The Opening of the New National Museum of Korea

On 28 October, to celebrate sixty years of national independence and the sixtieth anniversary since its founding, the National Museum of Korean opens its doors to the public at a new location and with a new look. The creation of the formidable and impressive structure we see today took twelve years – eight of which were devoted solely to construction. In addition to an attempt to establish itself as an `Information Technology' museum, there is expanded gallery space, auditoriums, seminar rooms and a library. A brief introduction provides a history of the museum since 1945 and gives an overview of the concept behind the new facilities and the construction process of the new galleries.

Model of the National Museum of Korea

by Hong Jin Geun, Curator of Archaeology, and Jo Yong Joong, Curator of History, National Museum of Korea.

About 2,700 objects from the Paleolithic to the Unified Silla and Balhae periods are on view. The exhibition in the new galleries aims to be a comprehensive one that utilizes descriptive explanation panels, graphics and three-dimensional models to assist in the interpretation of objects on display and to enhance the enjoyment of visitors. The artefacts will help the public trace Korea's origins and cultural roots. The authors illustrate their discussion with some of the thirteen National Treasures on view.

Comb-patterned jar Excavated from Amsa-dong, Seoul Neolithic period, c. 4000 BCE Earthenware Height 25.9 cm

by Lee Kwi Young, Curator of Fine Arts, National Museum of Korea.

The displays in the galleries showing calligraphy and painting, Buddhist painting, wooden objects and sculpture, and metalwork and ceramics allow visitors an opportunity to view and appreciate some of the most outstanding works of Korean art within a historical context. The calligraphy gallery provides a clear understanding of the development of Korean calligraphy and writing; in the painting gallery, works left behind by previous generations convey the dignity and artistic talent of their ancestors; the selection of furniture, vessels and lacquerware in the crafts gallery gives visitors an opportunity to become one with nature; galleries housing sculpture and painting reveal the stylistic tradition and development of Buddhist sculpture from the Three Kingdoms period onwards; the study of Korean metalwork from the prehistoric age to the Joseon period is possible in the metal objects gallery; and a comprehensive account of the development of pottery from the Goryeo to the Joseon period is evident in the ceramic galleries.

Prunus vase with fish design Joseon period, 15th century Buncheong ware with inlaid decoration Height 29.7 cm

by Seunghye Sun, Curator, Department of Special Exhibitions, National Museum of Korea.

The author discusses selected highlights in the new permanent galleries comprising six sections: Indian and Southeast Asian art, Central Asian art, Chinese and Japanese art as well as works excavated from the tombs of Nangnang area and from the Sinan seabed. To increase its display of Indian and Southeast Asian art, the museum has a loan of 100 pieces from the National Museum of Indonesia for two years; the Central Asian gallery provides a view of Silk Road culture with its Otani collection; some fine Ming and Qing period ceramics are on view in the Chinese art gallery; and the loan of 98 objects from the Tokyo National Museum can be seen in the Japan art gallery. The gallery showing archaeological finds from the Nangnang tombs makes evident the connections between ancient Chinese and Korean culture.

Enjoying Cherry Blossom Japan, Momoyama period, 16th century Six-fold screen, ink, colour and gold leaf on paper Height 150.5 cm, length 355 cm

by Stephen Addiss, Professor of Art and Tucker-Boatwright Professor in the Humanities, University of Richmond, Virginia.

Using paintings from the Ruth and Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark Centre in Hanford, California as examples, the author observes many of the characteristic features of nanga, the works of Japanese poet-painters in the Chinese literati tradition. First, the Japanese literati masters painted for their own self-cultivation; they were adept at and appreciated painting, poetry and calligraphy; they communed with the past to create something new in the style of an earlier master; their paintings were a means of interacting with nature; and, finally, nanga represents a transformation of Chinese traditions into an art that is ultimately Japanese in spirit. The works illustrated in the article demonstrate the visual, poetic and intellectual delight that nanga can offer to those who enter its artistic world.

Detail of Three Friends of Winter By Yamamoto Baiitsu (1783-1856) Pair of six-panel screens, ink and colour on paper Each screen: height 154.6 cm, length 360.8 cm

by Joan Baekeland, a dealer in Japanese art and close friend of Steve Addiss since the early 1970s.

