798 District Blog

HONG KONG—Next Monday the fall auction season begins in China with a jam-packed day of sales in Hong Kong. Sotheby’s will begin the market event in the morning with modern and contemporary Southeast Asian paintings, but most collectors will be focused on the afternoon sales, when Sotheby’s and Seoul Auctions will both offer highly-anticipated lots of recent Asian and Western art.

Hitting the block at Sotheby’s will be 20th-century Chinese art, a sector which consistently attracts spirited attention from Chinese mainland collectors and which provided the star lot in Christie’s spring auctions in Hong Kong, when Chen Yifei’s “String Quartet” sold for a new auction record of HK$7.85 million (US$1.01 million). The auction house’s slate this fall is particularly strong. Headlined by Sanyu’s gorgeous painting “Pink Nude on Floral Sheet” (HK$12–18 million or $1.5–2.3 million), the sale also includes masterworks by members of China’s “School of Paris,” including Zao Wou-ki and Chu Teh-chun, as well as an important 1970s work by the late great Wu Guanzhong, “A Mountain Village in the North,” that is estimated at HK$5–7 million ($644-902,000).

The Seoul Auctions afternoon sale — which opens a scant hour after Sotheby’s — covers modern and contemporary art from Asia and the West. The respected Korean auctioneers have pioneered the sale of Western art in Hong Kong and this event, with a total estimated value of HK$100 million ($12.9 million), takes their efforts to a new level with the inclusion of a beautiful late-period Marc Chagall titled “Bestiare et Musique” (1969), which is making its auction debut, carrying a HK$31.2 million ($4.0 million) estimate. This is seen as something of a litmus test for the development of the Chinese market, where collectors have almost exclusively focused on Chinese art as dealers and auction houses continue to hope that the region embraces Western art with the enthusiasm that marked Japan’s entry into this market in the 1970s.

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NEW YORK— For five years, Metropolitan Museum of Art curator James Watt has worked with a team of scholars and administrators to arrange loans of works from China, Russia, Taiwan, Japan, and different parts of America for “The World of Khubilai Khan: Chinese Art in the Yuan Dynasty,” which opens to the public today.

The exhibition, which presents more than 200 objects and works of art, including paintings, sculptures, textiles, and ceramics, covers a period of incredible dynamism and experimentation in Chinese culture, stretching from 1215, the year in which the famed Mongol leader and eventual Chinese emperor Khubilai Khan was born, until 1368, when the Yuan Dynasty fell.

Organized into four separate thematic sections, the show presents works that relate to the daily lives of Chinese people of the time, images associated with religious practices, revolutionary examples of painting and calligraphy, and a wide selection of pieces from the decorative arts.

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NEW YORK, NY.- This week, ArtTactic released its newest Chinese contemporary art market confidence survey, which — as expected, considering the success of this spring’s auctions in Hong Kong and mainland China — shows a 27% positive increase in confidence over December 2009, with a majority of respondents believing either that the Chinese contemporary art market has rebounded or will do so within one year.

Over the past 18 months, the emergence of the mainland Chinese auction house as a strong regional force and the growing clout of new Chinese collectors has injected a serious dose of optimism into the market, and led ArtTactic to conclude that the current trend sets out the possibility that Chinese contemporary art volume in 2010 might even come close to pre-crisis historical levels.

Highlights of ArtTactic’s latest report:

• 71% of respondents believe the market has already rebounded (35%) or will do so within one year (36%). This is significantly higher than in December 2009, when only 22% of respondents said they thought the market would rebound within a year or earlier.

• The 27% positive increase in the Chinese contemporary art confidence indicator is driven by substantially better Hong Kong and mainland Chinese auction results in the first half of 2010, as well as pick-up in primary market activity.

• 53% of respondents believe the market will go up over the next 6 months, 39% belive it will level out, and 8% believe the market will fall.

• The Confidence Indicator (which now sits at 73) suggests that a significant amount of optimism has re-entered the Chinese art market, and the primary driver for the Chinese contemporary art market going forward will be economic growth.

• The lower end of the Chinese contemporary art market (works priced below US$50,000) has the highest market confidence, although the top end (works above $1 million) shows more positive than negative sentiment — reflected in the success of blue-chip artists in this year’s spring auctions.

• The speed of the recovery in the Chinese contemporary art market has accelerated in the first half of 2010.

