An exhibit showcasing 79 works by Hoo Mojong, once acclaimed one of the best overseas Chinese painters in France, opened Friday at the Shenzhen Art Museum.

All the works were provided by the Shanghai Art Museum. Because of a health problem, Hoo -- who lived in Paris for many years but has since returned to her native Shanghai -- was absent from Friday's opening.

"Although Hoo has lived in Paris for 37 years, no stains of glamour and splendor can be found on her," said the Shanghai museum curator Li Xiangyang.

"So are Hoo's works, which contain no elements of romance and mystery, but are totemic odes and praises to daily necessities such as food, utensils and labor," he said.

Hoo neither fits in the stereotyped image of modernist who indulges in emotional and subjective expression, nor is she a naturalist who deals in cold and objective representations.

In her simple and daring portrayal of common objects, people and scenery, she tries to convey to her audiences the message of the truth of life and inspire a reverence for life's origins.

Born in Shanghai in 1924, Hoo settled down in Paris in 1965 after years of traveling to Chinese Taiwan, Brazil and Spain.

When she first arrived in Paris, she went to the Academic grande Chaumiere to learn sketch and oil painting and laid a solid foundation for her career as an artist.

Her efforts and talents were recognized when she joined the Salon Femme Peinture in 1968 and won first prize in an art competition.

Since then, she has been invited to various art exhibitions in Europe and Chinese Taiwan. In 2002, she returned to live in Shanghai and gave a one-woman show at the Shanghai Art Museum, to which she also donated many of her works.

The Shenzhen exhibition ends April 20.

(Shenzhen Daily April 6, 2004)