UMAC 2012 SINGAPORE

After the Separation : UM in KLNor Edzan Che NasirUniversity of Malaya

Kuala Lumpur

The University of Malaya Art Museum (UMAM) was established in 1955 in Singapore. With Michael Sullivan, the lecturer in Art History as the curator, the role of UMAM then was that of a teaching museum to support the History of Art course. Throughout the years, the collection developed significantly. In 1959, the University of Malaya in Kuala Lumpur was established and there was a growing demand for two separate autonomous universities. Thus, in 1961, the campus in Kuala Lumpur became the University of Malaya and the one in Singapore became the University of Singapore. When the Bukit Timah campus ceased its operations in 1962, UMAM’s collection was divided equally between the two universities. This paper looks at the establishment of the Museum of Asian Art and the University of Malaya Art Gallery – home to the “other half” of the UMAM collection.

ABSTRACT

1955 - University of Malaya Art Museum (UMAM) was established in University of Malaya, Singapore.

Michael Sullivan - a lecturer in Art History became the first curator.

Role of UMAM then - a teaching museum to support the History of Art course.

1959 - University of Malaya (UM) in Kuala Lumpur (KL) was established.

Growing demand for two separate autonomous universities.

1961 – the campus in KL became the University of Malaya and the campus in Singapore became the University of Singapore.

INTRODUCTION

1962 - the Bukit Timah campus ceased its operation and UMAM’s collection was divided equally between the two universities.

Collection was divided based on the principle of representativeness.

Willetts (curator) represented US and Ungku Aziz (economics lecturer) represented UM.

THE SEPARATION

Conflicting account of when KL’s half of the UMAM collection came to UM – 1965 or 1966

UM IN KL

Year of Acquisition No. of Artefacts/Paintings1954 371955 1381956 261957 211958 151959 471964 12

Total 296

Collection was housed in the UM Library. Ungku Aziz became the Vice Chancellor of

UM◦ expanded the collection and hand-picked

artefacts for the collection.◦ propagated the importance of the visual arts on

campus. 1972-73 Annual Report – proposal to build

Phase 4 of the Library building which includes the Art Museum was appoved

1973 – Willetts became the curator of the Museum of Asian Art and he inventorised the seed collection from Singapore.

1975-1976 Annual Report – reported the ongoing construction of the Museum.

1980 – Museum of Asian Art (MSA) moved to its new premises and was officially opened.

Conserves and preserves Asian art Educates the community via exhibitions Supports teaching, learning and research

associated with its collection

ROLE

Malaysiana - basketry, textile, brass, silver, wood carving

India – stone carvings, temple sculptures, bronze images, miniature paintings, wood carvings

Persia and West Asia – ceramics, Islamic bronzes, miniature paintings, tombstones, precious stones

South-East Asia – ceramics, pottery, daggers, sculpture, textile, jewellery, terracotta works, puppetry, sacred masks

China – ceramics, porcelain Japan – ceramics Malay manuscripts

COLLECTION

Willetts vision - “If the Muzium Seni Asia is to attain to any degree of international status, it must concentrate on art-forms in which the decorative, abstract and symbolic element is intrinsic and uppermost – on textiles, metalwork, wood-carving, ceramics, calligraphy – all forms in which the genius of Asian art has traditionally found its expression” – basis of collecting artefacts.

Now collecting – ceramics, ritual masks, textile

Exhibitions by local & international artists Hiroshima & Nagasaki tragedies – Dept of East

Asia Studies, Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences, UM

Heritage conservation – Dept of Quantity Surveying, Faculty of Built Environment, UM

Public diplomacy programmes – Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia

Malay manuscripts – Dept of Library & Information Science, Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology

ACTIVITIES (2010 onwards)

Mural restoration – National Visual Art Center, Malaysia and the Dept of Building Surveying, Faculty of Built Environment, UM

MoU with National Cheng Kung University Museum, Taiwan

Latest ◦ 2011 – launch of the University of Malaya Art

Gallery (UMAG)◦ Permanent home for the paintings that were

brought from Singapore which were part of the Museum of Asian Art collection.

