Asian Art hires logo 15/8/05 8:34 am Page 1 Page am 8:34 15/8/05 logo hires Art Asian

ASIAN ART The newspaper for collectors, dealers, museums and galleries june 2005 £5.00/US$8/€10 THE LOUVRE’S BIG MOVE

Te Louvre has got a march on the history of the museum swung climate change. Te museum is into action. Te cost of the project is located by the Seine, in Paris, in a covered by the Louvre Endowment zone prone to fooding – and, since Fund, with the total price projected 2002, the Paris Prefecture, within to be about Euro 60 million. Te the framework of the food risk answer to the problem was Te protection plan (PPRI), has warned Louvre Conservation Centre, located the Louvre of the risks centennial in Liévin, near Lens, in northern fooding could pose to the museum’s . Completed in 2019, the collections. Around a quarter of a semi-submerged building stands million works are currently stored in next to the Louvre-Lens Museum, more than 60 diferent locations, which itself was completed in 2012. both within the Louvre palace Te conservation centre makes it (mainly in food-risk zones), and possible to store the reserve elsewhere in temporary storage collections together in a single, spaces – all waiting to be moved to functional, space and allows for the new storage location. optimal conservation conditions. It In 2016, this risk was emphasised also improves access for the scientifc when the Seine fooded its banks, community, researchers, and and the rise in water levels was so conservationists. Te project gave the severe that museum staf had to museum freedom not only to plan, trigger the emergency plan: a 24- but also to have the opportunity to The Musée du Louvre, in Paris, is in the middle of moving its reserve collections to northern France, away from the flood plain hour operation to wrap, pack and modernise the conservation, study, take thousands of objects out of the and work conditions, as well as Lens Museum, a special interpretation at any one time. Tere are around that year to transport the 250,000 risk areas and up to higher ground reconsider how the reserve collections programme that allows visitors to 35,000 works housed in other objects in the reserve collections to away from the potentially damaging are organised. visit the storage space and artwork institutions and about 3,000 are on the new space. Work on the project is fooding. Around 250,000 works Te project runs parallel to the plan treatment workshops. Te new loan for temporary exhibitions. Te still continuing – currently over were stored in more than 60 diferent to create food-proof storerooms for research and study facility, one of the bulk of the works of art are part of 100,000 works of art having been locations, both within the Louvre each department in the Louvre itself biggest in Europe, will support and the ongoing project and are currently moved, including , carpets, palace, mainly in food-risk zones, (for works in transit, loan replacement help broaden the scientifc reach of in the process of being moved to the tapestries, sculpture, objets d’art, and elsewhere in temporary storage works, etc), as well as study galleries France, regionally and locally. centre in Liévin. furniture and other decorative spaces until a permanent solution in the permanent collections. Currently, Te Louvre houses Te new conservation building was objects. Te transfer of all the works was found. Additionally, this will give the public 620,000 works of art, of which completed in the summer of 2019 is hoped to be completed by early So, the most ambitious move in access by ofering, via the Louvre- 35,000 are on display in the museum and work began in the second half of 2024.

NEWS IN BRIEF Inside 2 Profile: the artist WORLD RECORDS FOR INDIAN Vivien Zhang PAINTINGS AT AUCTION 5 Diversity in Edo-period Mallams Te online auction on 13 March, at Safronarts in kabuki prints 1788 Mumbai, achieved two world auction records for 6 Abstraction and , Indian artists. VS Gaitonde achieved INR 39.98 on show in Abu Dhabi crore (US$ 5.5 million) for an untitled oil on canvas 8 Epic Iran is the latest from 1961. In the early 1960s, Indian modernist V S blockbuster exhibition due to Gaitonde was working out of a small studio at the open soon in Bhulabhai Desai Memorial Institute in then Bombay 10 Chinese Art from the Florence - a multi-faceted institution that encouraged the and Herbert Irving Collection, interaction of various visual and performing arts, and in New York where the present lot was frst acquired from the 12 A history of the luxurious artist. It was at this time that the reclusive Gaitonde, Chinese export wallpapers known for his serene, ‘non-objective’ paintings, began 14 The Way We Eat: looking at experimenting with the layering of pigment and the how East Asia has engaged manipulation of light and texture. Infuenced by Zen with food over the centuries philosophy and the principles of minimalism, 16 From the Archive: Gaitonde’s works from this period pulsate with an Encompassing the Globe, innate lyricism as well as a sense of mystery. Te Portugal and the World in the second artist to achieve a world record was a 1991 16th and 17th Centuries work by NS Bendre, Untitled (Krishna on Kaliya) 18 Burmese modern art, depicting a mythological story about an eponymous Bagyi Aung Soe, in Paris deity, which sold for INR 1.98 crore (US$ 175,000). 20 Exhibitions in Japan, France, S H Raza’s Jaipur (1976), an acrylic on canvas work, Monaco and the US sold for INR 5.62 crores (US$ 780,000), and F N 22 Auction previews in London Chinese, Japanese and Hong Kong; gallery show, Souza’s Figure on Red and Green Background (1957) sold for INR 2.76 crores (US$ 384,000). Hiroshi Sugimoto in Paris & 23 Islamic Arts Diary LOS ANGELES COUNTY 23rd & 24th June 2021 MUSEUM OF ART REOPENS Next issue CHELTENHAM Te Los Angeles County Museum of Art reopens on 1 April after a year-long closure. Te museum is May 2021 allowed to reopen, as it has moved into the state’s red CONSIGNMENTS INVITED tier, which means all museums are allowed to reopen indoor spaces at 25% capacity with safety protocols in Scan me place. Out of the six new exhibitions on view, one is To visit our home Asian: a retrospective of the Japanese artist page. For contact Yoshitomo Nara. Exhibitions that have been details see page 2 Continued on page 2 A pair of Yongzheng (1723 – 1735) mark and period Enquiries – Robin Fisher jardinières. Provenance – Acquired in Peking in the 01242 235712 1930s by the vendor’s grandfather whilst working as robin.fi[email protected] a junior diplomat. Estimate £20,000 – 30,000 www.mallams.co.uk asianartnewspaper.com

#AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper 2 People People 3

CONTACT US and that, in essence, is what the studio on a daily basis, but there are The Asian Art Newspaper manifesto is about. two elements in the motives that I Vol 24 Issue 4 pick and concentrate on. Te frst Published by AAN: How does the second Manifesto one is that the motives not only have Asian Art Newspaper Ltd, VIVIEN ZHANG differ from the first? a duality within themselves, but have London VZ: In 2019, I launched a second and also traversed through diferent EDITOR/PUBLISHER longer version of the Manifesto. contexts. One example is the kilim, Sarah Callaghan I added more thoughts, verses, and the Central-Asian rug. I feel there is The Asian Art Newspaper causes to it, while keeping half of a duality in this object as the kilim PO Box 22521, the original text. Over time, it will has many patterns, but they are never London W8 4GT, UK by Olivia Sand sarah.callaghan@ be interesting to see how it develops named according to national asianartnewspaper.com and to archive diferent stages of boundaries. In Afghanistan and tel +44 (0)20 7229 6040 Vivien Zhang (b 1990) is part of it, putting them next to each other. Pakistan, for example, they do not a generation of artists, who is I want to make a point, so the have diferent names for a particular ADVERTISING exploring new avenues for the Manifesto needs to refect the pattern, because the pattern is used Kelvin McManus immediate, the ‘now’. In the course by nomadic tribes, who just travel Commerical Manager medium of , without of diferent exhibitions, maybe a and the patterns evolve within the Echo Complex (2020), tel +44 (0)7877 866692 being reluctant to integrate acrylic and oil on canvas, [email protected] new policy, or a new way of looking tribe. In a way, the kilim presents a elements refecting our 220 x 190 cm. Courtesy of the artist, technological age. Finding at the world’s latest technological boundary-breaking element, which SEND ADVERTISING TO gadgets, will have come up which I also look for in my work. As a Long March Space and Asian Art Newspaper herself at a challenging Pilar Corrias Gallery crossroads, she is drawing her afects our way of understanding third-culture individual, I feel it PO Box 22521 and reacting to the world. I refects my own identity, an identity London W8 4GT inspiration from a variety of emphasised these aspects in the of many people today. Te other [email protected] sources, presenting in her work an tel +44 (0)20 7229 6040 Manifesto, as I want people to see example is the spiral pillar in baroque assemblage of references and that it evolves with our time. churches. Tis object is interesting ART DIRECTION techniques from the very because, again, it has moved through Gary Ottewill, Editorial Design traditional to the cutting edge. AAN: What new conclusions have you diferent contexts. I believe it was not garyottewill.com As an artist, she has the reached in that second Manifesto? even invented by the Romans, but advantage of being able to tap VZ: SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER It does not have a conclusion, taken to Rome from the Temple of Heather Milligan into a wide spectrum of like a conventional one, which is Solomon in present-day Jerusalem. [email protected] infuences: born in China, where why I wanted to write it in a Ten, it became popular in baroque tel +44 (0)20 7229 6040 she grew up for the frst 10 years sporadic almost confused, way that Geoframe (2020), acrylic and oil on canvas, 200 x 180 cm. buildings and its status was elevated, of her life; she then moved to refects the turbulent state we are Courtesy of the artist, although it often does not have any SUBSCRIPTIONS living in. However, there are small architectural function. Terefore, it AND ADMINISTRATION Kenya and Tailand during her formative years, before settling in conclusions, one of which being that For painters, it is very challenging, as slowly lost its place in architecture. Asian Art Newspaper Vivien Zhang. Photo: Hsu Ting PO Box 22521 the UK to attend art school. we are living in a time that is the some people may feel that it is Painters and printmakers, however, London W8 4GT medium of our past. We are living unnecessary to go and see the real still loved this decorative element Vivien Zhang’s practice illustrates Asian Art Newspaper: In 2019, you United Kingdom that elements from technology thinking when creating work – and in a fragmented way, refecting the in an age that is already dominated Our now and painting. I make a point to attack and, as a result, they kept it. If it was [email protected] wrote The Manifesto Manifested: For a to refect on the condition in which thinking process that many people by artifcial intelligence and that, because on a digital device, my used to depict a church setting, tel +44 (0)20 7229 6040 can be integrated in a meaningful New Landscape and of Our Current Soft Borders (2020), way with more traditional we are presently living. Tis is why it share today. Te voices in the algorithms, and those things are future are work may look fat with very clean artists would still feature these spiral Condition. What led you to write this? is entitled ‘Manifesto Manifested’, Manifesto may seem contradictory, calculating our future. Instead of edges, but actually there are a lot of columns. My motifs often occupy marker and oil on canvas, Changes of address elements. Painting, like any other Vivien Zhang: 95 x 75 cm. Information as above It is interesting that you in order to underline the growing but they also echo the contradictory looking at progression and actually the smudges, or bleedings, of the paint. I several contexts and maybe, again, it feld, needs to evolve, identifying Courtesy of the artist, Long March alternative and creative ways to be begin with the Manifesto, because it and evolving nature of the age we live in today, where things advancement, these algorithms and am taking close-up shots in order to is a refection of how I see myself in SHOP ONLINE is actually a very important part of Manifesto. are happening so fast that we cannot rules ultimately need to be result of the show people that it is handmade and the world, and how I have occupied Space and Pilar Corrias Gallery at asianartnewspaper.com innovative. In this interview, my work. It is the backbone of my It is not defnite. At diferent process them. Let us take the calculated based on past data. Our very organic. I allow the mistakes to something that transforms itself in for back issues, subscriptions, Vivien Zhang discusses the path practice, summarising some of my exhibitions, I would launch a new example of technology: we have now and our future are actually the average of manifest, because I want to highlight diferent contexts. from Chinese culture. Coming back and digital editions she has chosen in her quest to observations. Writing the Manifesto version and, so far, there have been fabulous and useful technology, but result of the average of our past. this polarity – a push-and-pull to my painting, I basically played resolve that equation. our past AAN: In contemporary art over the past ANNUAL PRINT SUBSCRIPTION was a way to process my own two. Te Manifesto itself is written there is a lack of policies to control it Tat is one conclusion. Te other between the ‘clean’ technology- with my audience, with them decades, we have become more (8 issues a year) one is that we are a growing driven aspect of the work, but also wrongly assuming that it was a UK £55 generation of distracted beings: the very organic, handmade, rough, open-minded towards the appreciation Chinese mask, a Chinese element. Rest of Europe £65 perhaps we do not identify with and immediate sense that belongs to of other influences. Do you agree? I pinpoint quite crudely their belief Rest of World £75 NEWS IN BRIEF national borders, but we identify something physical in the studio. VZ: Tis question will become of myself as a Chinese artist painting US residents US$100 with hashtags, or Reddit groups. there is this over-abundance of increasingly interesting for me in the a Chinese element. I wanted this (including airmail postage) AAN: Earlier, with regards to images and Monthly except for Winter Quarter Tere is a new community that is things available to us. It is wonderful future. As we were talking about painting to lead to a conversation cultures, you mentioned the word ‘filter’. (Dec-Feb) and emerging – these are just two on one hand, but on the other, as understanding artists from diferent with the audience and for them to be Summer Quarter (June-Aug) extended include Do Ho Suh: 348 at the in 10 photographers from hundreds of institution for contemporary art examples of my various conclusions. individuals and artists, we have more Through your upbringing, you can contexts, here is an example more aware and not to make any West 22nd Street and Fiji: Art & Life 1953. She returned, after a few applications, across Afghanistan, with a global and multidisciplinary to flter and then, what is the criteria already draw from a huge reservoir of involving one of my own paintings: assumptions. Te play with DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION in the Pacifc, which were forced to years, to her homeland of Japan. Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, approach. It is created out of a AAN: Graffiti art is encountering a that we use to flter? Tat is another motives, which is getting even bigger one of the early pieces tackled this assumptions and the audience’s £35 digital subscription per year close when the museum frst shut its Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan and renovated and redesigned coal certain resistance from the galleries, question! with today’s images available on social question and featured a Tai dance knowledge is something I keep in ART EXHIBITIONS AT whereas art reflecting our technology is media and technology. How do you go Copyright 2021 doors in March 2020. Sri Lanka . Te open call was bunker and is the largest I am interested in technology and mask. I included it in my work mind when making work. In that not. Why do you think that is? about filtering what can make its way JAPAN’S AIRPORTS initiated in 2020 by Serendipity Arts contemporary art museum in in this kind of overfow of because I have lived in Tailand and specifc piece, almost everybody saw © The Asian Art Newspaper Te Agency for Cultural Afairs, Foundation and Les Rencontres , measuring over 7,000 VZ: We are lucky that it is not only information, also probably because of into a painting and what needs to be left I know Tai-dance drama very well, and deducted that it was a Chinese The Asian Art Ltd OBITUARY: Government of Japan, has launched d’Arles , supported by the square metres. Te museum sits at younger artists that are dealing with my upbringing. I grew up in China, out, so it does not look ‘decorative’? but I was also aware that some opera mask. I had to have a All rights reserved. No part of this TOKO SHINODA a series of art exhibition ofering French Institute in India . the heart of the dynamic MAM social media and new technologies, then moved to East Africa and then VZ: Tat is a negotiation I have in my elements of Tai culture borrow conversation with the audience, newspaper may be reproduced without written consent. Toko Shinoda (b 1913, Dalian, new perspectives on the diversity of Te Serendipity Arles Grant was Riverbank cultural zone, stretching but older artists too. Tat puts on to Southeast Asia. So even asking them not to assume that. Tis The Asian Art Newspaper is not Manchuria), is one of the foremost Japanese culture at airports across established in 2020 with the aim of 1.2 kilometres along the Huangpu things into perspective for galleries without technology and social media, was back in 2014, and as you said, we responsible for the statements Japanese artists of the 20th century, Japan and International empowering artists from the region, River just south of the Pudong and dealers. Richard Prince I felt there was an over-abundance of have come a long way since then. expressed in contributed articles whose work married the ancient art Cruise Terminal. From the as well as extending a spirit of Central Business District. (b 1949), for example, very early on diferent cultures coming at me. Tat People are now more aware, more and commentaries. of calligraphy with Modernist mysterious soundscapes of regional cooperation and Te museum has announced that had a body of work that screen- raised the question of how to process careful about such assumptions. Advertisments are accepted in thought and Abstract Hokkaido’s indigenous Ainu people representation by promoting cultural Shai Baitel, has been confrmed as captured Instagram shots. As a these cultures and where to put I fnd that a very telling example to good faith, but are the responsibility of the advertiser and Expressionism. She passed away in to the vibrant history of Okinawa’s practices in South Asia. the Artistic Director of the museum. result, galleries and dealers have myself in alignment to them? In illustrate your question. The Asian Art Newspaper is not March in Tokyo – at the ancient Ryukyu Kingdom, diverse been forced to look at such works, addition, with the increase of social AAN: Speaking of Chinese culture, what liable for any claims made in extraordinary age of 107. cultures can be found throughout THE NATIONAL TRIBAL ART FAIR because of these important artists. media, I started asking the same advertisements. A painter and printmaker, Shinoda Japan. Running from February until CHERRY BLOSSOM AMSTERDAM We younger artists need to questions as to where to place myself is your relationship to calligraphy? Would Price guides and values are solely attained international recognition in at least September 2021 at seven FESTIVAL, Following the success of the Tribal encourage such innovative art if and how our identity would be you consider integrating it in your work? for readers’ reference and 1950s and remained sought after by airports. For more information on WASHINGTON DC Art Fair Amsterdam’s frst online there is a gallery context that people afected. At the same time, as an VZ: Sadly, I think calligraphy is like a The Asian Art Newspaper accepts no legal responsibility for any such major museums and galleries the exhibition and events, visit Te National Cherry Blossom fair, held at the end of October are hesitant about. We need to do so artist, where do you place the line as landmine, mainly because it is so information published. worldwide for more than fve https://www.culture-gate.jp festival is currently in full fow and 2020, the organiser has decided to because this is a new conversation to what you can use and what not? obviously Chinese. I love calligraphy, decades. Her work has been runs until 11 April, despite the hold an online spring edition. Over and, in the future, it will be a new Tat is even more true with physical I have a huge appreciation of it and ISSN 1460-8537 exhibited at, among other places, the restrictions of Covid-19. Tis year the past 18 years, Tribal Art Fair format that people will have to get culture, as there is this question as a Chinese child, of course you do a Metropolitan Museum of Art and SERENDIPTY ARTS there are a diverse variety of Amsterdam has grown into an used to. It is very relevant, as so regarding appropriation, and being little bit of calligraphy while growing the Museum of Modern Art in New AND RENCONTRE experiences that include both virtual internationally acknowledged fair many people use social media and it respectful to that culture. Also, if up. For me, however, since very early York; the ; D’ARLES, FRANCE and personal elements. It includes a for collectors, dealers, interior is a medium with which many can making a comment on that culture, on, it has been an area I am trying to the ; and the Te Serendipity Arles Grant (SAG) series of videos showing Cherry decorators and museum curators in connect. With the increasing power have you understood it completely? If avoid. Even if I make a brush mark Looking for National Museum of Modern Art in 2020 has announced that Blossom Viewing over the Centuries the feld of tribal art. Usually held at of social media, galleries and dealers you have experienced it, do you have on the canvas, the way the brush something to read? Tokyo. Private collectors include the Purushothaman Sathish Kumar , (on line), as well as the traditional De Duif in Amsterdam, the can no longer ignore the importance claim to that? Tese are relevant mark goes, I might be afected by my Japanese imperial family. As a from Kanchipuram, India, is the Sakura Sundays. More information pandemic meant that it was held of Twitter or Instagram. questions for a social-media context calligraphy, but at the same time, my painter, Shinoda worked primarily winner of SAG 2020, South Asia’s on all events can be found on online last autumn, with some 9,000 as well. If you are looking at audience makes the assumption that in sumi ink, a solid form of ink, largest grant for lens-based nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/ online visitors. In addition to the AAN: With the considerable amount of something that is shocking, or I am making a calligraphy mark made from soot pressed into sticks, practitioners. Kumar is currently all-events/ galleries which participated in the images we see every day, also primarily immediately very stimulating, are because I am Chinese, although I that has been used in Asia for working as a freelance photographer frst online fair in 2020, there are through social media, it is a heroic and you able to relate to it on a deeper may just be making a brush mark centuries. Deeply infuenced by in Chennai. Sathish Kumar will THE MODERN ART nine new galleries signed up to join challenging task to create a new image. level? like any other artist! Tis is why it American abstract expressionists receive a grant of INR 12 lakh MUSEUM, SHANGHAI this spring event. Featuring 30 tribal Do you agree? With painting especially, it is an feels like a landmine. However, for such as , Mark (approximately 15,000 Euros) to Te Modern Art Museum, art dealers from nine countries, the VZ: Yes, it is very challenging. I am important question, because since the the frst time, I am actually Rothko and , develop the project and show the Shanghai, is a newly opened Tribal Art Fair Amsterdam Online also emphasising that in the beginning painting has always been developing a series of work that is Explore our extensive archives whose work she encountered when fnal presentation at Les Rencontres museum located at the heart of is taking place from 29 April to Manifesto: we are scrolling through an image. It is an image into another somehow based on calligraphy. It is at asianartnewspaper.com she lived in New York in the late d’Arles, France, in 2022 . Shanghai’s cultural mile along the 3 May at 2021tribalartfair.nl/ so many images – not just images, world, however, it is an illusion that Geogrid (2020), acrylic and oil on canvas, 200 x 180 cm. slightly disguised with the calligraphy 1950s, where she had an exhibition Te jury initially had shortlisted Huangpu River and is a premier onlinefair but other information as well – and is now fattened using our devices. Courtesy of the artist, Long March Space and Pilar Corrias Gallery Continued on page 4

ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 4 People Prints 5

looking like a cut-out. It is enlarged AAN: In your practice, would you say have actually made a spider web in point. At the same time, looking at it family of kabuki actors founded by and slightly distorted in the that the grid, or repetition, are also ways my studio that illustrates how the in another way, I am also extremely Danjuro I, who invented the painting. I am only going to show to keep this backbone from one piece to various motives relate to each other. stable because my stability has been ‘bravura aragoto’ acting style that this body of work in China, the next? I constantly question myself: why do to be able to move around. Similarly, became the family specialty. Te primarily in order to avoid having VZ: Yes, exactly. When I repeat I look at these random motifs? Are the gömböc is also an amazingly talent and creativity of the actors who the conversations focusing on something, sometimes it would get they related or not? In essence, there stable object, as it is continuously have held this famous name for more exoticism and my Chinese identity, distorted, with mistakes happening, is always some kind of relationship moving around until it reaches that than 300 years is so admired that it is instead of revolving around the and then, in the next work, I would explaining why I jump from one one point of equilibrium. a major news event when an actor is other things I want to bring up in allow that mistake to manifest more. object like the gömböc (a convex It is a reoccurring object because it granted the right to change his name my paintings. Calligraphy is a As we discussed earlier, repetition is three-dimensional homogeneous is invented by a living scientist who I to Danjuro. Tis print by Kunisada dangerous territory and I would love a conversation about assumptions. body that when resting on a fat had the pleasure to meet several years celebrates eight generations of the to engage with it, but I have to think Instead of making the Tai mask surface has just one stable and one ago. In addition, his research with Danjuro line and depicts earlier very carefully where to do so. and talking about Chinese culture, unstable point of equilibrium),or the gömböc is evolving and ongoing. actors in appropriately archaic artistic I can use repetition to pinpoint our something else. Why do I look at Te gömböc is presently used in the styles. Te title provides only the AAN: Although the elements of ethnicity Interrobang II (2020), assumptions: anything repeated can that? Is there some kind of a Mars 2020 mission and used in name Sanjo, which was used seemed appealing several years ago in acrylic, oil and spray paint on canvas, never be the same, as it occupies a relationship between them? NASA’s operation to further by all these actors, because of a the art world, things have changed quite 51 x 46 cm. Courtesy of the artist, diferent temporal space. Repetition Or maybe, is there a conceptual understand Mars. Te shape of the government ban in 1842 that drastically. What are your thoughts? Long March Space and Pilar Corrias is basically a projection of our relationship between them? Is the gömböc also explains the evolution inhibited the publication of actor VZ: I think that especially with my Gallery assumption and expectation. I keep triangle for example related to the of non-living organisms – like rocks prints and the specifcation of their generation of Chinese artists, this using repetition in my work, because spiral and the spiral to that manga I or pebbles. Tis mathematical names for several years. Te eight national marker is irrelevant. A lot Christianity. Christianity is the I feel this conversation is still have read? And then, is the spiral all research will be helpful when Danjuro generations and their roles of Chinese artists are at the forefront backbone of the Western world. relevant. related to the spiral column? Tat is looking at specimens from Mars – are shown here from right to left: I of multimedia art and these kind of Personally, I felt I was missing out a why I keep this spider web in my how the planet evolved and its (1660-1704) as Kumakura Gongoro, mediums are boundary breaking. lot by operating in the West without AAN: Earlier, you mentioned the studio to show what my thought history. II (1689-1758) as Kumedera Danjo, We can truly say that we do not fully understanding what this aspect importance of transferring one piece of process possibly is. It is slightly Tis mathematical solution came III (1721-1742) as Agemaki no belong to a single culture anymore. of Western culture was. Tat was the image onto the next painting. Within random, but in essence, all the about two years ago and I felt I was Sukeroku, IV (1712-1778) as the Having that national marker feels one of the reasons I wanted to apply collage and trompe l’oeil, what aspects motives are related to each other. not only able to be a part of this Gallery Buckets of Good Wishes Year after Year: The Inherited Glory of the Ichikawa Clan by Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1864), circa 1850, outcast Keikiyo, V (1741-1806) as outdated and absurd, even more so to Rome, another was the city itself, do you find compelling to include them research, but also think about these woodblock print, ink and colour on paper, The Anne van Biema Collection, Arthur M Sackler Gallery Yanone no Goro, VI (1778-1799) as considering my own upbringing: I which has so many diferent in your work? ideas through my painting. I am Nagasaki Jiro, VII (1791-1859) as do not feel I am strictly a Chinese contexts. Rome has diferent VZ: I am very interested in collage, interested in depicting landscapes for Fuwa Banzaemon, and VIII (1823- artist, but I also do not feel I am a temporalities – it is the same for but I think the correlation is not one third-culture digital natives. I am 1854) as Shinotsuka Iganokami. British artist either, even though contemporary artists: we live in the 100 per cent about collage. To me, thinking about alternative spaces, Another distinctive print, Te I do associate with British art as this now, supposedly making it is more about how our user- what an autonomous alternative Actor Nakamura Utaemon III as is my operating arena and where my contemporary work, but at the same interfaces are laid out. Everything is space like Mars actually is? Tere are Ichikawa Goemon Disguised as the network is. I understand British art time, we are also looking back at very fat, and we put things on top of points of interest in the research that Masterful Illusions Farmer Gosaku is by Hokushu. Te has its particular characteristics and history. In addition, I wonder how each other. It is therefore more a I relate to and I incorporate them in artist was the leading designer I obviously adopt some of them since Rome lives with so much history, conversation about my interest in my work. Tat is why the gömböc is of yakusha-e (actor prints) in Osaka I live here, but at the same time, I whilst also being a modern city. various recent software and how forever appearing in my practice. for two decades. Kabuki actors in absorb the language of artists living It was a fascinating experience. they dictate our way of viewing Enter the world of Japanese prints interest. Portraits of them in full on account of their popularity not Osaka fostered a realistic style of in the US, in Spain, in France and information. I grew up using AAN: Earlier, you mentioned Richard and you arrive at the foating world, a costume on stage were widely simply with the commoners – who performance that was distinct from in Korea. AAN: While you were there, were you Photoshop, for example, and the Prince, who has also integrated words place of theatres, tea houses, and the circulated. Intimidating kabuki male made up the majority of the audience that of Edo, and the prints published tempted to move towards figurative layering tools available in this type Contra Prunus (2017), oil and spray in his work. Within your practice, there pleasure quarters of geishas and roles called aragoto, exerting a sinister – but also with the samurai class in Osaka also developed a unique AAN: Colour is an important element in painting, or to add a human presence of software are almost collage. With paint on canvas, 140 x 160 cm. are one or two pieces featuring words. courtesans in the great cities of Edo presence in the Edo-style, had a which, the government thought, style. A versatile and talented star of your work, what is your approach to it? in your work? my work, there is this cutting of, Courtesy of the artist, Long March Would you consider integrating (Tokyo), Osaka, and Kyoto. It is a particular pull. Te theatre was an should be above such vulgar public the Osaka theatre, Nakamura VZ: I often make rules for myself. VZ: No. Regardless of the Italian this slicing, this over layering of Space and Pilar Corrias Gallery words more? world of warriors and heroes, villains all-male preserve, and ‘female display. Kabuki continued, however, Utaemon III plays the role of One example is when I used to look context, the only part of the human something which is also the way our VZ: I think it is very particular. One and ghosts, of kabuki actors and impersonators’, known as onnagata, to be performed by young boys who Ishikawa Goemon, a ronin, or at colour series devised by other fgure I felt comfortable painting is browser windows overlay each other, AAN: Do the titles of your works reflect word is ‘interrobang’ – the meaning fashionable women wearing the were employed to play out highly had yet to reach maturity and shave masterless samurai – a bandit and artists such as Johannes Itten the hand gesture. However, my how our smartphones have these the thought process of your individual refers to when a question mark and latest styles, a world that celebrates stylised feminine roles. their heads in the universal samurai rebel whose exploits were the subject (1888-1967). At one point, I was hesitancy to include fgures in the diferent apps and how the diferent pieces? an exclamation mark are put the beauty of nature as well as the Tere were three principal forms hairstyle of the day. Tis become the of many kabuki dramas. In the obsessed with his colour chart for work also comes from my frst year windows interact with each other. It VZ: In themselves, the titles are together. To me, that is almost a passions and sorrows of men and of theatre in Japan before kabuki: the so-called wakashu kabuki ‘young boy premier performance of Keisei shapes. designated diferent of art school in the UK, where the is an aesthetic that refects our use already difcult. Without giving a metaphor for how I work, putting women. courtly bugaku dances, which, of kabuki’, and in 1652, by order of the setsugekka, a play that Utaemon wrote shapes with diferent colours with debate about life drawing is always of technology. straight explanation of my process, two diferent elements together. An online exhibition from the course, were seen by very few and shogunate, the boys sufered the under his pen name, he wears the the triangle being blue, the circle very controversial. When I started they usually give a hint about what I With interrobang itself being the Freer and Sackler Galleries in largely unknown to the general same fate as the women and for disguise of a farmer and calls upon being yellow, and therefore a carved art school in London, there was one AAN: Coming back to motifs, do you am thinking. For example, one title result of bringing together two Washington DC explores this world population; Noh, which was founded exactly the same reasons. the arts employed by ninja (secret triangle being green. I found it so life-drawing class every month that draw them from what you see on the I have used is Grid Method. Actually, things, it just made sense for me to through the kabuki prints. Tese and perfected during the 14th Surprisingly, kabuki performances agents) to elude the warriors who interesting that I frequently used a I planned on taking. After my tutor screen, from software programmes, or ‘Grid Method’ is a multiplication put it in my work. Also, when works play a starring role in the century by Kanami and Zeami and were allowed to continue provided pursue him. Te warriors