To pay tribute to Stephen Addiss who turned seventy this year, the author discusses his remarkable career. He has been a composer, folk singer, art historian, teacher, curator, collector and artist; he writes music, paints, and does calligraphy and poetry; and he has collected Japanese painting, calligraphy, potter and, recently, vintage clothing. His hands-on approach has made him a connoisseur, and his broad tastes have made him a Renaissance man and bunjin (J. literatus), gentleman.

Steve Addiss in front of his own calligraphy, `Exploding Mu' (2002), at the National Taiwan Art Education Institute exhibition `Art of Ink' in 2003

by Shirley Maloney Mueller, an independent scholar specializing in Chinese export porcelain.

The author gives an account of how the habit of drinking tea developed in Europe, why there was a preference for imported Chinese teapots and looks at how their shapes and designs developed in the 17th century.

Left: small teapot decorated with alternating long `Elias' and flower panels; right: melon-lobed flower-pattern teapot with double spout Late 17th century Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration Heights (from left) 9 cm and 16 cm Private collections, USA

by So Kam Ng Lee, an Asian art historian and lecturer/instructor.

The author is the guest curator of the exhibition `Rustic Splendors: Kiln Treasures from Shiwan' which is showing at the Pacific Heritage Museum, San Francisco, until 25 March 2006. This exhibition of 140 objects brings together the very best examples of Shiwan pottery from collections in North America. The works selected for discussion reveal the superb qualities that rank the best of Shiwan ceramics alongside fine art from more prestigious Chinese kilns.

Zhang Tianshi at Dragon and Tiger Mountain Qing period, 18th century Stoneware with polychrome `flowerpot' glaze Height 35.2 cm, width 26 cm Anne and Albert Cheng collection (Photography by Bob Hsiang)

For centuries Mustang (Lo in Tibetan), located along the valley of the Kali Gandaki river in the trans-Himalayan region of northwest Nepal, was, until the annexation of Tibet by China in 1950, part of a flourishing trade route between Tibet and India. Majestic Buddhist monasteries and palaces were built in Lo Monthang and Tsarang and, although the kingdom has been part of Nepal since 1789, it still retains its own cultural identity and is today a vibrant centre of Tibetan Buddhism. In his recent publication The Kingdom of Lo (Mustang): A Historical Study, Ramesh K. Dhungel gives a detailed account of the kingdom's emergence from the 7th century and traces the genealogy of the rajas (kings) who have ruled continuously for 21 generations. Orientations talked to Gyalchung (Junior Raja) Jigme S. P. Bista in Lo Monthang on 21 July about his interest in preserving Mustang's heritage and his future objectives.

Gyalchung Jigme Bista at Nyiphu monastery, northeastern Mustang

Zhao Feng, Deputy Director of the China National Silk Museum, and his team have gathered over seventy objects representing the epitome of luxury from the Mongol Yuan dynasty for an exhibition `Gold, Silk, Blue and White Porcelain: Popular Art in the Marco Polo Era' at the China National Silk Museum in Hangzhou until 20 November. An international symposium, with the intent to review the current state of scholarship for the field of Mongol studies, will be at the museum from 1 to 3 November. John E. Vollmer previews some of the highlights in the show.

Vase decorated with lotus pond and mandarin ducks Yuan period, 14th century Porcelain with underglaze cobalt-blue decoration Height 29.2 cm Jingdezhen Porcelain Institute of Archaeology

Robe with `all-weather' sleeves Yuan dynasty (1279-1368) Silk damask Height 119 cm, width across sleeves 224 cm Private collection

In his review of Ming Furniture in the Light of Chinese Architecture by Sarah Handler, Robert Piccus reveals how the author deals with an aspect of Chinese furniture design that has intrigued and interested scholars and collectors; namely, the close relationship that is presumed to exist between the structural principles followed both in the design of furniture and the architecture of wooden buildings. He concludes that the author has broadened our understanding of how Chinese scholars and wealthy government officials lived and how furniture was an integral part of their establishments.

One of a pair of square-corner cabinets Circa 1600-75 Huanghuali Height 180.3 cm, width 120 cm, depth 55 cm (After Handler, p. 186)

Formerly journalists residing in Beijing in the 1960s, Marcel and Gisele Croes returned, Marcel for the first time in forty years, to see how the city has changed and to visit Gaston Van Duyse, the Belgian Ambassador to China.

