Founded by Chinese couple collectors, Mr. Liu Yiqian and his wife, Ms. Wang Wei, the Long Museum owns two huge places for exhibition and related functions: Long Museum Pudong and Long Museum West Bund. Located respectively in Pudong New Area and Binjiang, Xuhui District, they constitute a unique ecosystem of art in Shanghai: “One City, Two Museums.” As the largest private institution of collection in China, the Long Museum boasts of the richest collection nationwide.
As world-renowned art collectors, Liu and Wang’s collection is systematically large, covering traditional Chinese art, modern and contemporary Chinese art, “red classics” as well as contemporary art of Asia and Europe. Based on their private collections, the Long Museum is devoted not only to professional art exhibitions, researches, and collections but also to the promotion of cultural education in public. It aims to take up the responsibility of propelling continuous development and inheritance of art; focuses on the contrastive display and study of art, Western and Eastern,ancient and contemporary, while strengthening its local cultural roots;presents the diversity of visual art from a global perspective; systematically showcases the splendid achievements of Chinese art as well as the vitality of contemporary art all over the world; and eventually forges itself into a world-class private museum.
Drawing on the management experience of national and international museums while based on its own needs, the Long Museum is divided into five departments: Academy and Publication, Collection and Exhibition, Business Development, Public Education,and Administration. This division is to ensure the smooth operation of the Museum and provide professional services for art lovers. Ms. Wang Wei, co-founder of the Museum, is the general director, and Mr. Huang Jian is the executive director.
Founded by Chinese couple collectors, Mr. Liu Yiqian and his wife, Ms. Wang Wei, the Long Museum owns two huge places for exhibition and related functions: Long Museum Pudong and Long Museum West Bund. Located respectively in Pudong New Area and Binjiang, Xuhui District, they constitute a unique ecosystem of art in Shanghai: “One City, Two Museums.” As the largest private institution of collection in China, the Long Museum boasts of the richest collection nationwide.
As world-renowned art collectors, Liu and Wang’s collection is systematically large, covering traditional Chinese art, modern and contemporary Chinese art, “red classics” as well as contemporary art of Asia and Europe. Based on their private collections, the Long Museum is devoted not only to professional art exhibitions, researches, and collections but also to the promotion of cultural education in public. It aims to take up the responsibility of propelling continuous development and inheritance of art; focuses on the contrastive display and study of art, Western and Eastern,ancient and contemporary, while strengthening its local cultural roots;presents the diversity of visual art from a global perspective; systematically showcases the splendid achievements of Chinese art as well as the vitality of contemporary art all over the world; and eventually forges itself into a world-class private museum.
Drawing on the management experience of national and international museums while based on its own needs, the Long Museum is divided into five departments: Academy and Publication, Collection and Exhibition, Business Development, Public Education,and Administration. This division is to ensure the smooth operation of the Museum and provide professional services for art lovers. Ms. Wang Wei, co-founder of the Museum, is the general director, and Mr. Huang Jian is the executive director.
Among the academic advisors of the Long Museum are Li Xianting, an eminent art critic; Shan Guolin, former Director of the Department of Calligraphy and Painting of the Shanghai Museum; Chen Lvsheng, Vice Director of the National Museum of China; Wang Huangsheng, the Director of the Art Museum of China Central Academy of Fine Arts; Lv Peng, a contemporary art historian; and Zhao Li, a professor of China Central Academy of Fine Arts. These experts and scholars will offer suggestions and support regarding the operation and development of the Museum.
Long Museum West Bund. It is located at the center of the West Bund Culture Corridor in Binjiang, Xuhui District, Shanghai– No. 3398, Longteng Avenue. Designed by Liu Yichun, a Chinese architect of Atelier Deshaus, the building covers an area of 33,000 square meters with up to 16,000 square meters for exhibition.
The main part of the building is a unique umbrella-vaulted structure. There are four stories. The first and second floors above ground are devoted to contemporary art including paintings, sculptures, installations, and new media. The surface of the peculiar vault is built by faced concrete with a fine and smooth texture. Visually, it is in concert with the fashion space, “Hopper Corridor” (doulang), which was transformed from the former “Coal Hopper” (meiloudou) construction at Beipiao Port, thus creating a rational and tranquil sense of industry and primitivism as well as a sharp contrast between power and lightness. Meanwhile, it endows the Museum with an acute quality of contemporariness and creativity. The first basement is the permanent exhibition area for precious artifacts in ancient China and art works of the Republic of China. Resembling a “white box,” the rectangular exhibition hall highlights the historical continuance and intellectual profoundness of traditional Chinese art.
The Long Museum West Bund does not adopt the closed spatial pattern typical of ordinary museums but functionally embraces openness and public involvement. For instance, on the above-ground floors, there is a river-view restaurant, a public courtyard, a concert hall, a café, and an art shop; in the first basement, there is an exhibition hall for children, a library, rooms for artifact restoration, and an art bookshop; in the second basement, there is a parking lot available for over 300 cars. Thanks to all these, art is no longer far away from the public but is seamlessly integrated into people’s daily life and leisure. This is exactly the original intention and sincere wish of the couple founders, Mr. Liu Yiqian and Ms. Wang Wei, when they set up the Museum.
Among the academic advisors of the Long Museum are Li Xianting, an eminent art critic; Shan Guolin, former Director of the Department of Calligraphy and Painting of the Shanghai Museum; Chen Lvsheng, Vice Director of the National Museum of China; Wang Huangsheng, the Director of the Art Museum of China Central Academy of Fine Arts; Lv Peng, a contemporary art historian; and Zhao Li, a professor of China Central Academy of Fine Arts. These experts and scholars will offer suggestions and support regarding the operation and development of the Museum.
