fluktor -|||- study - office - newsletter October 29, 2005

artdaily.com, 10/26/2005
Contemporary Chinese Art Soars Sotheby's

HONG KONG.-Contemporary Chinese Art was in hot demand at Sotheby's Hong Kong today, when a sale of more than 100 works raised HK$69,961,201 (US$9,019,398). This figure is double the pre-sale low estimate for the sale, which was 96.2% sold by lot and 97.6% sold by value. Buying was truly international with bids coming from America, Switzerland, France, Germany and Asia.

The six most expensive lots of the sale were all paintings by Wu Guanzhong (b. 1919), clearly the artist of the moment. Hometown of Lu Xun Series and Village both sold for HK$6,392,000 (US$824,057), against pre-sale estimates of HK$1,000,000 - 1,200,000 and HK$1,600,000 - 2,200,000 respectively.* The first of these was bought by a European private collector.

Evelyn Lin, Specialist in charge of the sale, said: "We are delighted with today's results - the highest total to date for a sale of Contemporary Chinese Art. This market is growing at a rate that no one could have predicted. It is wonderful to see established artists like Guanzhong being bought at an international level, and even more pleasing is collectors' reaction to works by emerging artists, many of whom were appearing at auction for the first time today. In particular, Lin Minghong's (b. 1964) installation, Storyteller, which sold for HK$456,000 (US$58,788)."

http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=15315

*************************

Qing-Dynasty vase fetches record price
www.chinaview.cn 2005-10-25 09:56:30

BEIJING, Oct. 25 -- A Hong Kong art dealer paid a world record price of HK$115.48m (US$14.88m) for a rare Qing-Dynasty porcelain vase at auction Sunday.

It was the highest price ever paid at auction in Asia for a work of art. The tiny vase dates from the Qianlong Emperor’s reign, 1735-1796.

The 210-year-old piece, measuring just 16.5cm in height, is decorated with a pair of pheasants on a flowering branch.

Sotheby’s auction house said there were only four similar vases in the world, rare examples of Qing-Dynasty porcelain.

“The price achieved is a vindication of the object’s historical importance,” said Nicolas Chow, head of the Sotheby’s Chinese Ceramics Department.

“In 30 years, only two other vases of this type have appeared at auction,” he added.

The vase was sold to William Chak, a Hong Kong art dealer, after several minutes of intense bidding. Chak latter admitted that he was offering the bid for one of his customers from the mainland but refused to give further details.

(Source: Shenzhen Daily)

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-10/25/content_3680019.htm

*************************

United Press International (UPI), October 22, 2005
Analysis:Going, going, gone to China
ROLAND FLAMINI

China's new affluent class has discovered the joys of auction houses. This year, sales at China's 10 leading auction houses topped $1 billion: up from $100 million in 2000, according to published figures. First time buyers are snapping up everything from Chinese contemporary paintings to Western antiques, but the main quest is for objects and art from China itself. Drawn by the booming market, Christie's, the international auction house, this week became the first Western auction house to announce that it was setting up a sales operation in Beijing.

What Chairman Mao would have thought of this growing capitalist trend is not hard to imagine. But one of the sculptures in a current exhibition of Chinese avant-garde art in the Hague is a reproduction of Mao's Little Red Book, the "bible" of the Maoist Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, with the pages blank, because -- as the artist explains -- it no longer has anything to say to the Chinese.

The new breed of collectors are the real estate developers, construction company owners, captains of industry, hi-tech managers, moneymen, and others who have profited from China's frenetic economic pace.

Henry Howard-Sneyd, who runs Sotheby's - Christie's main rivals - was quoted in the New York Times Thursday as saying that the Chinese were interested in their own art, but also in everything else including "fine wines, jewelry, Western furniture, and 19th century paintings."

Because there is still a ban on foreign auction houses operating in Beijing, Christie's has teamed up with a new local auction house called Forever. Christie's will provide its name, the expertise and sales teams, with the first sale of 46 works of Chinese modern and contemporary art going on the block on Nov 9.

If Christie's is there can Sotheby's be far behind? If Sotheby's has plans to follow suit, however, it has yet to announce them. Meanwhile, Sotheby's is holding its first sale of Chinese contemporary art in its New York sales rooms in March.

