Impressionism a cultivated taste |
http://www.sina.com.cn 2004/12/28 11:21 上海英文星报 |
THE French Impressionism exhibition at the Shanghai Art Museum attracted more than 26,000 visitors in its first four days. On weekend days the long queue of people waiting for admission circled around the museum. The great excitement Shanghai people have shown for these impressionist masterpieces has led experts to an optimistic outlook on the prospects of classical Western art in the local market. Western art pieces have fetched the highest prices in recent Shanghai Art Fairs - excepting that of 2003, when a Chinese painting by Zhang Daqian (1901-1984) was sold for 5.5 million yuan (US$662,600). The sales volume at the recently concluded Eighth Shanghai Art Fair reached 26 million yuan (US$3.132 million), a quarter more than last year, even though high tariffs functioned as a major barrier to trade in expensive imported art work. The 30 per cent added to sales prices by these tariffs no doubt frightened off quite a few buyers. Small-sized Western pieces fit for home decoration sold best at the fair, according to Wang Anwei, a staff member of the organizing committee of the Shanghai Art Fair. "Some booths almost sold out everything they had," he said. According to Qian Liqun, director of the organizing committee, the Shanghai market was extremely interested in Western sculptures, but it still needed time to fully accept oil paintings. Cheng Xindong, who brought the three most expensive sculptures to the Shanghai Art Fair, said that sculptures were often suitable for display in large spaces, with China's rapid urban construction producing new spaces for public sculpture. Paintings lacked this function. A painting by Marc Chagall, priced at around 5 million yuan (US$602,000) was brought to the fair the year before, but it was ignored by Shanghai collectors. "Art work using images familiar to Chinese people, such as those they have seen in history books, or straightforward representations recognizable from the world, are the most popular in the Chinese market," Cheng said in a telephone interview with the Shanghai Star. "The Chinese market in general is still underdeveloped, although collectors with foresight have started to travel the world collecting international classical masterpieces," he said. Market education Price is not a problem, as evidenced by the prices of classical Chinese art and antiques, which have sky-rocketed in the past few years. As the Chinese classical art market matures such highly expensive pieces still sell regularly but the market for Western and contemporary art develop later. The key problem lies in people's comparative ignorance about it. "The trade volume and number of items are both small, when compared to art fairs in the West. The total sales of the Shanghai Art Fair this year would not have been enough to buy a single Picasso," Cheng said. Cheng has participated in all eight sessions of the Shanghai Art Fair, and plans to come again next year as well. Classical pieces are becoming rare in the market, which leads to the price rising quickly. Cheng claimed that the market value of "The Thinker", which he sold at the 2000 Shanghai Art Fair, had already increased by 50 per cent. "Chinese collectors have to be involved in international art-trade circuits," Cheng said. The Shanghai Gallery of Art, located at Three on the Bund, will host an exhibition dedicated to the work of American pop art master Andy Warhol in the latter half of 2005. With great confidence in Shanghai clients' understanding of contemporary art, the gallery hopes to build up its academic reputation as well as its market prospects. "Western classics have not been our focus," said Weng Ling, director of the gallery. "But we definitely believe good art with historical value has a market in China." Weng went on to say that the Chinese market would not be like that of Japan during its period of fastest economic growth, when enterprises and collectors spent lavishly on Western art, creating record high prices. "The Chinese should take a lesson from them," Weng said. The Shanghai Gallery of Art has been focused mainly on contemporary Chinese art and - in contrast to most galleries in town - 70-80 per cent of its clients are Chinese, including those from overseas. "Paintings priced at US$20,000 to US$30,000 are popular with our clients," Weng said. Twice this year, auction company Christie's brought items it was to auction in London and New York - including 13 impressionist pieces by artists of the stature of Renoir and Monet - to special exhibitions in Shanghai, with the aim of attracting additional Chinese collectors. "The Musee d'Orsay exhibition will surely open and expand the Chinese market for impressionist art work," Ye Zhengyuan from Christie's said in an interview with the Oriental Morning Post. "Christie's will also surely bring more impressionist and modern art work to China next year." He also said that impressionism was easy to enjoy and made a good investment. By Zhang kun |