Actively promoting the Museum and the Gallery through paper and poster presentations ◦ University Museum Conference 2011, National Cheng

Kung University, 11-12 Nov 2011 N.N. Edzan. From Exhibiting to Researching : the Changing

Role of University Museums in South-East Asia◦ APRU Research Symposium on University Museums

2012, Kyoto University, 11-14 Sept 2012 Amelia Ilyas and Zuraini Md. Ali. Restoring a Lost Mural :

Working with the Museum of Asian Art, University of Malaya.

N.N. Edzan and Abdul Aziz Rashid. The Museum of Asian Art, University of Malaya : An Invitation to Explore.

◦ UMAC 2012, NUS Museum, 10-12 Oct 2012 N.N. Edzan. After the Separation : UM in KL

Maintain dual role◦ research & teaching◦ public display

Increase in museum research i.e. research on the collection held within the museum

Attract academics and research students to conduct museum research

Partner with faculties in research Research publications which acknowledge use of

museum collection Promote museum collections to the public Collaborate with corporate agencies, individuals, foreign

embassies - exhibitions

FUTURE DIRECTIONS

Malaysia's oldest university. Situated on a 750 acre (309 hectare) campus in the

southwest of Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. Has its roots in Singapore and was established in 1962. 22 academies/institutes/faculties/centres. 112 undergraduate programmes and 132 postgraduate

programmes. 15,202 undergraduates and 10,762 postgraduate = 25,964. 2,716 academic staff, 562 professional/managerial and

3,092 non-academic staff = 5,830. Research university. 6 museums – Medical, Geology, Zoology, Herbarium, Malay

Ethnography, Asian Art.

UNIVERSITY OF MALAYA

The Museum of Asian Art which came to life in 1955 in Singapore has developed favourably as a university museum. However, with the University of Malaya’s increasing focus on research, the Museum has to move in tandem and accordingly. There is therefore a need for the Museum to maintain a balance between being a center of excellence for research and an institution showcasing the best of its collection.

CONCLUSION

Abu Bakar Abd Hamid and K.T. Joseph. 2010. Ungku A. Aziz – A man for all seasons. In: Royal Professor Ungku A. Aziz : The Renaissance man. Editors, Hashim Yaacob, Abu Bakar Abd Hamid, K.T. Joseph, Azizah Hamzah. Kuala Lumpur : University of Malaya Press.

Chai, Wai Hon. Whither the Arts. Singapore Towards the Year 2000. Edited by Saw-Swee Hock and R.S. Bathal. Singapore: Singapore Association for the Advancement of Science, 1981.

 Guidebook: University of Malaya Art Museum. Singapore : Hian Seng Press, 1959.

NUS Museum. 2002. Past, Present, Beyond: Re-nascence of an Art Collection. Singapore: NUS Museum, 2002.

  NUS Museum. 2011. Camping and Tramping Through the Colonial Archive: The

Museum in Malaya. Singapore: NUS Museum.

Sullivan, Michael. Modern Chinese Art: The Khoan and Michael Sullivan Collection. Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 2001.

REFERENCES

Tan, Li-Jen. A Preliminary Survey of University Art Museums in Southeast Asia. University Museums and Collections as Recorders of Cultural and National Communities Worldwide : Proceedings of the 10th Conference of the International Commiitee of ICOM for University Museum and Collections (UMAC), Shanghai, China, 7th-12th November 2010. pp. 13-18. Available at: http://edoc.hu-berlin.de/umacj/2011/li-jen-13/XML/TanLi_xdiml.xml

Universiti Malaya. Laporan Tahunan Ke 24: 1972/73, Ke 27: 1975/76, Ke 38: 1986/87, Ke 39: 1987/88. Kuala Lumpur: Universiti Malaya.

University of Malaya. Annual Report of the University of Malaya : 1954-55, 1958-59. Singapore: University of Malaya.

University of Malaya. Annual Report of the University of Malaya (established by the University of Malaya Ordinance 1949): 1960-61. Kuala Lumpur: University of Malaya, 1962.

University of Malaya Art Gallery. 2011. Catalogue. Kuala Lumpur : UMAG.

Willetts, William. The Muzium Seni Asia : the Spirit of Man, The Genius of Art. The New Straits Times Annual 1981. Kuala Lumpur: NSTP, 1981.

If you are in Kuala Lumpur, do pay us a visit - Museum of Asian

Art and the UM Art Gallery. Thank You.

edzan@um.edu.my