A landmark of Hong Kong since long, the Victoria Peak used to be called the Red Censer Peak before it was renamed by the British. A hike around the Peak along the Lugard Road offers a captivating view of the Victoria Harbour, Lei Yue Mun in the east and the Green Island in the west. A descent southwards leads to the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir or the Aberdeen Reservoir via Keung Fa Kan. The blue-and-green landscape of Huang Bore’s Victoria Peak of 1958 represents a traditional rendition of a section of a hillside pathway seen from the western end of the Lugard Road with the lighthouse of the Green Island in the distance.

Thanks to Western painters, the Victoria Harbour has become an internationally renowned attraction. Under Huang Bore’s brush, the Harbour is often set against the Victoria Peak. Portrayal is primarily impressionistic with the sails in dark ink and the architecture on land in expressive lines and strokes. The fishing village of Aberdeen distinguished by its densely packed masts along the shore was also the painter’s favourite.

Hong Kong back in the 1950s suffered from an acute housing shortage so much so that the hillsides were littered with squatter huts prone to fire. The most tragic accident broke out in Shek Kip Mei in 1953 and was compassionately documented by the painter in Fire in Kowloon. To extend the frontiers of traditional landscape in this example, Huang Bore has borrowed the blazing flames and billowing smoke from Buddhist images.

The reclamation and slope cutting incidental to the rapid urbanization of Hong Kong in the past century have wiped out many beautiful natural landscapes. One casualty is the Hoi Sham Island off To Kwa Wan seen in Huang Bore’s painting where we can see the fish-tail rock with a Mother Dragon Temple standing on the island that existed half a century ago. All that remains from what used to be destination for holidaymakers and worshippers alike is now no more than a park featuring the rock.