Highlights
Wang Tiande: Transforming Art by Collecting
Trained in Chinese painting and calligraphy at the Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts (now China Academy of Art), Wang is well versed in classical aesthetics and literati idealism, but remains conscious not to let tradition limit his creativity.
Materials of Inspiration: Zheng Chongbin
Contemporary artist Zheng Chongbin (b. 1961, Shanghai) has turned Chinese painting inside out, focusing on its materials and surface, the performance and process of painting.
A Battlefield of Judgements: Ai Weiwei as Collector
One wonders, however, whether this artist is not best known for the wrong reasons. Ai Weiwei, son of the celebrated modern poet Ai Qing (1910–96), has a side that is often overlooked. This larger-than-life figure is one of the most passionate collectors and connoisseurs of Chinese antiquities, particularly jade, that I have met. In fact, he financed much of his early work as a contemporary artist through the sale of antiques.
Pursuing the Aesthetic: An Interview with Lee Min-te and Patty Liu
In October 2012, Taiwan’s Ching Wan Society marked its 20th anniversary with an exhibition of bronzes, porcelain, paintings and works of art selected from the collection of its members at the National Museum of History, Taipei (see Hsiung Yi-Ching, ‘The Ching Wan Society: Twentieth Anniversary Reflections, Orientations, October 2012, pp. 85–89). The objects shown included works owned by Lee Min-te, who collects Chinese ceramics and works of art, and his wife Patty Liu, who is interested in Chinese 20th century and contemporary paintings. Orientations visited Lee and Liu at their home in Taichung to talk about their collecting journey.
Fringe Benefit: The Margins of Islamic Art at Shangri La
The Islamic art collection housed at Shangri La in Honolulu, Hawai‘i is unique for a publicly accessible collection. Numbering more than 2,500 objects, it includes important works of art and represents a sustained commitment to collecting for nearly 60 years. However, no professionally trained curator or renowned art historian ever oversaw or even advised on the purchase of its pieces.
An Interview with Amna Naqvi
Amna Naqvi’s lifelong love of art, literature and learning has come together in the AAN Foundation, an effort to provide sup-port and platforms for cultural projects related to Asia. Born in Pakistan, Amna and her family now call Hong Kong home, having also lived previously in Indonesia and Singapore. Although contemporary art is a major passion—the AAN Collection is the largest such private assemblage of Pakistani contemporary art—history figures prominently in her interests and in her development as a collector and arts patron. Alexandra Seno talks with Amna about her connection with art.
An Interview with Trickie Lopa
In 2006 Trickie Lopa founded the affordable art fair Art In The Park, together with Lisa Ongpin-Periquet, to raise funds for the Museum Foundation of the Philippines, of which she was then a board member. In 2012, the duo set up Philippine Art Events Inc., and together with Dindin Araneta, they now manage Art In The Park, Art Fair Philippines (founded in 2013) and The Nonesuch fair (established in 2017). Orientations talked to Trickie about her taste in art, how she developed her collection and how she displays it in her Manila home.
Conversation with a Collector
The Wangxing Lou Collection, assembled over the last twenty years, is considered one of the foremost Chinese private collections of Qing period (1644-1911) imperial ceramics. The collector, who prefers to remain anonymous, spoke to Henry Howard-Sneyd about his fascination with Qing ceramics.
An Interview with Japanese Painting Collectors Robert and Betsy Feinberg
In this interview Yukio Lippit, co-curator of the exhibition ‘Painting Edo: Japanese Art from the Feinberg Collection’ (14 February–26 July 2020) at the Harvard Art Museums, talks to the Feinbergs about their almost half-century of collecting.