Madame Song:
Pioneering Art and Fashion in China
Madame Song:
Pioneering Art and Fashion in China
14 Apr 2024
Meet the icon who transformed the landscape of arts, fashion, and popular culture in China from the 1980s to 2000s.
Song Huai-Kuei (1937–2006), widely known during her lifetime as Madame Song, was a legend in the spheres of Chinese art, film, music, and fashion during the 1980s and 1990s. With her husband, Bulgarian fibre artist Maryn Varbanov (1932–1989), Song helped foster a forward-looking creative scene and cultivated a modern, international lifestyle in China at a time when the country was largely isolated from the rest of the world for much of the Cold War.
This Special Exhibition brings to light Madame Song’s fascinating multiple identities and professional pursuits. It chronicles her life and practice from the 1950s to the early 2000s and unveils Song’s thus-far overlooked and underestimated influence on China's transformation into the cosmopolitan and culturally diverse society it is today.
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Garments: Pierre Cardin Archives. Photo: Dan Leung © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Garments: Pierre Cardin Archives. Photo: Lok Cheng © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Garments: Pierre Cardin Archives. Photo: Dan Leung © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Garments: Pierre Cardin Archives. Photo: Lok Cheng © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Lok Cheng © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Lok Cheng © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Garments: Pierre Cardin Archives. Photo: Lok Cheng © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung © M+, Hong Kong
Installation view of Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China, 2023. Photo: Dan Leung © M+, Hong Kong
Selected Works by Song Huai-Kuei and Other Artists
Song Huai-Kuei and her artwork Butterfly—Composition in Rose, 1983–1985. Photo: © Yonfan
Song Huai-Kuei, Butterfly—Dream of Zhuangzi, mid-1970s
wool. M+, Hong Kong. Photo: Lok Cheng © M+, Hong Kong
Song Huai-Kuei with Composition 2001 (1969), a collaborative work with Maryn Varbanov, at the 5th Lausanne International Tapestry Biennial, 1971. Photo: © Marcel Imsand © Photo Elysée, Lausanne
Song Huai-Kuei. Family Portrait, late 1960s. Oil on canvas. Private collection. Courtesy of Boryana Varbanov
T’ang Haywen. Portrait of Madame Song, ca.1975. Gouache and ink on Japanese paper. Private collection. Image: © A.D.A.G.P., Paris. Courtesy of T’ang Haywen Archives
Song Huai-Kuei and her artwork Butterfly—Composition in Rose, 1983–1985. Photo: © Yonfan
Song Huai-Kuei, Butterfly—Dream of Zhuangzi, mid-1970s
wool. M+, Hong Kong. Photo: Lok Cheng © M+, Hong Kong
Song Huai-Kuei with Composition 2001 (1969), a collaborative work with Maryn Varbanov, at the 5th Lausanne International Tapestry Biennial, 1971. Photo: © Marcel Imsand © Photo Elysée, Lausanne
Song Huai-Kuei. Family Portrait, late 1960s. Oil on canvas. Private collection. Courtesy of Boryana Varbanov
T’ang Haywen. Portrait of Madame Song, ca.1975. Gouache and ink on Japanese paper. Private collection. Image: © A.D.A.G.P., Paris. Courtesy of T’ang Haywen Archives
Further Reading
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Exhibition Monograph
Madame Song: A Life in Art and Fashion tells the remarkable story of Song Huai-Kuei (1937–2006), the artist, businesswoman, and fashion impresario better known as Madame Song. In a life that spanned some of the most significant changes in the history of her native China, Song succeeded in traversing political, social, and artistic boundaries to connect East and West and transform China’s cultural landscape forever.
Madame Song is a must-read for anyone interested in the recent history of visual culture and the figures who shaped it.
Related Event
The content of this/these programme(s)/activity(ies) does not reflect the views of the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.
Madame Song: Pioneering Art and Fashion in China is curated by Dr Pi Li, former Sigg Senior Curator and Head of Curatorial Affairs, M+, Dr Wu Mo, Sigg Curator, M+, and Tanja Cunz, former Associate Curator, Design and Architecture, M+.
Image at top: Fashion shoot at the Forbidden City with Madame Song and a group of Chinese models trained by her, 1980s. Photo: © Yonfan