798 District Blog

People look at a series of paintings entitled ‘paint a little color, paint a little red, paint a little blue, sorrow’ by Chinese artist Ye Yongqing, hanging on a wall behind an installation by Qiu Zhijie entitled ‘The horse distant after the revolution,’ during a group exhibit entitled ‘The Constructed Dimension’ at the National Art Museum of China, Beijing, China, 20 August 2010. The exhibit showcases the works of twenty Chinese artists, and will run until 02 September 2010.

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People visit a painting exhibition named “Artistic Beauty of Taipei County” at the Zhejiang Art Gallery in Hangzhou, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, Aug. 18, 2010. The 12-day painting exhibition opening on Wednesday displayed 82 works by eight artists of Taipei County in southeast China’s Taiwan.

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Wu Guanzhong, the father of modern Chinese art, died late on Friday in Beijing Hospital, aged 91.

Born in 1919, Wu was a native of Yixing in east China’s Jiangsu Province.

In 1947, he went to France to study Western painting and returned to China in 1950. He taught at the China Central Academy of Fine Arts and Tsinghua University.

Wu integrated the Chinese ink and wash technique with Western painting methods. He is now widely regarded at home and abroad as the father of modern Chinese painting.

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LONDON.- A superb collection of Asian art, lovingly assembled over a decade by a single enthusiast while living and working in the Far East and South East Asia, is for sale at Bonhams Edinburgh on 7 July.

Among the most fascinating pieces is a painting by the internationally celebrated chinese artist Jiang Guo Fang who became a personal friend of the collector when he was living in Shanghai in the early 1990s. The painting, ‘Reclining Court Beauty’ shows a beautiful model posing pensively in the costume of the 19th century chinese court. It is from the artist’s well known ‘Forbidden City’ period and is estimated at £20,000-30,000.

Early 9th Century Burmese Pagan bronzes, stucco heads and votive items epitomise the simplicity and serenity so characteristic of South East Asian art and found elsewhere in the collection in sculptures from Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

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This year’s spring art auctions begins today with China Guardian, one of China’s leading Chinese art auction houses, raising the curtain on the season’s sales that are shaping up to be an exciting affair.

A total of 29 auctions will be held during the seven-day event, including traditional Chinese painting, jade wares, modern porcelain, sculpture and contemporary works.

More than 6,600 pieces will go under the hammer at Beijing International Hotel, among which ancient Chinese coins, bronze mirrors and stamps, all hotly pursued in recent years, account for more than half.

Traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy works will be a highlight at the auctions, as prices of these types of works have dramatically increased in the past few years, bucking the doom and gloom of the economic recession.

Last year, several traditional Chinese painting pieces and calligraphy works were sold for more than 100 million yuan (US$15 million) each, considered by art experts and economists as a symbol of the Chinese art market’s quick recovery.

China Guardian will offer a range of traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy works from the Song (960-1279) to Qing (1644-1911) dynasties, with five different painting schools and six features by individual collectors represented.

Art experts and market researchers are paying close attention to the first spring auctions on the Chinese mainland, the outcome of which will serve as a barometer for the rest of the year’s sales.

“It is not only art lovers and collectors, but other auctions houses in and out of China that are looking forward to these spring auctions,” commented Zhao Li, director of Art Market Research Center (AMRC), an independent organization devoted to Chinese and international art market research.

Zhao added that since Chinese traditional pieces were extremely hot last year both in the domestic and overseas art markets, concerns have been raised about the market’s sustainability and this year’s spring auctions will serve as a key indicator to whether the market will continue to soar, or overheat.

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