• The strong growth in the domestic auction house volume suggests that market share is shifting away from Hong Kong towards the Mainland. Last year showed the strength of the domestic collector base and the ability of domestic auction houses to attract top quality consignments.

• Top 10 prices reveal the difference between domestic and international taste. Although there are overlaps with blue-chip artists like Liu Ye, Yue Minjun, Zhang Xiaogang and Liu Xiaodaong, mainland Chinese auction houses focus on Chinese contemporary oil paintings by artists like Guo Reunwen, Yang Feiyun and Shi Chong. Conceptual artists like Ai Weiwei, Zhang Huan and Cai Guo-Qiang who are popular at auction in Hong Kong are rarely seen in Mainland auctions.

• The Chinese contemporary art market currently consists of two parallel markets: one catering to domestic demand and the other catering to a predominantly international art market. In terms of growth, the domestic market is having the upper hand.

• Sell-through rates at Sotheby’s and Christie’s Hong Kong have risen significantly, approaching 80% and rising, over an autumn 2008 low of slightly more than 60%.

• The average Chinese contemporary artist confidence indicator stands at 60.1, up 14.4% from December 2009. A total of 84% of the contemporary artists in the survey have shown a positive increase in their short-term confidence levels.

• Zeng Fanzhi has moved from rank 18 to rank 2 on the artist confidence indicator, Cai Guo-Qiang has risen from rank 13 to rank 4, and Yang Fudong is in the top position for the second time in a row. Other artists in the top 10 include Zhang Huan, Xu Bing, and Ai Weiwei.

• In the long-term artist longevity indicator, Ai Weiwei shares the top spot with Cai Guo-Qiang, with no change in the artists rounding out the top 10, which include Yang Fudong, Zhang Huan, Xu Bing, Zeng Fanzhi and Gu Dexin.
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Tangka painter Dengga draws on a piece of Tangka painting at Tibet Museum in Lhasa, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region, August 6, 2010. The first Tangka exhibition lowered its curtain on Friday as a total of 100 pieces of Tangka works were displayed during the five-day exhibition.

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BEIJING, July 6 (Xinhuanet) — As far as the distance is between China and Chile, it turns out that art is the perfect way to unite the two nations at opposite ends of the planet. Let’s take a look at an exhibition of contemporary Chinese art that has opened in the Chilean capital Santiago.

From the realistic depiction of Chinese coal miners, to the abstract handling of figures in traditional Chinese operas, the 83 works unveil a panorama of contemporary Chinese art in mediums including oil paintings, sculptures, and installations.

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HONG KONG.- The Christie’s Hong Kong completed its Day and Evening Sales of Asian Contemporary Art and Chinese 20th Century Art on May 30th, 2010. Together with the ground-breaking 100% sell-through Evening Sale that totalled HK$303 million/US$39 million, the combined total of the Day and Evening Sales recorded a total of HK$523.4 million / US$67.2 million, an increase of 85% from Spring 2009 that nearly doubled our nearest international competitor.

Eric Chang, Christie’s International Director of Asia Contemporary Art and Chinese 20th Century Art, commented, “The momentum of the 100% sell-through Evening Sale the night before carried us into the highly successful Day Sales that began in the early afternoon and lasted late into the night. Together with the Evening Sale total of HK$303 million/US$39 million, the combined total of HK$523.4 million / US$67.2 million marks a 85% over our Spring 2009 results and doubling that of our nearest international competitor.

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Well-off Hangzhou is famous for traditional Chinese art, and many people have sniffed at contemporary works. A recent art fair tries to change attitudes and build a market. Xu Wenwen reports.

Hangzhou strongly supports the arts and cultural industry, and not just traditional Chinese arts. Many exhibitions today feature art of all kinds from China and abroad.

But contemporary art is an acquired taste in the city that is known as a showplace of ancient tradition.

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HONG KONG.- The annual Hong Kong International Art and Antiques Fair will return to the prestigious Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre from 3-6 October 2010, with a new name: FINE ART ASIA 2010. The new title reflects its status as Asia’s premier annual art fair presenting a unique combination of Art and Antiques.

Last year the fair was attended by 16,500 visitors from all over the world, showcased 4,000 superb works of art exhibited by 60 leading Asian, European and American galleries, and recorded sales of over HK$ 230 million, an increase of 130% over 2008. This premier art event presented a wide range of collecting categories, from museum-quality ancient bronzes, outstanding Chinese ceramics and works of art, furniture, textiles and jades, to exceptional modern and contemporary art.

