|
|
|
|
|
|
THE MAGAZINE FOR COLLECTORS AND CONNOISSEURS OF ASIAN ART |
|
Latest online issue
|
|
Back issues/Index
|
|
Book Club
|
|
Exhibitions calendar - the most comprehensive list of museums and dealer exhibitions, fairs and seminars |
|
Dealer's Gallery
|
|
Asian art links
|
|
About Orientations
|
|
Subscriptions
|
|
Contact
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Volume 37 - Number 3 - April 2006 Transparency in Form and Process: An Interview with William Thorsell Even before the covers come off the glittering `Crystal' extension of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) in May, Daniel Libeskind's glass-and-aluminum structure has already captured the imagination of Toronto's people. While `glass ceilings' suggest invisible obstructions, those of the Crystal take on quite opposite meanings: not only do they represent the literal breaking down of brick and concrete barriers inside the old museum buildings but they also serve as a metaphor for the ROM's open engagement with the public. Before Libeskind's design was selected, the city's denizens – and indeed, all Canadians – were given the opportunity to view the proposals of three shortlisted architects and to express their preferences. Since then `bringing it to the people' has become the byword for the CAN$200 million project to rejuvenate Canada's premier museum. The museum's physical transformation is underpinned by a campaign to effect a paradigm shift in the administration and general perception of the museum. Compared with projects of similar scale in other countries, the public has responded positively, eased into the process of change through persuasive communication. Much of the credit goes to the ROM's Director and CEO, William Thorsell: before coming to the museum in August 2000, Thorsell, known to Canadians as editor-in-chief of major daily The Globe and Mail, had a reputation in journalism for being pragmatic and for understanding how social values can be transformed by bringing information to people in a responsible way. In an issue which spotlights the ROM's new East Asian galleries, Thorsell discusses with Orientations the `irrelevance' of museum experience, the new ROM, and the issues that confront a museum in the 21st century.
Light from and for the East: The New East Asian Galleries in the ROM by Klaas Ruitenbeek, Louise Hawley Stone Chair of Far Eastern Art at the Royal Ontario Museum. In his introduction to the new galleries for East Asian art, the author explains their characteristics and the design approach as well as giving an overview of the nature and scope of collections. The Prince Takamado Gallery of Japan is briefly discussed with a more detailed account of how they dealt with the greater challenge of housing over 30,000 Chinese objects. Three areas comprise religious painting and sculpture; archaeology and material culture from the Neolithic to the Qing; and architecture – each with a different approach and atmosphere and, rather than following the convention of showing only a limited number of impeccable works of great beauty in ample space, the new galleries also show the rarities and oddities in the museum's holdings.
A New Look at Old Chinese Artworks by Chen Shen, Bishop White Curator of Far Eastern Archaeology at the Royal Ontario Museum. Recent archaeological finds and research have enabled the author to reassess and re-identify selected examples of early Chinese artworks in the ROM's collection. Included in her discussion are Majiayao painted pottery recently gifted to the museum by Joey and Toby Tanenbaum; Longshan and Liangzhu culture jades that were among the objects acquired for the ROM by George Crofts who acted as the museum's agent for collecting antiquities in China between 1918 and 1921; and two bronzes, a gui and a you of the Western Zhou period with long inscriptions that were acquired in 1926 by Bishop William Charles White whilst he was a missionary in Kaifeng.
The Gallery of Chinese Architecture by Klaas Ruitenbeek, Louise Hawley Stone Chair of Far Eastern Art at the Royal Ontario Museum. As it is no longer possible to bring old buildings from China, the author explains how part of a Qing dynasty palace hall and a large early Qing tomb complex was constructed in the new galleries to represent a house for living and a house for the dead and thus addresses the principles of geomancy. In addition, building parts and sculptures from a Ming tomb and earthenware architectural models, roof tiles, bricks and tools from the Han to Qing periods provide the only comprehensive overview in the West of the development of Chinese architecture.
The Paradise of Maitreya: A Yuan Dynasty Mural from Shanxi Province by Ka Bo Tsang, assistant curator in the Department of World Cultures at the Royal Ontario Museum. For the reopening of the Chinese art galleries, this spectacular monumental Buddhist mural, which belongs to a genre commonly called The Paradise of Maitreya and was procured by William Charles White from the Xinghua monastery in Henan in 1928, has been conserved to bring it back to its original splendour. In addition to describing the methods of conservation treatment, the author discusses how the mural came to the museum, the significance of its subject matter, painting style and social and political implications at the time of its creation.