Now in its eighth year, `Asian Art in London' (AAL) will run from 5 to 12 November, and open with a gala launch party on 4 November at the Victoria and Albert Museum from 6.30 to 9.30 pm. Tickets cost L50 each, and can be prebooked from AAL by phone (44 20 7499 2215) or email (info@asianartinlondon.com). This year Westin Hotels & Resorts and Jaltour will be present at the gala evening with a competition which offers prizes of return flights and deluxe Westin hotel accommodation in Tokyo and Kyoto, and other surprises. Receptions will be held from 5 to 9 pm at the galleries in Kensington Church Street on 5 November, in St James's on 6 November, and in Mayfair on 7 November.
On view at Jorge Welsh from 3 to 12 November is `European Scenes in Chinese Art', an exhibition which includes a group of porcelain pieces known as chine de commande, or special-order porcelain, made for the European market from the turn of the 18th century onwards.
S. Marchant & Son's exhibition `Chinese Jades from Han to Qing', with a hardcover catalogue, will be held from 31 October to 11 November. A Yongzheng/Qianlong teapot and cover in white jade with natural flecks, and a rectangular Qianlong censer and cover in spinach-green jade with some lighter markings are among the exhibits.
Gregg Baker is holding two exhibitions: one, from 3 to 19 November, in conjunction with Brian Harkins, presents a collection of works from the 1950s to 1970s by more than fifty Japanese artists, in a multitude of materials. The second exhibition features paper screens from the 17th to 20th centuries with a wide range of designs and styles. Laurence Paul will be hosting her second exhibition of Chinese wood stands at Antikwest.
Rossi & Rossi and The Sweet Tea House are jointly presenting an exhibition called `From Classic to Contemporary: Visions from Tibet' from 3 to 30 November. The exhibition comprises some fifty Tibetan paintings spanning 900 years and will be accompanied by a publication produced jointly with Ian Alsop.
The wide-eyed goddess Vajravarahi, depicted on the saffron- yellow centre of a lotus and trampling a supine male, is one of the earliest paintings on show, dating to the late 12th/early 13th century. With eight dancing members of her entourage and other figures framing the central scene, it is clear that the painting represents a mandala. Behind the goddess against a dark blue ground are eight cremation grounds bordered by streams. The display of contemporary works is co-curated by Gonkar Gyatso, one of the fourteen artists represented and also director of the Sweet Tea House. They range from the more traditional thangka style to the radical sometimes avant-garde. Apart from Gonkar Gyatso, other participating artists are Ang Sang, Dedron, Jhamsang, Tsewang Tashi and Tsering Nyandak - all of them born in Lhasa.

Buddha By Dedron (b. 1976) Mixed media Height 57 cm, width 48 cm `From Classic to Contemporary: Visions from Tibet' Rossi & Rossi Ltd and The Sweet Tea House

In connection with the exhibition, Asia House will host a roundtable discussion entitled `Contemporary Lhasa: Talking with Artists from Tibet' from 10.30 am to 4.30 pm on 5 November in their new premises at 63 New Cavendish Street. For tickets and information, contact Clare Frankenberg, Asia House (tel: 44 20 7499 1287; e-mail: clare.frankenberg@asiahouse.co.uk; www.asiahouse.org).
John Eskenazi's exhibition `Latest Acquisitions' will place an emphasis on smaller objects, the main objective being to encourage connoisseurship. A highlight among the South Asian sculptures is a grey schist panel of two ascetics from 2nd/3rd century Gandhara.
At his gallery in Clifford Street, Giuseppe Eskenazi will be showing `Song Ceramics from the Hans Popper Collection', from 3 to 26 November. Hans Popper moved to the US from Vienna in 1939 and became interested in Asian art as a result of frequent business trips to Japan in the late 1940s and early 1950s. He had already acquired a considerable collection before meeting Eskenazi in 1969; from then on, until his death in 1971, it was Eskenazi who assisted him in all further purchases. As Popper's agent and friend, Eskenazi has now been entrusted with the sale of the collection by Popper's grandchildren. The 47 ceramics on display and published in the accompanying catalogue almost all date to the Song dynasty, a period noted for varied glazes in a range of subtle colours, refined decoration and satisfying shapes.