"Obviously, Christie's wants to cater for domestic Chinese buyers," says Howard Farber, a leading New York col-lector of Chinese contemporary art told United Press International Friday. "This is an new phenomenon. The Chinese have just started buying Chinese art, especially contemporary. The 21st century belongs to China, and Christie's sees this as a great opportunity."

Farber says it's too early to say what effect Christie's presence in China will have on prices, but it does make Beijing one more venue that collectors have to take into account. "I would assume that the bidding will be fierce between Chinese and Western buyers," he says.

Edward Dolman, Christie's chief executive was quoted as saying this week, "(China) is a huge market and we're building on the tremendous sales in Hong Kong." Both Sotheby's and Christie's have had successful sale rooms in Hong Kong since the time when it was still a British colony.

Helping to fuel the booming Chinese art market is the rising interest worldwide in Chinese contemporary and avant-garde painting, sculpture, and installations.

Politically, the fact that contemporary art is permitted to go on sale inside China signifies a shift in official attitudes. After the Tiananmen Square clashes in 1989 contemporary artists, especially avant garde artists, became non-persons. Their work was not shown; some fled the country, and others went to jail. But their situation has improved gradually along with the prices of their work both at home and in the West.

Julia Colman, a Chinese art expert with a gallery in London and another in Beijing, told UPI, "The fact that these artists have captured the interest of the West makes them less vulnerable to suppression by the regime."

Chinese art doesn't fetch the megabucks of a Picasso or a van Gogh - yet. The rate of climb in prices in the past five years has, however, been rapid and steep. A recently sold installation by Cai Guo Qiang, the artist who created a rainbow over New York's East River in 2002, had a catalog estimate of $230,000 and went for $586,344. A painting by the Chinese New Wave artists Zang Fanzhi sold for $146,586 (catalog estimate: $51,200). But Christie's catalog for next month's Beijing sale lists a landscape by Wu Guanzhong for $770,000 to $900,000.

The avant-garde works can be startling in both concept and execution. "10,000 Kilometers," an installation by Gu Wenda representing the Great Wall of China consists of bricks made of hair, a reference to the many thousands of laborers who suffered during construction of the Wall. The work was recently shown in an exhibition in Beijing. Chinese con-temporary art is being seen increasingly in museums in the West as more curators travel to China to meet artists and dealers. At least one Chinese art blockbuster show is being planned for 2006-2007, comparable to the 1998 exhibition "China: 5,000 Years" at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20051021-055447-8341r

*************************

Xinhua, October 25, 2005
Chinese investment in art collection surging

The Chinese art collection market has become the third most popular investment target following stock and real estate, said experts in the field here Tuesday.

Official statistics show that China has altogether more than 100 million individual collectors.
In 2004, the estimated volume of business was no less than 10 billion yuan (around 1.2 billion US dollars).

Ma Guangqi, general-manager of a local collection company in Beijing, said art collection in the past represented one person's social position and refined taste.

Today, art has become a target of investment.

However, he pointed out that art collectors may encounter traps and fake goods. People with interest and money but lacking professional evaluation skills are at risk of being scammed.

He explained that art collection involves many challenges, such as how to keep and raise the value of a collection.

Autumn auctions hosted by several local companies will all have blockbuster masterpieces.

Among the nearly 1,000 items in the Huachen Auction, a hanging landscape roll by Chen Hongshou, from ancient China's Ming dynasty (1368-1644), has already attracted great attention from domestic and overseas collectors. The painting masterpieces by Lin Fengmian, Huang Zhou, Wu Guanzhong, Qi Baishi of Poly Auction are predicted to sell at high prices.

Maestro Li Keran's landscape, produced in 1987, is still awaiting a good price, insiders with the Chengxuan Auction said, hinting that the Chinese traditional paintings and calligraphy have become more and more popular among international collectors.

