new europe, October 16-22, 2005
Eskenazi offers song ceramics from the Hans Popper collection
LONDON - November 3-26

Song Ceramics from the Hans Popper Collection, an exhibition of 47 pieces from a celebrated collection of Chinese art, will be presented for sale by Eskenazi Limited at 10 Clifford Street, London W1, from November 3 to November 26, 2005.

It will provide a major contribution to the eighth annual staging of Asian Art in London that takes place from 3 to 12 November 2005. This highly successful enterprise draws collectors and scholars from around the world to the many events held by dealers, auctioneers, museums and other institutions in London.

Almost all of the pieces date to the Song dynasty, 960-1279 AD, a period that saw a great advance in the field of ceramic technology and a growing aesthetic appreciation of ceramics as works of art. Song wares are noted for their varied glazes in a range of subtle colours, their refined decoration and their satisfying shapes. The jars, bowls, dishes and boxes in the Popper collection illustrate all these aspects extremely well. One of the earliest pieces is an olive green glazed stoneware jar and cover, 28.1 cm high, of the Northern Song period, 10th–11th century AD), a ceremonial or funerary vessel of ovoid ribbed form with a baluster-knopped cover. Five vertical spouts are ranged around its shoulder, none of them intended to be functional, which represent the five major cereals grown in

China at the time and perhaps express the wish for bumper harvests. Of similar basic shape, but modelled with a dragon coiled around the neck and bird perching on its cover, is another ceremonial stoneware jar made in the south of China at the Longquan kilns and dating to the 12-13th century. The best products of these kilns, of which this jar is a prime example, are covered with a thick, smooth blue-green glaze that recalls the texture of jade. They have been objects of admiration amongst collectors, particularly in Japan, for centuries.

http://www.new-europe.info/new-europe/displaynews.asp?id=116029

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Kunstmarkt.com, 19.10.2005
Chinesische Teppiche in Köln
Kunstmarkt.com/Ivo Rüdiger Schott

[image] Qi Drachen-Teppich aus einem Kaiserpalast, vermutlich Beijing, letztes Viertel 16. Jahrhundert

Fast einhundert Jahre nach der ersten Ausstellung in Europa mit klassischen chinesischen Teppichen 1911 in Paris widmet sich nun das Museum für Ostasiatische Kunst in Köln diesem faszinierenden Thema. Die Schau zeigt bis zum 15. Januar 2006 insgesamt siebzig Meisterwerke aus europäischem, amerikanischem und chinesischem Museums- und Privatbesitz. Geknüpfte Teppiche waren in China etwa seit dem 5. Jahrhundert v. Chr. bekannt, wobei nur wenige, rund 2000 Jahre alte Fragmente aus dieser frühen Epoche durch archäologische Grabungen ans Licht gekommen sind. Die Herrscherportraits der Ming-Dynastie zeigen die Kaiser und Kaiserinnen auf Teppichen des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts. In Pekings Verbotener Stadt in Peking sind mehrere Stücke erhalten. Drei weitere Exemplare aus westlichen Sammlungen gehören zu den ältesten Exponaten der Ausstellung.

Zu sehen sind vor allem aber Objekte aus der Kangxi-Periode (1662-1722). Im 17. Jahrhundert waren Teppiche ein wichtiges Statussymbol in China. Kaiser Kangxi, der von Teppichen fasziniert war, nahm die Gelegenheit wahr, Manufakturbetriebe in Westchina zu besuchen und seine Residenzen damit auszustatten. Die Teppiche, die nur zum Empfang hochrangiger Gäste ausgebreitet wurden, durften nur mit Seidenpantoffeln betreten werden. Die Kunst des chinesischen Teppichs erreichte in der Kangxi-Periode ihren Höhepunkt.

Zu der Ausstellung „Glanz der Himmelssöhne - Kaiserliche Teppiche aus China 1400-1750“ erscheint ein Katalog. Geöffnet ist dienstags bis sonntags von 11 bis 17 Uhr, an Donnerstagen bis 20 Uhr. Eine öffentliche Führung findet jeweils sonntags um 12 Uhr statt. Der Eintritt beträgt 6,50 Euro, ermäßigt 3,50 Euro und das Familienticket kostet 13,50 Euro.

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South China Morning Post, October 18, 2005
In the frame
A vast collection of works by modern Chinese artists is giving Londoners a compelling taste of a nation on the move, writes Victoria Finlay

A LIFE-SIZE FIGURE dressed in corduroy trousers and a leather jacket lies staring at the ground. In front of his face is a pool of what appears to be water - or perhaps it's blood or vomit. Behind him in the distance are the unmistakable buildings of the Forbidden City. This is Tiananmen Square.