Left: Jar China, Northern Song period (960-1127) Stoneware with green glaze Height 17.2 cm Centre: Meiping China, Southern Song period (1127-1279) Qingbai ware Height 25.3 cm Right: Jar China, Jin period (1115-1234) Cizhou ware Height 18.5 cm `Song Ceramics from the Hans Popper Collection' Eskenazi Ltd

From 2 to 16 November, Sam Fogg is staging `The Coloured Cosmos: Jain Painting 1450-1850', with over thirty examples in a diversity of media, such as cosmic maps and diagrams, religious texts, scrolls on paper and cotton, as well as secular Jain painting.
Collectors of furniture will be interested to see some imperial lacquer examples at Roger Keverne. These include a pair of Yongzheng or Qianlong period armchairs elaborately carved with geometric scrolls and painted with Buddhist emblems, bats and scrolling flowers in gold and red on a brown ground.
Samina Inc. will include both wearable and collectable jewellery and other objects in her exhibition `Jewelled Arts from Mughal and Deccan India, 17th-19th Century'.
Linda Wrigglesworth's exhibition `Immortality' from 3 to 11 November presents images of long life in the textile art of the Qing period. There are embroidered portraits of Daoist immortals, mandarin insignia badges and dragon robes decorated with symbols of longevity, and a chair cover embroidered with the crane, which was said to live for over 200 years.
Sydney L. Moss will display a unique pair of monumental Japanese enamel (shippo) vases made by the leading Meiji enameller Namikawa Sosuke, who was traditionally credited as the inventor of the wireless enamel technique and was particularly successful at imitating brush-painting in enamels.
Simon Ray, who specializes in Indian and Islamic works of art, has a pair of steel elephant goads from the Uniara Palace collection. The goads are designed to be used by a lady to direct the elephant by poking it in sensitive areas.
Collectors of Chinese imperial wares will find some interesting examples on view in Littleton & Hennessy's exhibition `Mark and Period Qing Porcelain'. Of note is a saucer of the Yongzheng period decorated in green and black enamels and a pair of Daoguang period famille-rose bowls.
Brian Harkins will show recent acquisitions, including Yuan and early Ming dynasty carved lacquer. The gallery is also presenting post-war Japanese works of art from the 1950s to 1970s, in conjunction with Gregg Baker Asian Art.
Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch, consultants in antiquities and Islamic and Indian Art, have on display a watercolour portrait of an elephant attributed to the Isarda School, Rajasthan, circa 1720, which would appear to be one of a series of 37 elephant drawings, the reverse stamped with the name of a previous owner.
At Jonathan Tucker and Antonia Tozer is `Lustre from the East - An Exbibition of Buddhist and Hindu Works of Art from India, China & Southeast Asia', offering mostly sculpture, with an emphasis on the dramatic.
Christopher Bruckner - Asian Art Gallery celebrates the sequel to `Chinese Imperial Patronage: Treasures from Temples and Palaces' which, like his earlier exhibition, explores the theme of imperial patronage of religious and secular art in China from the late 14th to late 18th century. Of note is a thangka of Rolpai Dorjee (Changkya Hutuktu), the spiritual advisor to the Qianlong emperor who was responsible for the building of numerous temples in the Forbidden City, Dolonnor and Jehol, as well as the remodelling of the Yonghegong as a Buddhist monastery.
Francesca Galloway's exhibition `Indian Miniatures from the Archer and other private collections' comprises 35 examples from the Muslim and Hindu courts of India, many of which have been widely exhibited and published.

New York

China 2000 Fine Art is putting on `Recent Paintings by Roger Chung' from 18 October to 5 November. The thirty traditional Chinese paintings on display constitute the artist's first solo exhibition in thirty years. Chung differs from the literati tradition in his use of vibrant colours and more naturalistic depictions of animals and plants. His bamboo is reminiscent of Van Gogh in its expressive, powerful and abstract brushstrokes.

Gallery Pahk has relocated to a renovated historic townhouse on 17 East 71st Street (between 5th and Madison Avenues). The gallery will continue to promote contemporary Asian ceramics and is planning a series of exhibitions that will examine the historical connections, exchanges and influences in style and techniques between different Asian cultures.