Andy Hei, Founder and Director of HKIAAF, said: “We are delighted to announce that this year our fair will have a new name: “FINE ART ASIA 2010”. The new name reflects its status as Asia’s premier art fair presenting a unique combination of Art and Antiques. We aspire to the same level of excellence as TEFAF Maastricht, the world’s leading fine art fair.

“The robust sales of our October 2009 fair already reflected signs of recovery in the Asian art market. This Spring, we have witnessed a further upsurge in the art market, boosted especially by the enthusiastic participation and strong buying power of collectors from Mainland China. Hong Kong is now universally recognized as the centre of the art market in Asia and the third most important art auction centre in the world after New York and London. I am confident that Hong Kong will continue to grow as the hub of art business in Asia and play a vital role in the global art scene.”

FINE ART ASIA 2010 has now established a firm foundation as a key annual event in the Asian art world. The high reputation which the fair has earned since its foundation in 2006, ensures that it coincides with Sotheby’s Autumn Auctions in the same venue. Early October is the peak art season in Hong Kong, attracting major international dealers and collectors from around the world.

The unique nature of FINE ART ASIA 2010, where the link between tradition and modernity can be seen and appreciated under one roof, continues to attract the enthusiastic participation of renowned international galleries. These include overseas antique specialists such as Rossi & Rossi (London, UK), Robert Hall (London, UK), Nicholas Grindley Works of Art (Suffolk, UK) and Marcus Flacks (New York, USA), as well as leading local antique dealers M & C Gallery (Hong Kong), Ever Arts Gallery (Hong Kong) and Martin Fung Ltd (Hong Kong). Participating art galleries include Michael Goedhuis (London, New York), Sundaram Tagore Gallery (New York, Beverly Hills, Hong Kong), Grotto Fine Art (Hong Kong), Galerie du Monde (Hong Kong), and art jewellery designer Wallace Chan (Hong Kong).

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LONDON.- Iniva presents new work by two contemporary Chinese artists at Rivington Place, with the European premiere of a film by Lu Chunsheng who showed in the Serpentine Gallery’s exhibition of contemporary Chinese art at Battersea Power Station. This is also the first solo exhibition in Europe, “Make Believe…”, by emerging artist Jia Aili. Both artists reflect on industrial progress, social corrosion and the individual’s struggle in the machine age.

Lu Chunsheng’s film, “The first man who bought a juicer bought it not for drinking juice”, mixes documentary and fantasy to theatrical effect. The characters in the film are both human and mechanical, and represent the consequences of the globalised era in their repetition of senseless acts. Orson Welles’ fictional account of an alien invasion in “The War of the Worlds” which was mistaken for a real news item, is the impetus for the film. It illustrates the influence of technology, mass media and the power of fear.

The two protagonists in the film are a reaper machine, used for harvesting grain, which is given Frankenstein-like characteristics, and a mechanic who cares for and repairs it. The film casts a relationship between man and machine in which humanity is denigrated to serve an alien species born from its own hands.

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NEW YORK, NY.- Sotheby’s Asia week sales concluded this week realizing the combined total of $22,574,864, well over pre sale expectations (combined est. $10.6/15 million). The top selling lot of the week was Two Mynas on a Rock, a 1692 masterpiece by Bada Shanren which sold for $3 million – many multiples of the pre-sale estimate and a new record for a Classical Chinese Painting sold at Sotheby’s in the US – in the Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art sale. Bada Shanren, Two Mynas on a Rock, sold for $2,994,500 (est. $400/600,000) Manjit Bawa, Untitled, Sold for $602,500 (est. $200/300,000) There were also several exceptional prices in the Indian and South East Asian Art sale where a record was set for a painting at auction by Manjit Bawa when Untitled sold for $602,500 – double the pre-sale high estimate (est. $200/300,000). Further highlights included an Untitled work by MF Husain which fetched $1,058,500, over five times the high estimate (est. $150/200,000). Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art Discussing the Fine Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art sale, Dr. Caroline Schulten, Head of the Chinese Works of Art Department at Sotheby’s New York, said “We are delighted with the result of the spring sale. The price of nearly $3 million for Bada Shanren’s Two Mynas on a Rock is a reflection of the compelling beauty of the painting. We are thrilled to have achieved such a stunning price for this masterful depiction of two birds that has not appeared on the market for over 25 years. Jades, ceramics and furniture also performed well with particularly strong prices for fresh to the market works priced conservatively.”

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