Wei Bin's Bell by Klaas Ruitenbeek, Louise Hawley Stone Chair of Far Eastern Art at the Royal Ontario Museum. From the thirty-character inscription on this very large bronze Buddhist temple bell, which has been in the ROM's collection since 1920, the author is able to reconstruct its histories and that of Wei Bin who commissioned its casting in 1518 when he chief of all palace eunuchs. The bell is unusual in that it has a salutation to the Zhengde emperor who ordered aid to be given from the national treasury to Wei Bin to complete construction of his temple at his selected burial place. It later became known as `Sir Wei's temple' and was a scenic spot, famous for its fruit trees. After the death of the emperor in 1521, the days of eunuch supremacy were over and within a year Wei Bin had been tired and sentenced to death.
The Korean Collection of the Royal Ontario Museum by Christina Hee-Yeon Han, academic advisor for the Gallery of Korea at the Royal Ontario Museum. The author discusses highlights of the museum's extensive collection dating from the Three Kingdoms to the Joseon periods and which encompasses a wide variety of objects representing the dynamic cultural traditions of Korea, including the elegant and refined aristocratic tradition, simple and unassuming Confucian literati tradition, and vibrant and colourful folk tradition. They attest to the important cultural achievements of Korean civilization and, with increasing interest in Korean art in the West, the collection is steadily growing.
The Catfish Underground: Japan's Earthquake Folklore and Popular Responses to Disaster by Hidemi Shiga, a PhD in Japanese Studies at the University of British Columbia who is continuing her research on the ROM collection of Ansei earthquake prints. In premodern Japan, people believed that namazu (giant catfish) living under the earth, were the cause of the earthquake which struck Edo in 1855. In this study of the ROM's unusual album of woodblock prints depicting the namazu, the author examines the responses by the creators of the works to the political, social, economic and emotional issues of the disaster.
The Yamagami Collection by Akiko Takesue who is currently working for an art consultancy in Tokyo. The acquisition of the Yamagami Collection has made the ROM's collection of tea-ceremony utensils truly comprehensive. The author discusses the scope and quality of the utensils which originally belonged to Yamagami Soju, a master of the Mushanokoji tea school. Many of the tea bowls and scoops, flower containers and hanging scrolls bear inscriptions written by some of the successive grand masters of the school and form one of the very few complete tea master collections in a Western museum.
In her review of Art and Architecture of Cambodia, Ashley Thompson credits the author Helen Jessup with providing a thorough and nuanced presentation of Cambodian art and architecture from its beginnings to its vulnerability in the present day, and with making an invaluable contribution to the field of Khmer studies. The rare combination of thorough archival and field research lends the book reliability, as well as a refreshing postcolonial perspective.
In her review of the exhibition `Hokusai' at Tokyo National Museum, Carol Morland selects a few of the 500 works in the show that attest to Hokusai's extraordinary productivity throughout his career and his constant experimentation with new techniques and compositional formulas as part of his attempt to remain on the edge of current taste.
Diana Collins briefly summarizes some of the presentations made at the symposium `Silk Road and Mongol-Yuan Art' held on 2 to 4 November 2005 at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou in conjunction with the exhibition of Yuan artefacts at the China National Silk Museum. Of particular interest were papers that cross-referenced symbols and other characteristics employed in the decoration of textiles, gold and porcelain during the Yuan period.
Announcements On 1 February, Alexandra Munroe became the Guggenheim Museum's first Senior Curator of Asian Art. It is a historic appointment as no other major international museum of modern and contemporary art has established a curatorial position for Asian art before. In addition to expanding the museum's holdings in modern and contemporary Asian art, Munroe will also help steer its activities in the field, including exhibitions, publications and educational programmes. Among her first projects will be an exhibition for 2009, tentatively titled `Contemplating the East: Asian Ideas and Modern American Art', which will span the 20th century, illuminating the impact of Asian art forms and philosophical concepts on American modernist and contemporary artistic practices.