Michael Cohn is holding the exhibition `Ornamenting the Divine: Jeweled Figures in Ancient Buddhist and Hindu Art' in its historic Greek Revival townhouse gallery from 2 October to 15 November. It focuses on South Asia, the adjacent Himalayan region and Southeast Asia, and explores the way in which jewellery was used to express the exalted status of divine beings.

Christopher Farr's gallery will hold its third exhibition of Indian painting, curated by Edward Wilkinson, from 5 to 21 October. `The Divine and the Powerful: The Female Presence in Indian Painting' explores the various representations of the female form, from the benign and idealized concepts of the maiden pining for her lover through to the terrifying and powerful depictions of the goddess Kali slaying demons in battle.

Detail of Courtesan on an Open Terrace India, Mughal, late 18th century Opaque watercolour and gold on paper Height 10.5 cm, width18 cm `The Divine and the Powerful: The Female Presence in Indian Painting' Christopher Farr

Kansas City

Celebrating its 25th anniversary, Charlecote Antiques will present `Masterpieces of England, China & Japan: 1700 BC to the 21st Century' from 19 October to 2 November. The English exhibits will be from the Charlecote collections, and the Asian works on loan from E & J Frankel of New York. From England is an 18th century Chinoiserie red lacquer chest, and from China a carved cinnabar ingot-shaped tray. Edith Frankel will deliver lectures on 21 and 22 October at 11am.

Munich

Marcel Nies Oriental Art from Antwerp is among the exclusive group of international dealers taking part in `ATLAS - World Cultures in Dialogue' at the HVB Kunstpalais in Munich from 6 to 22 October. The works on view range from Egyptian bronzes to monumental Indian and Indonesian stone sculptures, wooden sculptures from Oceanic cultures and works by renowned contemporary artists.

London

Bangkok-based Mehmet Hassan has selected his most prized pieces from his inventory for `The Art of Central Asia, China and Tibet' being held at 17 Ryder Street, St James's, from 2 to 12 November. Among the sculptures and ritual objects in stone, bronze, wood, gold and jade is a white marble torso of the Buddha from Shandong province.

Art of the Past is presenting `Inaugural Exhibition in London' at Signatures Gallery, Ltd, 38 Duke Street, from 3 to 11 November, of recent acquisitions in bronze, stone and terracotta, and painting from South, Central and Southeast Asia.

The galleries of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology in Philadelphia will play host to the first `TREASURES ... From the Silk Road to the Santa Fe Trail' fair. Opening with an evening preview on 27 October, the fair will continue to run for three full days. More than forty dealers from the US and abroad, selected after a rigorous vetting process, will show a selection of works from the 18th to the 20th century encompassing artistic traditions generally described as `tribal', `ethnographic' and `Asian'. The event is organized by Caskey-Lees and the Women's Committee of the Penn Museum to benefit the educational programmes of the museum.
Tim Mertel of L'Asie Exotique is planning to show a sampling of the antiques that he carries. Vintage Interior II will be exhibiting porcelains related to the China Trade. Stuart and Barbara Hilbert of The Jade Dragon will take a selection of items from the scholar's desk, and nephrite and jadeite jewellery, including some imperial examples. There will also be some interesting scrolls and textiles. Harry L. Neufeld will be showing a collection of material from the Naga Hills belonging to himself and his Naga wife Tiala. Robyn Buntin's display will reflect their new focus on Buddhist paintings and sculpture.

Spotted leopard By Ueda Kochu (1819-1911) Hanging scroll, ink and colour on paper Height 168 cm The Jade Dragon

Michael Brand

Eagle, Rock and Flora By Pan Tianshou (1897-1971) Hanging scroll, ink and colour on paper Height 182.3 cm, width 141.8 cm China Guardian `Modern and Contemporary Paintings and Calligraphy I' sale, Beijing, 13 May 2005, lot 514 Price: RMB11.715 million (estimate RMB5/7 million)

by Marianne Yaldiz, director of the Museum of Indian Art, Berlin and Toralf Gabsch, a conservator in the Museum of Indian Art, Berlin.

In their response to Claudine Bautze-Picron's commentary `The "Rewriting" of Indian Art History' in the December 2002 issue of Orientations, the authors use textual and scientific analysis to defend the authenticity of a bronze image depicting Kalyansundaramurti, the marriage of God Shiva in the museum.

