The Loouvre from China: a Critical Study of C. T. Loo and the Framing of Chinese Art in the United States, 1915-1950 a Dissertat
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The Loouvre from China: A Critical Study of C. T. Loo and the Framing of Chinese Art in the United States, 1915-1950 A dissertation presented to the faculty of the College of Fine Arts of Ohio University In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy Yiyou Wang November 2007 2 © 2007 Yiyou Wang All Rights Reserved 3 This dissertation titled The Loouvre from China: A Critical Study of C. T. Loo and the Framing of Chinese Art in the United States, 1915-1950 by YIYOU WANG has been approved for the School of Interdisciplinary Arts and the College of Fine Arts by Charles Buchanan Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts Charles A. McWeeny Dean, College of Fine Arts 4 ABSTRACT WANG, YIYOU, Ph.D., November 2007, Interdisciplinary Arts The Loouvre from China: A Critical Study of C. T. Loo and the Framing of Chinese Art in the United States, 1915-1950 (314 pp.) Director of Dissertation: Charles Buchanan Based on archival research, this dissertation is a pioneering study of Loo Ching-Tsai (C. T. Loo, 1880-1957), a leading international art dealer, and his role in the circulation and reception of Chinese antiquities in the United States between 1915 and 1950. By investigating the modes of transaction, network, conceptual framework, and visual strategies in his business, I argue that C. T. Loo played a significant role in the framing of “Chinese art” by situationally capitalizing on the boundaries between different territories, concepts, and roles in the market-museum-academia network. The introduction places Loo against the theoretical and historical background of the exchange, study, and display of Chinese antiquities in America. The first part of this dissertation focuses on the modes of transaction and social networks in his dealing. The second part investigates how Loo’s negotiation of the spatial-temporal-cultural boundaries recontextualized ancient Chinese art in modern America. The last part examines Loo’s presentational strategies, which articulated the power relations in his operations. This dissertation concludes that although C. T. Loo, as a network builder and cultural mediator, played an important role in the formation of Chinese art collections in America, his dealing was based on America’s capitalist and imperialist logic that Chinese antiquities were to be consumed by the rich and the powerful in modern America. 5 By examining a crucial figure, this dissertation serves as a sourcebook and conceptual map for art dealership study, a generally neglected field in Chinese art. Looking beyond cultural and disciplinary boundaries, this dissertation suggests a new ground to broaden understanding of Chinese art. Approved: _____________________________________________________________ Charles Buchanan Associate Professor of Interdisciplinary Arts 6 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First, I would like to thank my parents Wang Xiaolong and Hua Yun to whom this dissertation is dedicated. Their thirst for knowledge, passion for art, courage, perseverance, and openness have been an inspiration for my scholarship. I want to thank my colleagues at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, who led me to this rather unconventional area of research. I am grateful for the knowledge and the spirit of generosity of many people at various museums, archives, and libraries that I visited during this research. Special thanks go to Jenni Rodda, Michele Hiltzik, Keith Wilson, David Hogg, Abigail Smith, and Deborah Del Gais. This dissertation also benefited a great deal from Abe Stanley, Zaixin Hong, Marion Lee, James Cahill, Thomas Lawton, who generously shared their expertise in museum collections and Chinese art dealers. I am also greatly indebted to Maura O’Toole, Aida and Alfred Wong, Mary Lou Spindt, Sue and Tom Zano, Milena Miller, Loraine McCosker, Frans Doppen, and Don Watkins, who supported my research and writing by welcoming me as their family member. I want to thank Henry McCarthy with whom I spent many productive writing hours in the library. Finally, I would like to thank my committee members, Dr. Charles Buchanan, Dr. Marina Peterson, Dr. Andrea Frohne, and Dr. Aaron Moore, who have guided me through the research, writing, defense, and revisions. I am greatly indebted to my advisor, Charles Buchanan, with whom I studied for the past five years. His teaching, mentoring, and scholarship have been inspirational. This dissertation is impossible without his encouragement, guidance, comments, and editorial work. 7 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Abstract................................................................................................................................4 Acknowledgements..............................................................................................................6 List of Tables .......................................................................................................................9 List of Figures....................................................................................................................10 Abbreviations and Special Marks ......................................................................................15 Introduction........................................................................................................................17 Why C. T. Loo? .....................................................................................................17 Biography as History .............................................................................................26 CHAPTER 1: A FLOW CHART ......................................................................................45 Supply ....................................................................................................................45 Documentation.......................................................................................................51 Promotion...............................................................................................................58 Distribution ............................................................................................................63 End and Beginning.................................................................................................80 CHAPTER 2: THE NETWORK .......................................................................................81 Dealer-Dealer.........................................................................................................81 Dealer-Collector.....................................................................................................90 Dealer-Museum....................................................................................................100 Dealer-Scholar .....................................................................................................114 The Network ........................................................................................................119 8 CHAPTER 3: WESTERNNESS AND CHINESENESS ................................................125 Westernness .........................................................................................................126 Chineseness..........................................................................................................140 C. T. Loo of Paris, Peking, or New York?...........................................................155 CHAPTER 4: TIME AND TIMELESSNESS.................................................................163 Time .....................................................................................................................163 Timelessness ........................................................................................................181 Salvage Paradigm.................................................................................................192 CHAPTER 5: SPECTACLE............................................................................................200 The Grand and Grotesque ....................................................................................202 The Feminine .......................................................................................................208 The Mobile and Metamorphic .............................................................................226 The Dramatic .......................................................................................................230 CONCLUSION: C. T. Loo, Hero or Villain?..................................................................234 BIBLIOGRAPHY............................................................................................................292 9 LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1: Shanghai Port: Chinese Antique Export Trade Volume with the U.S., 1916- 1931.................................................................................................................................32 10 LIST OF FIGURES Page Figure 1: C. T. Loo among artifacts at the China Institute ............................................237 Figure 2: Installation view of the Morgan Collection on display at the Met.................237 Figure 3: C. T. Loo Galleries in Paris............................................................................238 Figure 4: Guardian Lion, Chinese, Tang dynasty..........................................................238 Figure 5: Composing Poetry beneath Pine Trees under a Cliff .....................................239 Figure 6a: Bronze Altarpiece with Amitabha Buddha and Attendants..........................239 Figure 6b: Line drawing of