On the item list of Chengxuan Auction, the "Old Cypress" painted by Xu Beihong in 1932 has been valued at 600,000 to 800,000 yuan (around 73,000 to 97,000 US dollars) so far.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-10/25/content_3682817.htm

__________________

with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold
(Art-Eastasia list)

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

__________________________________________

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	October 29, 2005: [achtung! kunst] market

	artdaily.com, 10/26/2005 Contemporary Chinese Art Soars Sotheby's HONG KONG.-Contemporary Chinese Art was in hot demand at Sotheby's Hong Kong today, when a sale of more than 100 works raised HK$69,961,201 (US$9,019,398). This figure is double the pre-sale low estimate for the sale, which was 96.2% sold by lot and 97.6% sold by value. Buying was truly international with bids coming from America, Switzerland, France, Germany and Asia. The six most expensive lots of the sale were all paintings by Wu Guanzhong (b. 1919), clearly the artist of the moment. Hometown of Lu Xun Series and Village both sold for HK$6,392,000 (US$824,057), against pre-sale estimates of HK$1,000,000 - 1,200,000 and HK$1,600,000 - 2,200,000 respectively.* The first of these was bought by a European private collector. Evelyn Lin, Specialist in charge of the sale, said: "We are delighted with today's results - the highest total to date for a sale of Contemporary Chinese Art. This market is growing at a rate that no one could have predicted. It is wonderful to see established artists like Guanzhong being bought at an international level, and even more pleasing is collectors' reaction to works by emerging artists, many of whom were appearing at auction for the first time today. In particular, Lin Minghong's (b. 1964) installation, Storyteller, which sold for HK$456,000 (US$58,788)." http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=15315 *********************** Qing-Dynasty vase fetches record price www.chinaview.cn 2005-10-25 09:56:30 BEIJING, Oct. 25 -- A Hong Kong art dealer paid a world record price of HK$115.48m (US$14.88m) for a rare Qing-Dynasty porcelain vase at auction Sunday. It was the highest price ever paid at auction in Asia for a work of art. The tiny vase dates from the Qianlong Emperor’s reign, 1735-1796. The 210-year-old piece, measuring just 16.5cm in height, is decorated with a pair of pheasants on a flowering branch. Sotheby’s auction house said there were only four similar vases in the world, rare examples of Qing-Dynasty porcelain. “The price achieved is a vindication of the object’s historical importance,” said Nicolas Chow, head of the Sotheby’s Chinese Ceramics Department. “In 30 years, only two other vases of this type have appeared at auction,” he added. The vase was sold to William Chak, a Hong Kong art dealer, after several minutes of intense bidding. Chak latter admitted that he was offering the bid for one of his customers from the mainland but refused to give further details. (Source: Shenzhen Daily) http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-10/25/content_3680019.htm ********************* United Press International (UPI), October 22, 2005 Analysis:Going, going, gone to China ROLAND FLAMINI China's new affluent class has discovered the joys of auction houses. This year, sales at China's 10 leading auction houses topped $1 billion: up from $100 million in 2000, according to published figures. First time buyers are snapping up everything from Chinese contemporary paintings to Western antiques, but the main quest is for objects and art from China itself. Drawn by the booming market, Christie's, the international auction house, this week became the first Western auction house to announce that it was setting up a sales operation in Beijing. What Chairman Mao would have thought of this growing capitalist trend is not hard to imagine. But one of the sculptures in a current exhibition of Chinese avant-garde art in the Hague is a reproduction of Mao's Little Red Book, the "bible" of the Maoist Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, with the pages blank, because -- as the artist explains -- it no longer has anything to say to the Chinese. The new breed of collectors are the real estate developers, construction company owners, captains of industry, hi-tech managers, moneymen, and others who have profited from China's frenetic economic pace. Henry Howard-Sneyd, who runs Sotheby's - Christie's main rivals - was quoted in the New York Times Thursday as saying that the Chinese were interested in their own art, but also in everything else including "fine wines, jewelry, Western furniture, and 19th century paintings." Because there is still a ban on foreign auction houses operating in Beijing, Christie's has teamed up with a new local auction house called Forever. Christie's will provide its name, the expertise and sales teams, with the first sale of 46 works of Chinese modern and contemporary art going on the block on Nov 9. If Christie's is there can Sotheby's be far behind? If Sotheby's has plans to follow suit, however, it has yet to announce them. Meanwhile, Sotheby's is holding its first sale of Chinese contemporary art in its New York sales rooms in