In the next photo, the same figure lies on the ground in a massive, empty space. In front of his face is an expanse of ice.

These monumental, meditative works by 39-year-old Beijing artist Song Dong, called Breathing, are part of an ex-traordinary exhibition of Chinese art at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. Entitled Between Past and Future, it's Britain's first major presentation of Chinese photography and video from the past decade. It's a witty, engaging and varied show that features artists born between 1960 and 1972, with the exception of Xiong Wenyun, who at 52 is by far the oldest.

The show includes traditional landscapes painted onto a model's skin, film of a rooster and chicken in a grain-eating competition and some unusual takes by photographer Wang Qingsong on Socialist Realist town square statues.

Closer inspection of Wang's work reveals that the statues are tableaux vivants, with actors, covered in metallic paint, holdings objects such as pineapples, lanterns or bicycles.

Beijing's East Village plays a prominent part in the exhibition, with works by several artists who lived there in the early 90s. One such piece is footage of Fen-ma Liuming, who walked naked along ruins of the Great Wall until his feet bled. He has long hair and is made up to look like a pretty young woman - despite his naked male body.

Themes of masochism, cruelty, gender-crossing and destruction of cultural items are present in other works from the village as well. One photo shows performance artist Rong Rong wrapping himself in chains, with blood dripping on to a hot plate - which, we're told, filled the room with a strange stench. Rong's works also include 1,500 plaster casts of his face, spread on the ground, which visitors are invited to walk over and smash. This can be seen as a reference to Red Guards forcing monks and other Buddhists to step on and destroy their holy texts.

However, like much in the exhibition, such images aren't explained to its non-Chinese audience. Many European visitors will have little idea of the Cultural Revolution in China.

The Tiananmen crackdown of 16 years ago may merit a reminder in the accompanying notes, if only for teenagers attending the exhibition.
In many ways it's a courageous show, but there's a feeling that the curators don't want to upset the authorities by explaining the motivation behind some of the pictures, even though it's vital to understanding what they mean. Despite a lack of Hong Kong representation, the exhibition deals with subjects close to the city's heart. Zhang Dali uses buildings tagged for demolition for his art, cutting out four-metre-high faces in the brickwork to create surreal vistas throughout each site. This work lasts only until the bulldozers and cranes arrive.

One of the more disturbing exhibits is a video installation by Cui Xiuwen, who hid a camera in the ladies' toilets of a karaoke bar. The result is shots of prostitutes making calls, tucking money into their bras, changing their clothes and laughing about blackmailing clients. The exhibit has already featured in several shows around the world.

The show is the first of many programmes in an unprecedented collaboration between two of Britain's most im-portant museums - the Victoria and Albert and the British museums - and China's leading galleries, including the National Museum, the Shanghai Museum, and the Hong Kong Museum of Art.

The Victoria and Albert is involved in several collaborations with China aimed at encouraging an exchange of ideas. A show called China Design Now is planned to coincide with the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and will culminate in a big exhibition at the Shanghai Expo 2010.

On September 6, the British Museum signed an agreement with the National Museum of China guaranteeing a series of loans, including an exhibition of Egyptian art and mummies in 2008, in exchange for a number of Chinese loans to Britain.

In the past 10 years, the British Museum has exhibited Chinese calligraphy, jade and paintings, and run an exhibition called Mysteries of Ancient China. "The museum has always been interested in China," a spokeswomen says.

When it opened in 1753, it had already secured a small collection of Chinese objects, including Engelbert Kaempfer's popular prints from Suzhou, depicting flowers, fruit and birds.

When Queen Elizabeth reopened the museum's gallery of oriental antiquities in November 1992, it had a Chinese name. It's now called the Hotung Gallery, after Hong Kong businessman and art-lover Joseph Hotung, who often visited the galleries on trips to London as a young man. He offered to renovate the entire gallery, so he could see his favourite objects more clearly, and so that others could appreciate them as well.

One of the main - and, perhaps, the most important - purposes for all the co -operation and effort is to allow British and Chinese visitors to see their own national treasures and art projects more clearly.

Between Past and Future: New Photography and Video from China, Victoria and Albert Museum, South Kensington, London. Ends Jan 15

[image] Photographer Wang Qingsong's Socialist Realist town square art (main and below) features actors captured in metallic paint

 

 

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with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold
(Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

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