The sacred marriage of God Shiva Eastern India or Bangladesh, 11th century Bronze Height 26 cm, width 12.5 cm, depth 7 cm MIK 5992

by Laura B. Whitman, a former auction house specialist in Chinese paintings and an art advisor in New York.

Once, our Western model of the Chinese art market was limited to 100 or so dealers and collectors moving in a circuit around the world in pursuit of good pieces. This model succeeded very well for twenty years, according to Carol Conover of the gallery Kaikodo in New York. But now things have changed, particularly for classical and contemporary Chinese paintings and calligraphy. This market has skyrocketed in China over recent months, leaving America and Europe rather quiet. While classical painting dealers have always found it challenging to come across great things, the success of the market overall means that contemporary art dealers are finding keen competition as well. China's auction scene has taken off, prices have soared, and Chinese buyers are phenomenally active both on the mainland and overseas.
Western dealers and collectors alike report that mainland auctions are dramatic, even frenzied, with buying action. Conover says that auction houses are packed with people from all over the country who do not know each other, and even auction staff do not know who all the buyers are. She describes auctioneers at China Guardian - China's leading auction house - as `having their own style altogether, like a cross between game-show hosts and Peking opera performers'. With the public and government alike deeply proud of the rise of the domestic art market, auctioneers have become the new rock stars. Some estimates have put an auctioneer's salary at around the RMB500,000 mark, a substantial sum on the mainland.
Chinese auction catalogues are as thick as Manhattan phone directories, with literally thousands of paintings offered for sale each season; but there are relatively few obvious great ones and, of course, these are hotly contested. `Searching for pearls among the fish eyes' is a challenge.
Currently, under the auction law of the People's Republic of China, the onus is on the consignor to prove the authenticity of a given lot, not the auction house. While that might seem to be a fantastically random way of running a business, it has certainly worked so far. With paintings trading quickly and ever-rising prices, auctions may be creating more wealth than the mainland stock market. In China Guardian's spring auctions in Beijing, Chinese paintings and calligraphy continued to lead the way, and the five special sessions devoted to these fetched a total of RMB370 million. The two `Modern and Contemporary Paintings and Calligraphy' sales achieved a total of RMB252 million, with Pan Tianshou's Eagle, Rock and Flora realizing the highest price of the whole auction at RMB11.715 million. (See Orientations' report `China Guardian Auctions in Beijing' in this issue, pp. 86-87.)
It is not only China's auction houses that are doing so well. At Christie's spring auctions in Hong Kong in May, the `20th Century Chinese Art and Contemporary Art' sale totalled US$60 million, triple the results of only one year ago. (See Orientations' report `Christie's Auctions in Hong Kong' in the September issue, pp. 102-06.) Together with the `Fine Modern and Contemporary Chinese Paintings', `Fine Classical Paintings and Chinese Calligraphy' and `The Inception of a New Era: The Yageo Foundation Collection' sales, this was the first time that paintings outsold ceramics and works of art. This was perhaps a logical development, as irreverently explained by Paul Moss, one of the few dealers in the West of `Old Master' Chinese paintings: `Ceramics are for eating off, furniture is for putting art on - but painting is fine art.'
Christie's staggering success in May has helped to catapult price levels; this is the opinion of Michael Goedhuis, a dealer in the field since 1995. The emergence of local Chinese and Asian buyers of contemporary paintings `burning to buy', combined with a new wave of sudden Western interest, has resulted in this market becoming what he describes as `a furnace', with people rampaging around the country looking for quality works. Goedhuis himself finds the situation changing so quickly, he returns to China nearly every three to four weeks. However, in response to the universal complaint from collectors about high prices, Goedhuis points to the huge discrepancy in value internationally, saying: `The average price of the top twenty Chinese artists is still only one-tenth of what their peers in the West are getting.'
Buying and selling Chinese classical paintings these days is very difficult for dealers in the West. It is hard to justify offering good pieces to established clients first, when there is the potential to make a greater profit selling in China. Several dealers have reported first offering pieces to US institutions, who declined them for lack of funds, then putting them on the block in Beijing with China Guardian and watching them sell for double or triple the original asking price. The tricky part about selling in China is that the likelihood of ever seeing a given painting again is low. Established dealers need to know where things are so that they can be sold again, at further profit, in the future.