The project will restore the integrity of the garden, its buildings, interiors, garden rockeries and plantings, and at the same time modernize its infrastructure. On completion, the public will be able for the first time to explore the restored buildings, their interiors and gardens. In addition, the project will create new educational and interpretative centres to explain key aspects of China's architectural and imperial history. The restoration will be carried out in four distinct phases, all to be completed by 2016. Juanqin Zhai will be the first to be restored, hopefully in time for the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The panelists will discuss a number of questions: What steps has China taken to halt destruction of archaeological sites? Which historical periods and locales are most at risk from looting? Who does the looting and how? Where are the most important markets, and how do antiquities reach them? Are all materials best preserved in China or do international museums also share an obligation to preserve and study Chinese art? What laws govern collecting by museums and private individuals today, and what changes are on the horizon? The discussion will also focus on US legal and administrative regimen, particularly the request by the PRC government for a bilateral agreement that would bar the import into the US of all Chinese antiquities from prehistoric times until 1912. Experts will present the facts on China's rapidly expanding internal art market, and alternative legal and managerial scenarios from other countries will also be examined. Zee Stone Gallery's exhibition `At the Height of Summer' from 18 to 28 May features lacquer paintings and woodblock prints by the Vietnamese artist Phung Pham. Pham is one of the few modern artists who has shown innovation in preserving these two traditional media. In his lacquer paintings he uses flat planes of bold colour with a strong geometric element to portray life in the countryside. His scenes particularly highlight the role of women at work or acting out daily rituals that have persisted for centuries. His black-and-white woodblock prints of women display how he has mastered pattern and line. A catalogue will accompany the show.
China's Auction Houses The November 2005 auctions in Beijing saw the emergence of newcomers which included Poly Auction and Christie's (in association with Forever International Auction). Notwithstanding the competition, results at China Guardian reflect the continued demand for quality Chinese artworks. Even though buying was selective, the `Porcelain, Works of Art, Snuff Bottles and Jadeite' sale on 4 November still delivered a total of RMB49,589,000.
Reasonable estimates stimulated interest in younger painters at the `Fine Contemporary Paintings' sale on 7 November. Two works by Wang Mingming realized excellent prices. Folks, a colourful album depicting China's minority peoples, fetched RMB1.265 million (lot (2612); while the RMB3.52 million paid for Orchid Pavilion, Wang's handscroll of a classic literati subject, was even more astounding (lot 2673). At `Classical Paintings and Calligraphy' which followed, there were important lots from the Da Shizhai collection belonging to the painter Tang Yun and the Genyunshan Guan in Shanghai. From the former, Autumn Pavilion by Dong Qichang fetched RMB6.71 million (lot 2717). After Snow, a 1755 work by Dong Bangda, cited in the imperial catalogue Shiqu Baoji, sold for RMB4.95 million (lot 2748). From 28-29 May 2006, China Guardian will hold a preview of highlights from `Arts from the Scholar's Studio: the Jiansong Ge Collection' at the Renaissance Harbour View Hotel in Hong Kong. The previews and sales in Beijing will take place from 31 May to 5 June. The 120 objects offered belong to H.L. Huang, a noted specialist in the field. Highlights include rhinoceros-horn and bamboo carvings by Fang Zhushi and Gu Jue, and an opulent imperial zitan sceptre. Mainland houses are beginning to widen their sphere of operations: Chongyuan International Auction (Macau) Ltd, a venture between the Shanghai company of the same name and partners from Taiwan and Macau, will hold its inaugural auctions on 2-3 May at the Grand Hall of the Macau Tower Convention Centre, with previews from 30 April to 1 May. The centrepiece of the auction is an imperial zitan screen with kesi inserts dated to the Kangxi period.
In this month's commentary, John Finlay, an independent scholar based in Paris, discusses the current exhibition `Paintings from the Spring Palace: Chinese Erotic Art' which runs at the Musée Cernuschi until 7 May. In his view, the selection of paintings raises important questions about the role of eroticism in Chinese culture and, almost by default, about the role of controversial or forbidden imagery in our own times. Chinese erotic paintings were produced for a narrow audience, and in their role as pornography they were circulated privately for restricted viewing. The exhibition and the scholarly catalogue bring the images into a public forum and implicitly raise questions of their content and intention that can be more than tamely academic. The relatively explicit cover of the exhibition catalogue and the homosexual content of many of the paintings make one wonder if any US museum would have taken on the challenge of mounting such a show. Could it be that North American as well as European audiences are open to a frank and thoughtful examination of Chinese erotic images in all their aspects? Current events remind us of the continuing power of images to inflame hatred – or arouse passion.
|