March. "Obviously, Christie's wants to cater for domestic Chinese buyers," says Howard Farber, a leading New York col-lector of Chinese contemporary art told United Press International Friday. "This is an new phenomenon. The Chinese have just started buying Chinese art, especially contemporary. The 21st century belongs to China, and Christie's sees this as a great opportunity." Farber says it's too early to say what effect Christie's presence in China will have on prices, but it does make Beijing one more venue that collectors have to take into account. "I would assume that the bidding will be fierce between Chinese and Western buyers," he says. Edward Dolman, Christie's chief executive was quoted as saying this week, "(China) is a huge market and we're building on the tremendous sales in Hong Kong." Both Sotheby's and Christie's have had successful sale rooms in Hong Kong since the time when it was still a British colony. Helping to fuel the booming Chinese art market is the rising interest worldwide in Chinese contemporary and avant-garde painting, sculpture, and installations. Politically, the fact that contemporary art is permitted to go on sale inside China signifies a shift in official attitudes. After the Tiananmen Square clashes in 1989 contemporary artists, especially avant garde artists, became non-persons. Their work was not shown; some fled the country, and others went to jail. But their situation has improved gradually along with the prices of their work both at home and in the West. Julia Colman, a Chinese art expert with a gallery in London and another in Beijing, told UPI, "The fact that these artists have captured the interest of the West makes them less vulnerable to suppression by the regime." Chinese art doesn't fetch the megabucks of a Picasso or a van Gogh - yet. The rate of climb in prices in the past five years has, however, been rapid and steep. A recently sold installation by Cai Guo Qiang, the artist who created a rainbow over New York's East River in 2002, had a catalog estimate of $230,000 and went for $586,344. A painting by the Chinese New Wave artists Zang Fanzhi sold for $146,586 (catalog estimate: $51,200). But Christie's catalog for next month's Beijing sale lists a landscape by Wu Guanzhong for $770,000 to $900,000. The avant-garde works can be startling in both concept and execution. "10,000 Kilometers," an installation by Gu Wenda representing the Great Wall of China consists of bricks made of hair, a reference to the many thousands of laborers who suffered during construction of the Wall. The work was recently shown in an exhibition in Beijing. Chinese con-temporary art is being seen increasingly in museums in the West as more curators travel to China to meet artists and dealers. At least one Chinese art blockbuster show is being planned for 2006-2007, comparable to the 1998 exhibition "China: 5,000 Years" at the Guggenheim Museum in New York. http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20051021-055447-8341r *********************** Xinhua, October 25, 2005 Chinese investment in art collection surging The Chinese art collection market has become the third most popular investment target following stock and real estate, said experts in the field here Tuesday. Official statistics show that China has altogether more than 100 million individual collectors. In 2004, the estimated volume of business was no less than 10 billion yuan (around 1.2 billion US dollars). Ma Guangqi, general-manager of a local collection company in Beijing, said art collection in the past represented one person's social position and refined taste. Today, art has become a target of investment. However, he pointed out that art collectors may encounter traps and fake goods. People with interest and money but lacking professional evaluation skills are at risk of being scammed. He explained that art collection involves many challenges, such as how to keep and raise the value of a collection. Autumn auctions hosted by several local companies will all have blockbuster masterpieces. Among the nearly 1,000 items in the Huachen Auction, a hanging landscape roll by Chen Hongshou, from ancient China's Ming dynasty (1368-1644), has already attracted great attention from domestic and overseas collectors. The painting masterpieces by Lin Fengmian, Huang Zhou, Wu Guanzhong, Qi Baishi of Poly Auction are predicted to sell at high prices. Maestro Li Keran's landscape, produced in 1987, is still awaiting a good price, insiders with the Chengxuan Auction said, hinting that the Chinese traditional paintings and calligraphy have become more and more popular among international collectors. On the item list of Chengxuan Auction, the "Old Cypress" painted by Xu Beihong in 1932 has been valued at 600,000 to 800,000 yuan (around 73,000 to 97,000 US dollars) so far. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2005-10/25/content_3682817.htm __________________ with kind regards, Matthias Arnold (Art-Eastasia list) http://www.chinaresource.org http://www.fluktor.de __________________________________________ An archive of this list as well as an subscribe/unsubscribe facility is available at: http://listserv.uni-heidelberg.de/archives/art-eastasia.html For postings earlier than 2005-02-23 please go to: http://www.fluktor.de/study/office/newsletter.htm