Shanghai Art Museum
Colonial Legacy Converted to Museum
Phone: (021) 6327-2829
Hours: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Admission: 20 RMB
Nearest Public Transit: Peoples Square Station, Line 1 and 2
Website
The Shanghai Art Museum (上海美术馆) is an art gallery in the city of Shanghai, China. It is located in the former clubhouse building of the Shanghai Racing Club. Today, it stands adjacent to People's Square. Kathleen's 5 restaurant is located on the rooftop.
The Shanghai Art Museum has been trying to find itself after being located in the historic clubhouse building in the fall of 2000. The space is great. The neoclassical building has been painstakingly renovated and is gorgeous. Once the building held the elite of colonial society who watched the nearby horseracing from the most exclusive rooftop vantage point. After the PRC was formed, the building was turned into the Shanghai museum. That museum moved into its current nearby position at the end of the century. It was determined that this space should be converted into an art museum. But with the Shanghai museum holding all the relics of Chinese history and the modern art museum maintaining most of the current art, this museum has had trouble finding its purpose. That is not to say that it should be ignored. In 2004 a fantastic photo exhibit on China's modernization and the difficulties it has created was on display here. It was the best photo display we have seen in China. As things are in flux and since the museum is close to Peoples Park, it a good place to stop by and try out (especially on a hot or rainy day). Give it a look and if nothing is on exhibit you like move on to the Urban Planning or Shanghai museum. But you might just be lucky and find something special here that excites you. As a last resort, the restaurant on the roof has great views in good weather and makes for a gorgeous (if expensive) lunch.
Whilst enjoying the architecture, you can also peruse the different exhibits that change throughout the year. Nominally the museum has no set style though there's a bias towards contemporary Chinese art - which makes an interesting contrast to the faded grandeur of the colonial era building. It is well worth spending an afternoon here to gain an insight into Chinese perspectives on modern art and modern life. Walking around the building will take around two to three hours depending on how carefully you want to look at the exhibits.
From china.org.cn
Located on busy Nanjing Road in People's Square, Shanghai Art Museum has 12 exhibition halls, covering more than 5,000 square meters. The building itself is a charming area to walk around as it used to be the club house of Shanghai's Race Club built in the 1930's.
It was renovated as a museum in March 2000 and interestingly during the process some distinctly Chinese features were added to this British style building. These are the wooden structures which you can see next to the front gate (Zhu4shi4Ji2gou4 in Chinese). They're a feature of traditional Chinese architecture in palaces and temples. The structure is held together through hammering together wooden joins and not a single piece of metal bolts or screws are used.
Whilst enjoying the architecture, you can also peruse the different exhibits that change throughout the year. Nominally the museum has no set style though there's a bias towards contemporary Chinese art - which makes an interesting contrast to the faded grandeur of the colonial era building. It is well worth spending an afternoon here to gain an insight into Chinese perspectives on modern art and modern life. Walking around the building will take around two to three hours depending on how carefully you want to look at the exhibits.
Unfortunately, for such a large and centrally located museum the English language support is patchy. Explanations beside the paintings are brief and not always translated. More problematic is the fact that exhibition schedules are in Chinese only, as is the Website. There is however an audio guide in English.