While many dealers admit to getting rid of their less interesting or questionable stock with great success in China, it is harder than ever to find good paintings to buy. Mainland dealers and auction staff have been very active in Japan scouting for old collections, and haunting even small European auctions where local dealers used to have a hometown advantage. While Western dealers may see certain advantages in going to China for specialty sales and for certain collections that can be exported, it can also be a burden following all the major painting sales in addition to the regular New York, Hong Kong and London circuit. To add to the frustration, they are often being priced out of the market. The experience of Karen Wender of China 2000 Fine Art in New York is that she is selling much more to China, but finding much less to buy there. Moss, who has found success in his extremely dedicated and consistent studying of mainland sales, feels that `one has to ride the coat-tails of this tremendous market'.
`What is rather disconcerting to painting dealers and old-time connoisseurs,' says Arnold Chang, a Chinese paintings specialist with Kaikodo, `is that knowing what things were worth in the past is irrelevant now.' Hong Kong collector David Pong Chun-Yee does, however, feel that it is still possible to find good things at reasonable prices provided you look beyond what the mainland Chinese will obviously go for.
The situation is summed up succinctly by Conover when she says, `China has its own way of doing things.' Chinese and Western attitudes about connoisseurship and authenticity do not always mesh, the Chinese approach being more flexible and accepting. It may be that enormous sales with a very wide range of quality can succeed long term in China, and it will be interesting to follow whether connoisseurship plays a role in the continuing development of the auction market. As a Christie's painting specialist in New York, I sometimes saw photographs of `historically comprehensive' painting collections, brought in by mainland investors, that were impossible to sell in the US, but clearly had a significant value in China. Will China Guardian and other top houses eventually start vetting their sales for greater quality? It follows that if you have superior quality works and better assurance for collectors, then even higher prices could follow.
The rapid rise and colossal size of China's domestic art market is being keenly followed by art people and economists alike. Art specialists are more moderately upbeat, but economists think the trend of rising art prices will probably continue for twenty years or so (as long as the Chinese economy continues to develop). Imagine an art market where Old Master paintings, 19th and 20th century paintings, and both academic and avant-garde contemporary art are all growing at staggering rates and breaking price records every season. That is the current state of affairs in the Chinese art market: it is a world phenomenon.
There is a lot of Chinese activity in the West, and Western activity in China. This past June, for the first time, China was represented at the Venice Biennale with a pavilion of its own; now, some of the biggest US names in contemporary art are reportedly sniffing around the mainland, including Larry Gagosian, Mary Boone, Doug Christmas, Patrick Painter, Haunch of Venison and Pierre Huber. Jack Tilton has built an art centre outside Beijing, and Christopher Mao's Chambers Fine Art has a new Shanghai office.
To capitalize on Chinese activity in the West, Sotheby's has hired Zhang Xiaoming, formerly of the Guggenheim Museum, to organize its sales of 20th century Chinese art in New York, the first of which will take place in March 2006. Zhang comments that, `New York is the centre of contemporary art worldwide, and our sales will include different media at the international contemporary market standard, including ink paintings, oils, installation and photography.'
While oils and new media artworks receive more press in the West, Arnold Chang says that contemporary ink painting is, and will continue to be, the largest and most important area for collectors. His point of view would seem to be borne out by the way in which mainland auctions are structured, and the prices they achieve. China Guardian's decision to use the term dangdai for this category of paintings is revealing: while there are many Chinese words to describe notions of modernity - such as xiandai, xindai, jindai - dangdai zhongguo shuhua (`contemporary Chinese calligraphy and painting') will be the term for its sales of ink paintings by contemporary living artists. The term would include works in a `traditional' style by artists such as Arnold Chang and Liu Dan, as well as `avant-garde' ink works by Cai Guoqiang and Gu Wenda. Other types of contemporary art will be grouped with oil paintings.
`Everyone is upset that the game has changed,' says Paul Moss. `But really, since we were kids, we all knew that the game would eventually go to China.' Gallerists who continue to play the game in China, and who know where dozens of significant paintings are located in the West, should have quite a wild ride in the next few years.