong Kong

Date

1997

Medium

Charcoal on paper

Acquisition

Purchased from the artist via C Roger Moss, March 1999

Provenance

C. Roger Moss, Hong Kong

GAC number

17391