Taking her cue from a Hong Kong exhibition to celebrate The Little Prince, Mariella Radaelli writes on the city’s sustained fondness for the universally beloved children’s classic, and how local artists keep finding newer ways to revisit it.
The Little Prince, a slim illustrated novella by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (1900-44), has captivated readers around the world since it first came out in 1943. The book’s original French version and English translation were published simultaneously in New York, where its author, a French Air Force pilot during World War II, was living in exile at the time. Subsequently, The Little Prince was translated into more than 650 languages, and sold over 300 million copies worldwide — trailing only the Bible in terms of units sold.
Hong Kong readers fell in love with the wondrous adventures of its young protagonist early on. Florian Knothe, who curated the exhibition, The Little Prince and the Pilot, currently running at the University and Museum Art Gallery (UMAG) of the University of Hong Kong — to mark the 80th anniversary of the book’s release in France in 1946 — says Hong Kong’s love affair with The Little Prince began almost at the same time as the book’s first edition was out.
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Noletta Chiu, co-founder of the Little Prince Foundation — dedicated to promoting the book’s humanist values in Hong Kong — points out that while many local readers come across the book for the first time in language learning classes, a number of them “remain engaged with the text for something more profound”.
“Many Hong Kong people have a deep and enduring affection for this story,” says Steven Choi, the only Chinese illustrator authorized by the family estate of Saint-Exupéry in France to visually reinterpret this 20th-century classic. “This fascination arises from a shared love for imagination and the profound, multilayered meanings embedded within the narrative.”
The UMAG exhibition features first editions, multilingual translations, and a 2008 Chinese edition brought out by Chung Hwa Book Co of Hong Kong, besides personal items, drawings, manuscripts, letters, photographs, and maps that belonged to Saint-Exupéry, who disappeared in 1944 while flying over the Mediterranean on a World War II mission. It highlights how his career as a pilot informed The Little Prince, and includes eight life-size sculptures inspired by characters from the book.
Chiu says that for viewers getting to see the manuscripts and sketches in the flesh “humanizes” Saint-Exupéry’s genius, describing the exhibition as an invitation to the viewer “to pause, reflect, and rediscover meaning beyond the daily rush”.
Inspiring art and music
The Little Prince tells the story of its young protagonist’s allegorical voyage through the cosmos, during which he tries to make sense of ideas such as love, loss, power, and responsibility. Though presented in the format of a fantastic tale for children, the book could also be read as philosophical musings about certain fundamental truths of life — ideas that seem to have resonated deeply with a section of Hong Kong’s creative community, including visual artists, musicians, designers, and collectors.
Visual artist Jaffa Lam first heard about the story on the radio and felt an instant connection with its lonely, wandering hero. She read the book again recently, while trying to cope with the loss of her mother, and ended up channeling her grief into making a set of sculptures. These were shown as part of an exhibition titled Asteroid J-734, which concluded in May at Axel Vervoordt Gallery. A number of star-shaped sculptures figured in the exhibition, inspired by the lines “All men have stars, but they are not the same things for different people. For some, who are travellers, the stars are guides,” from the book. Lam says that the stars she sculpted represent her own journey of self-discovery after the loss of her guiding light.
In 2010, singer-songwriter Chet Lam published Back to the Stars, an English-language album inspired by the novella. In 2022, he made a Chinese version of the work. The indie-folk album was titled Back to the Stars Again, and featured songs written from the perspective of each character in the book.
In 2018, representatives of the Saint-Exupéry estate and Medialink, the licensing agency in Hong Kong, authorized Choi to create sequels to the original text. “When they saw my illustrated book Zu & Pi, they felt that my artistic style, aesthetic, and overall sensibility resonated profoundly with the world of The Little Prince,” says the artist.
Choi’s Chinese-English bilingual The Little Prince 2 was published in 2020, and a third volume is due soon. He had discovered The Little Prince as a child at his neighborhood library. The story of a lonely young prince having to navigate the universe on his own resonated with his own situation of growing up in a single-parent family. The hardships he was facing along the way helped him “develop an introspective way of observing the world”. His depiction of the prince is infused with “a quiet, soulful depth born from my own lived experiences” as a result.
“Although I was too young to fully understand the deeper philosophies hidden within the text, I was drawn to the book’s romantic element, particularly the part about the prince falling in love with a rose and his devotion to it.”
In Choi’s revisualizations of the text, the subplot involving the rose serves as a symbolic anchor for the story. He paints the rose not as a delicate flower but as a substantial blossom with densely packed, almost animated, petals — set against the backdrop of a dark, starry night sky and wrought with emotion.
The color of the prince’s scarf shifts dramatically during his journey from Planet B612 — where he meets and also ultimately leaves rose — to Planet Earth, going from bright yellow to various shades of dark red, symbolizing his deep longing.
A 3D pop-up book designed by Choi comes with material and instructions for the reader to try their hand at making a paper rose. He also designs sculptures and collectible art toys inspired by the novella, collaborating with the Japanese figurines manufacturer Kaiyodo.
Something to take back home
Choi says that the market for merchandise and collectibles is booming. “When it comes to truly distinctive, meaningful creations — such as museum-exclusive editions or thoughtfully curated artistic collectibles — their intrinsic and market value remains exceptionally high. The value and demand for these rare, high-caliber pieces is steadily rising, as collectors recognize the artistry embedded within them.”
Knothe agrees. “The enduring importance of the story, the unusual characters that are part of the narrative, and the book’s historical relationship to early aviation and watches worn by World War II pilots — they all contribute to the creation of diverse merchandise that appeals to fans.” He adds that the sculptures based on characters from The Little Prince now on display at the UMAG exhibition will be up for grabs as part of a private sale once the show concludes.
In July, IWC Schaffhausen, a leading Swiss watchmaking brand, celebrated its two-decade partnership with the descendants of Saint-Exupéry toward creating its Le Petit Prince Collection, by hosting the IWC Next Space Age Exhibition at the Elements mall in Hong Kong. Specimens from the watch series often figure in Hong Kong auctions. At Sotheby’s Fine Timepieces auction in November, 2015, a customized Pilot’s Watch Double Chronograph Edition “Le Petit Prince” sold for HK$130,000 ($16,570). The proceeds from the sale went into the Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Youth Foundation, toward supporting Ebenezer School and Home for the Visually Impaired in Hong Kong.
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The idea of “seeing with the heart” in The Little Prince, which inspired the tagline for the IWC watch series, also informs the core of Choi’s practice. It’s a testament to the book’s ability to inspire a diversity of creative endeavors, building bridges across time periods, cultures and artistic practices.
If you go
The Little Prince and the Pilot
Dates: Through Oct 18
Venue: TT Tsui Building, University Museum and Art Gallery, The University of Hong Kong, 90 Bonham Road, Pok Fu Lam
https://umag.hku.hk/exhibition/the-little-prince-and-the-pilot/
The writer is a freelance contributor to China Daily.