are visible carved triangle in my work. At other realised that before attending art also from physical objects that you method, like a multiplication table putting the question mark in front of institution’s collection. Teir craft at then adopted by the ningyo joruri the actors were mature males – with behind the fne, black gauze stage times, I would intentionally distort a school I had done fgures and life come across? you learn in primary school. the exclamation mark or vice versa, it acting and the lavish costumes that The Actor Nakamura Utaemon III as puppet theatre, which was patronised shaven heads. Tis became known as curtain that represents smoke in this complimentary pair. Instead of drawings, he ‘forbid’ me to go to life VZ: A physical object has a However, since I also grid-up my has diferent meanings, and that is were so important in the theatre were Ichikawa Goemon Disguised as the by the peasants and urban inhabitants yaro kabuki and, although the term is outstanding print by Hokushu, having red and green, I would make drawing for a whole term and that biographical element to it. Te work thinking about addition, almost similar to me rearranging the captured on woodblock prints for a Farmer Gosaku (1830) by Hokushu and which developed into the no longer used, developed into the whose collaboration with the master the red a colder colour so the red changed my direction. I came to motives might seem random, but I reduction, as well as multiplication hierarchy of my motives. If I have thriving market driven by constant (fl 1810-32), woodblock print, ink and bunraku puppet theatre that is still kabuki we know today. block engraver, Kasuke, produced would become purple, or a cold understand that I did not need to and division, I felt this title could diferent motives together, which one demand during the 18th and 19th colour on paper, The Anne van Biema popular today. Tree prints from this online some of the fnest Osaka prints. pink. I use that against green just so rely on fgures, with the fgures give a clue to my audience about my do I use as a repetitive feld? Which centuries. Brimming with energy Collection, Arthur M Sackler Gallery Te frst recorded performance of exhibition show the range of acting Also including in the exhihition is it is not an immediate pairing. maybe being too particular, and process. It is therefore not a direct one do I use as a dominant motif in and artistic imagination, the prints kabuki occurred in 1603, given by a roles performed by the artists. Te a print showing Ichikawa Omezo I Previously, I had a difcult translating too much information explanation, but defnitely a hint. my work? I have allowed this word in are poetic and lyrical tributes to a new source of afuence. It enabled group of female entertainers. It is Inherited Glory of the Ichikawa and Segawa Kikunojo III on stage. relationship with warmer colours. from the artist to the audience. I am interested my painting, but overall it is difcult vanished world. Tis theatre was them to seek earthly, if temporary, highly probably that dancing troupes Clan by Utagawa Kunisada shows Te powerful aragoto style of kabuki For example, for a long time I never I wanted that conversation to be AAN: Has there been a recurring motif to come up with words I could use in meant to pull the audience in to diversions in the pleasure quarters of were in operation before this date, the generation of this famous clan. performance associated with Edo used yellow, as I felt it was very more open. in depicting that can be referred to as the spine of my work. It is slightly more random another and very diferent world – the growing cities of Edo. Patrons of and the 1604 performances featured Te name Ichikawa Danjuro is actors is brilliantly expressed in this dominant – until I went to Rome for your work from its inception until now? if I come across a word that I feel is the term kabuki is comprised of three courtesans, and actors and artists, they a miko, a ‘shrine maiden’, who may currently held by the twelfth print by Toyokuni, who was famous a nine months residency. You can AAN: That illustrates the impact one landscapes for VZ: A lot of people would say the appropriate, which I would then, of characters, ka (sing), bu (dance), and were all part of a new phenomenon have come from a shamanist generation member of a distinguished for his portraits of actors. Wearing a easily imagine all the buildings in single decision can have… gömböc. Although I am slowly course, integrate in my work. ki (skill), but it was derived from the known as ukiyo, the ‘foating world’, a background. All we know of her is large, black costume emblazoned Rome in their hues of oranges and VZ: In the studio, you need to have third-culture trying to move away from it. term kabuku, which means ‘to lean’ as term derived from the novel, Ukiyo that she was called Okuni, and is said with the distinctive square family ochres. Tis infuenced my work and diferent parameters and rules for Without calling it the backbone, it is AAN: Finally, has the pandemic affected in leaning away from the norm, or Monogatari (Tales of the Floating to have come from the great shrine of crest of the Ichikawa lineage of actors since 2017, I have increasingly been yourself, which serve as anchor digital natives indeed reoccurring, it is always some of your projects, or on a larger out of the ordinary. World) of 1661 by Asai Ryoi. Ukiyo Izumo. She and her troupe gave their and with calligraphic characters for using warm colours. Perhaps, it is points. In my practice, I keep coming up. It is actually not easy to scale, your practice? Kabuki prints, or yakusha-e, nurtured a new urban art form as a performances on the dried-up his character’s family name, also a subconscious decision, thinking about how one work can defne the gömböc in a simple VZ: In the very beginning, I had a literally ‘actor pictures’, have been taste for genre paintings, woodblock Kamogawa riverbed in Kyoto, on Murakami, the actor Ichikawa infuenced by the environment translate to the next. Can I cut-up manner: it is a physical shape that residency in Northern sold to Kabuki enthusiasts since the prints, illustrated books and calendars almost the exact spot of the present- Omezo I (1769-1833) strikes a in which I am living, as London the surface of this piece and explains a mathematical formula. cancelled, at the 18th-century Edo period (1603-1868). Te most accompanied the demand for popular day Minami-za theatre. Te dances menacing pose. He confronts the is much colder. Tis defnitely reassemble it in the next one? Tat I came across it because it looks like Palazzo Monti. Tat was popular were woodblock prints in the literature. Te images depicted on appear to have been folk or quasi- lady-in-waiting played by Segawa afects me. serves as a backbone rule allowing the carved triangle that I mentioned unfortunate. However, as China ukiyo-e style. Kabuki was Japan’s them are the ukiyo-e, ‘pictures of the religious, similar to the bon odori still Kikunojo III (1751-1810), a star actor me to have a sustainable practice earlier by Johannes Itten. Te more returned to normal, I had my frst popular dance-drama, and was foating world’. At the same time, performed all over Japan during the who played both male and female AAN: Besides Rome, you have attended instead of always coming up with a research I did on the gömböc, the institutional project, New Peril, at perhaps the brightest expression of continued public hunger for relatively summer festival of the dead. Okuni’s roles (onnagata). Aragoto is various other residencies. Which one new image. Maybe this relationship more fascinated I became by its TANK Shanghai in 2020. It was this ‘foating world’, captivating inexpensive prints fuelled an emerging theatre was extremely popular and characterised by large, dramatic has had the most significant impact? to the new image is also why I do shape. Te gömböc only has one wonderful to be able to show a body audiences since the early 1600s. Te print medium, which sustained a was described as kabuku – an archaic costumes, and a stylised stage. VZ: I would say Rome, because of not use fgures in my work, because point of stable equilibrium, like a of work, and have so many people woodblock prints would often depict notable Japanese publishing industry term, unfamiliar to modern Japanese, Tese kabuki prints were collected the light and because of the way the I think fgurative painting relies a lot Russian doll, or a roll-around toy, it visit. In reference to my practice per the actors striking an intense pose, by the 18th century. meaning literally ‘tilted’, but implying by theatre-goers as souvenirs of residency was organised. It is a very on the artist’s genius. I have a always goes back to that one point. se, I now do notice a diference. I am eyes crossed and limbs held rigid. Kabuki theatre was one of the that which is strange or outlandish, performances and favourite stars – in prestigious residency, not just for difcult relationship with that term, In the beginning, I thought that feeling the efect of not being able to Edo Japan saw extended peace and most dynamic art forms to emerge and perhaps somewhat risqué. the same way flm posters are artists, but also for scholars and we as in my opinion, it is something was quite an interesting metaphor to see art and other infuences, or to increasing prosperity, which allowed a from this world, the extraordinary In 1629, however, the shogunate collected today. Tis exhibition lived with historians and quite debatable. Tere is a celebrity my own biographical background as discover new places, as I usually tend popular movement to gather pleasure districts that thrived in banned women from the stage. Te allows us to revisit these prints and archaeologists. Tat was a fabulous culture around that term and even people kept asking me where I to travel a lot. Also, the work has momentum from rural to urban areas. major Japanese cities during the 18th reason for this is generally given as keep the power of performance alive eye opener, since we also interacted more so nowadays, where celebrity belonged, and where home was. As become slightly more introspective, A chonin, or ‘townspeople’, culture and 19th centuries. With dramatic immorality – the prostitution having The Actors Ichikawa Omezo I as today. with artists from other institutions status for artists has literally a foreign artist, that question which I actually truly enjoy, although surfaced in the cities, where the story lines, lavish costumes and become more unacceptable. It seems, Murakami Saemon Yoshikiyo and A catalogue is available like the British School, the Villa exploded. I am much more frequently comes up, all the more as it is a diferent energy. I am relying merchant class played a central role. celebrity actors, kabuki was the ideal however, more likely this was simply Segawa Kikunojo III as Koshimoto Masterful Illusions: Japanese Prints Medici, and the American interested in having a process where Stencil Negative (Not Dragons Not), in my case, I have moved around so much more on the work feeding of As creditors to the government and subject for Japanese print designers. a convenient excuse, and that the real Nureginu by Utagawa Toyokuni from the Anne van Biema Collection Academy. In addition, I applied to I can translate one work into 2014, oil on canvas, 180 x 150 cm. much. Terefore, I felt that I was each other and having conversations other sectors, they were condemned to In an age of limited popular reason behind the ban was the (1769-1825), 1795, woodblock print by Ann Yonemura, et al the residency thinking that Italy another, instead of coming up with Courtesy of the artist, Long March unstable like a gömböc, always with each other. Tat is unquestionably the lowest strata in the Confucian entertainment, the actors of the perceived threat the reputation of and colour on paper, Anne van Biema https://asia.si.edu/exhibition/ was an important location for fgurative individuals. Space and Pilar Corrias Gallery rolling until it goes back to that one a new aspect that I am exploring. social order. But merchants were a foating world aroused enormous actresses presented to public order, Collection, Arthur M Sackler Gallery gallery-masterful-illusions/

ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 6 Painting Painting 7

Leaf from the ‘Blue Qur’an, North Africa, Spain or Sicily, THROCKMORTON FINE ART circa 900, gold Abstraction and on blue-dyed parchment, Louvre Abu Dhabi © Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Calligraphy Dhabi. Photo: APF. The apparent simplicity of the Kufic calligraphy, balanced In keeping with the third season’s composition, theme of exchanges between East density of line, and West, this international and contrast exhibition. from the Louvre Abu A new visual between the Dhabi, marks the second major powdered gold of collaboration with the Centre language for art the letters and Pompidou. Charting sites of mutual Philip Guston, and Willem de the midnight-blue inspiration around the world, and in the Kooning, who were all infuenced by background, dedicated to artistic practices of Masson. Visitors can also see Jean makes this a work abstraction, the show explores how 20th century Dubufet’s primitive creations, of great purity. 20th-century artists established a inspired by a combination of grafti, A whole world new visual language by merging text rock paintings and children’s can be read and and image, inspired by the earliest drawings along with Cy Twombly’s listened to, where forms of mark-making and, in gestural drawings for curtains of the the value of the particular, calligraphy. Te exhibition Opéra de Paris and Lee Krasner’s symbol draws its brings together 101 works on loan works, which take their inspiration strength from the from 16 partner institution collections, Continuing, “So much that is part of from Kufc script from the Iraqi City revealed text, JADES alongside seven works from the Western art becomes clear when one of Kufa, the birthplace of the deep blue of STONE OF HEAVEN museum’s permanent collection – and sees the infnite variety of the works of calligraphy. the heavenly two monumental artworks by the East, which are, nonetheless, Te exhibition concludes with a Bowl decorated with birds enclosing realm and the contemporary artists whose current- subordinated to and united by the section showing how both Western the inscription ‘blessing’, 900-1000, light that March 19th - June 12th, 2021 day practices bring recurring themes fundamental tone”. and Eastern artists incorporated Central Asia, ceramic with underglaze emanates from of the exhibition to life. Ottinger also explains of Klee’s calligraphy into their practice, such as slip decoration Louvre Abu Dhabi the word of God. Organised in four themed sections, painting in the exhibition, Oriental Spanish artist Joan Miró, who © Department of Culture and Tourism The difficulties in Catalogue Available the exhibition investigates the Bliss from 1938, ‘Accompanied by referenced how closely painting and Abu Dhabi. Photo: Thierry Ollivier reading the text timeline of abstraction as a new visual fellow-painters August Macke and poetry are linked in the East. are accentuated Image: China, Portrait Mask, Warring States , 475-221 BCE, Jade, H: 5 in. W: 3 1/2 in. by the absence of language established by artists in the Louis Moilliet, Paul Klee visited Following in his footsteps, the poets calligraphy 145 EAST 57TH STREET, 3RD FLOOR, NEW YORK, NY 10022 early 20th century. By highlighting Tunisia in the spring of 1914. His Brion Gysin, Henri Michaux and Te exhibition also explores how vowels. This mashq technique, TEL 212.223.1059 FAX 212.223.1937 this rich cultural exchange, the discovery of the ‘chequerboard’ layout Christian Dotremont pursued the regional artists, such as Shakir Hassan [email protected] www.throckmorton-nyc.com exhibition shows how the abstract of the gardens of Kairouan inspired same path by painting poetry, Al Said and Sliman Mansour, sought very much in movements were inspired by a him to make drawings and inspired by their trips to North Africa, to free calligraphy from its purely vogue in the late plethora of signs and symbols, watercolours, which foreshadowed China and Lapland, respectively. linguistic function. Tis section, which 9th and early philosophies, and artistic techniques his “magic square” compositions (a ’s studies for his looks at more contemporary works, is 10th centuries, from cultures and societies far from series of works created after 1918). illustrated book Jazz, which he called completed by two original monumental emphasises the European and American capitals. His fascination with the abstract ‘’ in a tribute to Arabic artworks from the French-Tunisian graphics of the Olivia Sand Artists including Paul Klee, André genius of Islamic ornamental art was writing, are also included. artist eL Seed (b 1981) and Pakistani letter, and gives Masson, Vassily Kandinsky, Cy again expressed in 1921–22, when he A good example of this cross- artist Sanki King (b 1990). rise to an abstract Twombly, Lee Krasner, and Jackson gave the title of Carpet of Memory to cultural referencing is a work by Dr Souraya Noujaim, Scientifc, language, a Pollock sought a new universal one of the frst abstract works he Anwar Jalal Shemza. Shemza, who, Curatorial and Collections transfigured CONTEMPORARY language that enabled them to created in Tunisia’. had studied Persian, Arabic and Management Director at the Louvre image that is a express their emotions in response to Te third section of the exhibition philosophy at the Punjab University. Abu Dhabi, says of the exhibition, ‘It luminous a rapidly changing society, breaking is devoted to lineaments, revealing In 1944, Anwar Jalal Butt enrolled at brings works by masters of abstraction metaphor of the Square Composition 6 (1963) by Anwar Jalal Shemza, oil on canvas, Guggenheim Abu Dhabi divine word. VOICES away from fgurative conventions. how Western artists appropriated the the Mayo School of Arts in Lahore, together with sources of myriad Te show also focuses on how these © Guggenheim Abu Dhabi/© ADAGP energy of Eastern calligraphy in their graduating in 1947. Under the infuences. Te calligraphic works are same infuences informed the brushstrokes to produce free and fuid pseudonym of Anwar Jalal Shemza, far from a unifed codex of signs and From the Asian and Islamic practices of artists working in the exploring how artists today are still many artists turned to Japan and the artist found in the decorative arts, lines. In opposition to Western he opened a studio in Lahore symbols. Tey represent the diversity Art Worlds Islamic world – from Dia Azzawi and seeking new visual forms to respond China for inspiration. Te signs architecture and calligraphy of a artistic inclination, the Surrealist becoming a major fgure in the of cultures, languages – written and Anwar Jalal Shemza, to Ghada Amer, to current societal changes. traced in works by French-Hungarian model that triggered a ‘particular movement invented a drawing cultural life of the city and published visual – and histories that span many Shirazeh Houshiary, and Mona Te frst section of the exhibition painter Judit Reigl and German- spiritual sound’. On his return to technique called Automatism, using Ehsas, an infuential review covering continents and centuries and Hatoum. Te exhibition fnishes with explores pictograms – symbolic French painter Hans Hartung echo Munich, Kandinsky encountered an automatic movements to express the art and architecture. Alongside his establishes a powerful dialogue installations from two contemporary fgurative images that represented symbols used by Chinese and exhibition of Japanese and East Asian subconscious. It allowed them to activity as a writer, he continued to between two distinct forms of artists, eL Seed and Sanki King, words and ideas in writing in ancient Japanese calligraphers. Te show also art, on which he reported in the artistically respond to a tumultuous paint and founded the Lahore Art expression (image and writing) CLICK HERE civilisations in Mesopotamia and include works from French artists review Apollon in October 1909. interwar period between World War Circle of abstract artists, together revealing the common ground which Oriental Bliss to order Egypt. Work presented include a , who tried to Having noted the “Oriental gift for an I and World War II. On display are with Ahmed Parvez and Ali Imam. unites them both. Appearing in unison, (1938) this book painting by Swiss-German artist develop a lyric and rapid gesture, and extraordinary breadth and abstraction works by Surrealist André Masson, In 1952, he had settled in London, the visual and the verbal come together by Paul Klee oil Paul Klee, who – inspired by his Julius Bissier, who was infuenced by in the handling of colour and form”. as well as works by Jackson Pollock, where he returned earlier to study at as one, singular form of expression, on canvas, travels to Tunisia – created artwork the Chinese philosophy of Taoism. the Slade School of Fine Art. recalling what Ibn Khaldun terms “the collection of that combined elements of images Finally, Mona Hatoum’s works Frequent visits to the Islamic rooms two faces of thought”.’ Louvre and letters stemming from his endeavour to create a new alphabet of of the British Museum led him to Abu Dhabi, fascination with Egyptian signs through found objects. reconsider the importance of his own Until 12 June, Abstraction and Photo credit hieroglyphics. His work infuenced As Didier Ottinger in his essay in culture and to defend a form of Calligraphy: Towards a Universal © Department artists such as Joaquín Torres-García the catalogue (Forms of Dialogue modern art that reconciled the dual Language, Louvre Abu Dhabi, of Culture and from Spain, Iraqi artist Dia Al- Between East and West), comments, heritage of abstraction and Islamic https://www.louvreabudhabi.ae Tourism Azzawi and Pakistani artist Anwar ‘Te artist to whom the gilded legend art. Te series Compositions that he Catalogue available Abu Dhabi. Jalal Shemza. Tis section also of modern art attributes the frst had begun in 1962 and continued to Photo: AFP include works from American artist “abstract” work, , work on for several years until the Adolph Gottlieb, inspired by images confrms the motives that Janco vein was worked out, gave him a way from Native American art, and ascribes to the inventors of the frst out of the impasse represented on the French artist André Masson, who wave of abstract art. In 1904, fve one hand by fguration, on the other The frst comprehensive book to cover the Asian Universal composition (Universal Art) was inspired by 17th-century Indian years before a painting, placed upside by pure geometrical abstraction – and Islamic contemporary art scenes featuring more (1937) by Joaquín Torres-García fgurative inscriptions and Arabic down in his workshop, revealed itself both profoundly alien to his culture. than 80 interviews and 250 color illustrations (1874-1949), oil on cardboard, calligraphy. to be “of an indescribable beauty, Infuenced by the free and joyful Centre Pompidou, Paris, In line with the history of writing, impregnated with a great inner fre”, abstraction of Paul Klee, Shemza set Available for purchase at bookstores and on skira.net Musée national d’art moderne/Centre the second section focuses on signs, without any subject, any fgure about creating a new plastic alphabet de création industrielle. which by their very form can express contributing to this “beauty”. with a universal signifcance. Te Dépôt au LaM Lille métropole musée universal ideas. Works on show will Kandinsky spent three months in Arabic character meem, the frst letter d’art moderne d’art contemporain include studies of signs by Russian Tunisia, where he travelled from of the Prophet Muhammad’s name, et d’art brut (Villeneuve-d’Ascq) artist Vassily Kandinsky, considered Tunis to Carthage, from Kairouan to was the starting point for a variety of Photo © Centre Pompidou, by many to be one of the inventors of Sousse and Sidi Bou Said. Aspiring to shapes, a form of composition MNAM-CCI, Dist. RMN-Grand Palais / abstract art. As an act of resistance to produce a form of painting capable of Trente (1937) by Vassily Kandinsky (1866-1944), oil on canvas, combining the lines of the Roman Philippe Migeat the Western world ravaged by war, provoking a “spiritual awakening” Centre Pompidou, Paris, Musée national d’art moderne/Centre de création industrielle alphabet and the arabesques of Arabic

ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 8 Exhibition Exhibition 9

Tis exhibition, which should have Iran politically for the frst time. opened in February, is now scheduled With its capital Persepolis, the to open in mid-May. It is on a grand empire became the most extensive of scale aiming to explore 5,000 years the pre-Roman world, with a rich of Iranian art, design and culture, artistic culture. Archaeological fnds bringing together over 300 objects reveal insights into kingship and from ancient, Islamic, and royal power, trade and governance of contemporary Iran. It is also the society, which will be explored in a UK’s frst major exhibition of Iranian dramatic section by using stone art in 90 years, after Te International reliefs from Persepolis with large- Exhibition of Persian Art, held at scale casts with what would have Burlington House in London in 1931 been the original colours projected and will present an overarching onto them. Also on display will be narrative of Iran from 3000 BC to such metalwork as jewellery, coins, the present day. gold objects and silverware. Iran was home to one of the great Highlights, here, include the Cyrus historic civilisations, yet its Cylinder (on loan from the British monumental artistic achievements Museum) and a gold armlet from the remain unknown to many. Epic Iran V&A’s collection in the Oxus takes a visual journey through this Treasure. Te section will also civilisation and the country’s journey feature a series of eight plaster casts into the 21st century, from the from the V&A, cast from frieze earliest known writing – signalling The V&A has panels from the Palace of Darius at the beginning of history in Iran – Susa, in Khuzistan province. Untitled (1974) by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian © Estate of Monir Shahroudy through to the 1979 Revolution and collected the art ‘Last of the Ancient Empires’ Farmanfarmaian. Photo: Peter Kelleher/Victoria & Albert Museum beyond. Ranging from sculpture, comes next and covers a period of ceramics and carpets, to textiles, of Iran since its dynastic change with Alexander the photography and flm, works will Great overthrowing the Persian refect the country’s vibrant historic founding over Empire in 331 BC. Te Greeks were culture, architectural splendours, the quickly replaced by the Parthians, abundance of myth, poetry and 150 years ago who were in turn defeated by the tradition that have been central to Sasanians. 400 years of stable reign Bottle and bowl with poetry in Persian, 1180-1220 © Victoria & Albert Museum Iranian identity for millennia, and followed: Zoroastrianism became the the evolving, self-renewing culture state faith and strong art and century onwards and continues today. conversion to Islam gave Iranians a evident today. From the highly architecture traditions developed, Te exhibition features a series of new understanding of history important Cyrus Cylinder and with the Sasanian style enduring long elaborate illustrated manuscripts and focused on the Prophet Muhammad illuminated manuscripts of the beyond the dynasty’s fall. folios depicting scenes from a and his immediate successors. Shahnameh, to 10-metre-long Te section showcases Parthian and Shahnameh (on loan from Te Disputes over the events of this paintings of Isfahan tile work to Sasanian sculpture, stone reliefs, gold Sarikhani Collection) and other folios period lie at the heart of the split Shirin Neshat’s powerful two-screen and silverware, coins, as from British Library, among others. between Sunnis and Shi’ites, and video installation Turbulent, showing well as Zoroastrian iconography. Te section ‘Change of Faith’ they took on great signifcance from with Shirin Aliabadi’s striking Zoroastrianism, or Mazdayasna, is explores the place of Islam in Iranian the early 1500s, when the Imami photograph of a young woman one of the world’s oldest continuously culture in the millennium and more form of Shi’ism became the country’s blowing bubblegum, the exhibition Armlet, 500-330 BC, from the Oxus Treasure, Achaemenid Persia © Victoria and Albert Museum, London practised religions, based on the that followed the Arab conquest of ofcial religion. A number of ofers a new and fresh perspective on teaching of the prophet Zoroaster the area in the mid-7th century. Te exquisite Qur’ans and manuscript a country that is so often seen through and served as the state religion for 1500s saw the rise of Safavid Empire, illuminations feature, alongside a a very diferent lens in the news. ancient Iranian empires. Te religion a dynasty that ruled over Persia from prayer rug, battle and parade armour, Horoscope of Iskandar Sultan, 1411, courtesy Wellcome Collection Te Victoria & Albert Museum still exists today, particularly in India. 1501 to 1736, and the start of their a celestial globe, and the magnifcent has collected the art of Iran since the Other highlights in the Ancient rule is often considered the beginning 15th-century Horoscope of Iskandar of Isfahan, three 10-metre-long tutus, and watercolour paintings of museum’s founding over 150 years Empires section include royal busts, of modern Iranian history. Te Sultan, on loan from the Wellcome paintings that replicate tile work Iranian women made for tourists ago and has one of the world’s leading EPIC IRAN such as a 5th-century royal bust from Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Collection. patterns from the city’s domes are visiting the country. Te fnal part of collections from the medieval and Te Sarikhani Collection, and a silver Safavid order of Sufsm, which was Charting the rise of Persian poetry, suspended in arcs from the ceiling to the section will look at how Iranian modern periods. Drawing on well- ewer from the Wyvern Collection, established in the city of Ardabil in ‘Literary Excellence’ reveals how, suggest a dome interior. Tese are craftsmen sought new markets for known highlights from the collection, depicting women dancing. the Azerbaijan region and introduced from the 10th century onwards, displayed alongside an AV (audio/ their skills in the 1880s, when their as well as works that have not been explored in this exhibition emerged Te ffth section, ‘Te Book of the Shia faith to the population. Te Persian written in the visual) projection that uses the new clientele included the V&A itself. on display in living memory, the over the past 5,000 years. Kings’, is a prelude to the sections frst rule, Shah Ismai’l (1501-24), Royal bust, about 439-57 emerged as a literary language in the paintings to re-construct the Bridging the 1940s to the present exhibition has also organised Beginning at the dawn of history devoted to Islamic Iran. It shows proclaimed himself a descendent of Photo: © The Sarikhani Collection royal courts of eastern Iran. Royal appearance of the full dome. day, the fnal section ‘Modern and important international loans and in 3200 BC and marked by the how Iran’s long history before the Ali via the seventh Shi’ite imam, and patronage meant manuscripts were Technical architectural drawings Contemporary Iran’ covers a period works from signifcant private earliest known writing, the section coming of Islam was understood in was duly accorded divine status by incredibly refned and poetry became from the 19th century and a selection of huge dynamic social and political collections, including Te Sarikhani ‘Emerging Iran’ shows that even later centuries – primarily through his Turkomen followers. Under Shah part of the visual arts because of the of tiles complementing the paintings, change in Iran, encompassing Collection based in the UK. before the rise of the Persian Empire, the Shahnameh, or Book of Kings, Abbas (1587-1629), Iran became a use of poetic inscriptions, which and the section looks at how Iran increased international travel as well Te exhibition is divided into 10 Iran’s rich civilisation rivalled those which is considered by many as the multicultural and modern state with appeared on items including ceramics, took on infuences from the wider as political dissent, the Islamic sections set within an immersive of Egypt and Mesopotamia. world’s greatest epic poem, the country entering a period of metalwork, and even carpets. Te world – from China and Europe in Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War, and design that transports visitors to a Animals and nature are a recurring completed by the Iranian poet extraordinary growth and splendour V&A’s Salting Carpet includes verses particular – as is apparent, for the establishment of the Islamic city complete with gatehouse, motif – refecting their importance Firdowsi around 1010. Combining in architecture, the arts, and by Hafz in its border, whilst a bottle example, from the development of Republic. Works by Sirak Melkonian, gardens, palace and library. Designed in society at the time – with ibexes, myth, legend, and history, this literature. His new capital, Isfahan, and bowl from the 12th century, blue-and-white ceramics. Important Parviz Tanavoli, Monir Shahroudy by Gort Scott Architects, each gazelles, lions, and birds decorating national poem of Greater Iran was planned with a great avenue, a decorated in lustre pigments, feature Iranian objects that have been in Farmanfarmaian and Bahman section will have a diferent pottery, cups, axe heads and gold provides a widely honoured and central square, gardens and pavilions, poetry in Persian. Much was also Britain for three centuries also feature, Mohasses will showcase the mid- atmosphere to refect the objects beakers. Te section also features therefore powerful version of events, as well as a dedicated commercial written in praise of rulers, with poetry including the Buccleuch Sanguszko century explosion of artistic displayed, as well relating them to fgurines and items from everyday defning Iran and its long history in sector and a state . fnding its visual counterparts in art Carpet and two oil paintings (on loan modernisms, brought to a dramatic their time and place in history. Te life including earrings, belt the minds of its people. Consisting of Te Qur’an is also explored in this representing royal power. from Her Majesty Te Queen, the end with the 1979 Revolution and frst section introduces the ‘Land of fragments, and a board game. Te more than 50,000 rhyming couplets theme with the text in Arabic that Featuring rich material from the Royal Collection). Iran-Iraq War. Te cultural scene Iran’ with striking imagery of the Elamites dominated southwest Iran and is considered the longest poem forms the basis of Islam – as well as 13th century onwards, the section on Te ‘Old and the New’ section will fourished again in the 1990s under country’s dramatic and varied during this time, but from 1500 BC ever written by a single author. Te the role of the Arabic language in ‘Royal Patronage’ demonstrates how explore how the Qajar dynasty the mercantilism of Rafsanjani and landscapes. Iran is home to mountain Iranian-speaking people began book begins with the creation of the Iran after the conquest. Arabic Iranian traditions of kingship were looked back to their predecessors to liberalism of Khatami, and modern ranges, searing deserts and salt pans, arriving from Central Asia. world, continues with an evocation became the common language of reborn after Islam, with the return of legitimise their power, whilst also technology means Iranian as well as lush forests and varied Te third part, ‘Te Persian of the legendary kings and then, intellectual life in the country, while Qaran Unhorses Barman, royal customs like robes of honour, seeking to modernise and scope out contemporary art exists in a world coastlines – all of which have shaped Empire’ spans the Achaemenid after Iskander (Alexander the Great), the art of calligraphy in the Arabic a folio from the Shahnameh of the creation of lavish art and new relationships with Europe. Te without boundaries. Today, Iran has the country’s social, economic and period, starting in 550 BC when with a historiography of the dynasties script became highly developed and Shah Tahmasp, Tabriz, circa 1523-35, architecture, and an insight into Qajars came to power following the an evolving, self-renewing culture: political history – and it is from this Cyrus the Great was crowned king Eshgh (Love), 2007, by Farhad Moshiri © Farhad Moshiri up to the arrival of Islam. Its an important element in Iranian The Sarikhani Collection internationalism as a two-way assassination of Nadir Shah in 1747 some works are informed by past landscape that the artistic cultures of the Medes and Persians, uniting Photo: Peter Kelleher/Victoria and Albert Museum, London popularity grew from the 14th design. Te section also looks at how Photo: © The Sarikhani Collection exchange. Recreating the splendour and after a period of turmoil emerged traditions, and many are radical and as the ruling dynasty at the end of experimental both in medium and the 18th century as was to reform expression. Gender, politics, religion Iran into a modern state for the era. and identity issues are frequently New technologies over the multi-layered and often approached centuries are also explored, including with humour and irony, testing the the introduction of photography in boundaries of censorship and control. Iran in the mid-1800s. Tis, naturally, Te exhibition will also feature had a profound efect on the way work by Iranian artists living in Iran, Iranians represented themselves, as well as those based overseas, with moving away from paintings into the works by Farhad Moshiri, Avish modern world of not only portrait Khebrezadeh, Ali Banisadr, Shadi photography, but landscapes and a Ghadirian, Hossein Valamanesh, means of recording the fast-evolving Shirin Neshat, Shirin Aliabadi, world around them. Fashion is also a Shirazeh Houshiary and Y Z Kami. subject that features in the exhibition, Epic Iran, scheduled to open in May Turbulent (1998) by Shirin Neshat, two-screen installations © Shirin Neshat juxtaposing a full outft, a short skirt at the Victoria & Albert Museum, Full-size painted reproduction of dome interior, of Sheikh Lutfallah, Isfahan, 1877 © Victoria and Albert Museum, London Courtesy the artist and Gladstone Gallery, New York, and Brussels likely infuenced by European ballet London, vam.ac.uk.

ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 10 Chinese Art Chinese Art 11

Immortal, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), Qianlong period CHINESE ART (1736-95), jade (nephrite), WATCH height 30.5 cm, a curator take you one of a pair. FROM THE FLORENCE AND through the gallery The Metropolitan Insights Museum of Art, Gift of Florence and Herbert Irving. Thinking about subscribing? HERBERT IRVING COLLECTION The figure’s substantial size exemplifies the imperial use of Beginning in the early 1970s, Successfully catching a person’s inner precious luxury Florence and Herbert Irving built spirit and not merely their formal materials. Designed one of the most comprehensive and likeness was a pursuit of master as a pair of boy superb collections of Chinese art in artists. Something beyond a faithful attendants holding the world. In addition to its well- representation of nature was plates, the figures known assemblage of lacquerware, expected from a true masterpiece – a are depicted with the Irving collection covers almost hidden meaning or an unusual subtle, mysterious all major categories of Chinese art, proportion. smiles. The story of with a focus on three-dimensional Beyond nature, Chinese artists how the pair works, including ceramic, metalwork, looked to the cultural world and entered The Met’s jade, bamboo, and carved stone. distant past for sources of artistic collection is Herbert and Florence were born in design in the last millennium. Te extraordinary. Brooklyn, in 1917 and 1920 imperial government and court One figure (not respectively. Tey both had modest respected history as symbolic of the shown) was a gift to upbringings and developed a keen authority of their rule, while erudite the museum from interest in art, culture and history, ofcials and scholars esteemed the the prominent jade with the galleries of the Brooklyn past as a lofty symbol of continuous collector and Museum becoming like a second tradition. Antiques, such as bronze museum trustee home. Tey married in 1941 and ritual vessels and jade carvings, Heber Bishop, in after returning from active service in became popular and prestigious 1902. The Irvings the Second World War, Herbert models for artistic reinterpretation. spotted and went on to found a hugely successful Chinese artists were not only acquired the frozen foods distribution company. fascinated by the past but also were second figure In the autumn of 1967, the Irvings inspired by objects that travelled (pictured) decades embarked on a life-changing trip to along trade routes from other parts of later, in 1982, and Japan during which they met the Asia and even Europe. Refashioned realised it was celebrated Asian art dealer Alice to appeal to domestic taste, once- unquestionably the Boney (1901-1988). Miss Boney, Tea-bowl stand with phoenixes amid flowers, China, Ming dynasty (1368-1644), Yongle mark and period (1403-24), foreign designs and techniques companion to the PRINT EDITION Bishop piece. who was independently wealthy, carved red lacquer, 7.6 x 16.5 cm, diam. of rim 9.5 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Florence and Herbert Irving found a home in China and were A good, old-fashioned, time-out read opened a gallery in 1924 with her quickly absorbed into a part of personal taste. Imperial archives objects featured a variety of new In 2015, the Irving husband Jan Kleycamp, the frst well-known collection of lacquer Chinese artistic culture. reveal that some Qing-dynasty themes and motifs, including jade was formally – delivered to your door every month gallery in New York to sell Chinese ware, the exhibition also showcases ‘Ofcial Works’ from the Imperial emperors gave detailed instructions narrative scenes from popular gifted to the art. She continued her business after their most recent gifts of a group of Workshops are an important part of on design and production directly to novels and the patron’s personal museum, and the DIGITAL EDITION her divorce and moved to Japan in The Irvings built jade and bamboo works from the the collection. Imperial workshops, the workshop. Te emperor’s calligraphy. To enjoy themselves or pair of boys were When you are on the move and want reunited after a 1958, where she remained for the 18th-century imperial workshop that especially during the Ming (1368- paintings, poems, and various exchange among friends, some access to your issues in an instant next 16 years. Boney returned to one of the best have never before been on display. 1644) and Qing (1644-1911) writings were also widely used as literati also practiced certain types century. New York in 1974 and continued to In historical China, the best artists dynasties, employed top artists from pattern sources, especially those by of artistic creation, such as bamboo work from her Park Avenue private Chinese often worked in ofcial workshops. across China to produce the highest- the Qianlong Emperor (r 1736- and wood carving. apartment until her death in 1988. Almost endless resources were quality works for the personal use of 1795), one of the most famous art For more than three decades, the Tis exhibition, which is dedicated art collections available to them for the creation of emperors and others in the court. collectors and patrons in Chinese Irvings helped Te Met acquire to the Irving’s generous support of in the world high-quality works that met the Known as ‘ofcial wares’ or ‘ofcial history. A jade sculpture in the form important artworks and supported Te Met, features a selection from needs of the court, from ritual works’, these objects were always of a scholar’s rock, which is in the exhibitions, and also endorsed CLICK HERE the Irvings’ gifts in celebration of ceremonies to daily use. In some executed with sophisticated frst rotation of the exhibition, has a building the current exhibition to subscribe their generosity and masterful eye. periods, emperors themselves were craftsmanship and fashioned from poem composed by the Qianlong galleries dedicated to Chinese Tese works represent the artistic involved in the design of and the best materials. Standard designs, emperor engraved on the stone. decorative arts. Teir generous gifts Rectangular box sophistication and technical incorporated their personal taste into normally dragons, phoenixes, and Tere was also high demand for of more than 500 pieces with pommel scrolls, Yuan PRINT & DIGITAL EDITION virtuosity of famed as well as two rotations) cover almost all major the artworks. Although the calibre other auspicious symbols, were works from private workshops and fundamentally transformed the It’s the best of both worlds unknown artists from over a categories of Chinese art, created by of these objects is incomparable, carefully adhered to, such that literati artists. Te desire for holdings of Chinese art at the dynasty, first half thousand years, reuniting important both famous and unknown masters, strict court regulations for decorative similarities are common beautifully crafted objects from the museum and have allowed this of the 14th private loans formerly in the Irvings’ these works represent the artistic standardised forms and motifs (and on works in diferent media. Instead elite and the literati circles created a exhibition to take place. century, carved collection with comparative pieces sophistication and technical even the format of marks) of carrying the signature of a named substantial demand for masterpieces red and black from the museum’s collection. virtuosity of Chinese decorative arts nevertheless limited artistic creativity. artist, these works were given an from private workshops. A few lacquer (tixi), 6 x Te approximately 120 works on from the 10th through the early 20th Artists enjoyed much more freedom ofcial mark, usually including the masters built their reputations for Until 6 June, 2022, 11.7 x 20 cm). current display (120 works each in century. In addition to the Irvings’ practising in private workshops, Rock-form ornament with poem names of the dynasty and specifc technical virtuosity and artistic Masters and Masterpieces: The design is fulflling various commissions and composed by the Qianlong Emperor, reign era, to indicate that they had creativity in this way. Unlike artists Chinese Art from the so-called as it CLICK HERE catering to their own interests. 1757, Qing dynasty (1644-1911), been made in the imperial workshop. in imperial workshops, they signed Florence and Herbert Irving Collection, resembles the for our free Commercial concerns were the frst Qianlong period (1736-95), jade Among the ofcial works that were their works in addition to applying The Metropolitan Museum of Art, shape of a newsletter consideration for all private (nephrite), 29.2 x 18.4 cm, manufactured in the imperial workshop marks. Unconstrained by New York, metmuseum.org. Chinese sword workshops, and works were created The Metropolitan Museum of Art, workshop, a group was specifcally the strict regulations set for ofcial Rotation 1: until 3 October, 2021 pommel. Found to match popular trends in the gift of Florence and Herbert Irving created to meet the emperor’s wares, such privately commissioned Rotation 2: 23 October to 5 June, 2022 predominantly on SUBSCRIBE TO OUR market. At the same time, scholars’ ceramics, FREE NEWSLETTER objects were also highly appreciated metalwork, and To keep up to date and refected the elegant taste of the lacquer from the 13th century, literati circle. Sometimes scholars SEARCH OUR ARCHIVES were directly involved in artistic there is no known creation; such amateurism was explanation for Find a wealth of published articles celebrated for its spontaneity and its creation and on Asian and Islamic World art popularity. It may creativity. on our website Chinese artists working in various have been media found inspiration in the inspired by the natural world. Plants and animals antiquarianism of were represented for their beauty and the period, when ASIAN ART elegance as well as for their motifs that were embodiment of auspicious meanings. based on, or asianartnewspaper.com Master artists did not merely imitate presumed to be nature but stylized natural forms. In based on, the their works, abstract designs such as Chinese Bronze geometric patterns and stylized Age were Brush holder with a scene from Investiture of the Gods, Ming dynasty (1368- forms derived from the natural world incorporated into #AsianArtPaper asianartnewspaper asianartnewspaper Asian Art Newspaper 1644), Chongzhen period (1628-44), porcelain painted with cobalt blue under become their own language. Human Oval cup with chi dragons amid clouds, Jin (1115-1234)/Yuan (1271-1368) the designs of transparent glaze, Jingdezhen ware, height 21.6 cm, diam. 24.1 cm, fgures, understood as part of nature, dynasty, 12th/14th century Jade (nephrite), length 11.7 cm, many types of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Florence and Herbert Irving The Metropolitan Museum of Art, gift of Florence and Herbert Irving objects. ASIAN ART were also widely explored. asianartnewspaper.com ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 12 Export Art Export Art 13

6 7

1 Mid-19th century Chinese wallpaper depicting scenes in a tea garden. Private Collection 2 Detail of the Chinese wallpaper in Huis Arnold Vander Haeaghen, Ghent 2 3 Insects were also included in the general panoramas of flowers and trees. Private Collection 4 Flower and Bird paintings, details of wallpaper at Chateau Mainetenon, France. The chateau has two salons decorated in Chinoiserie style 5 Pheasants are popular subjects in Chinese wallpaper, Chateau Mainetenon, France 6 Wallpaper from Chinese Room at Oud Amelisweerd, Utrecht, late 18th century 7 Detail from the wallpaper in the Chinese room at Huis Arnold Vander Haeaghen, Ghent 8 In the later period, Chinese export wallpaper often portrayed scenes of Chinese life, this section shows the 1 3 4 5 activity in ‘Spring in the Tea Garden’. 8 Private Collection

states, ‘Even though all imported features a fgural landscape wallpaper Canton workshops also seemed to groups as collage, which are found in SOME PLACES TO goods ofcially had to be sold through depicting various scenes of Chinese specialise in certain designs. Popular interiors up until 1800. Examples of SEE WALLPAPER the auctions of the EIC, there were industry, which was given to Tomas themes included occupations and this earlier use can be seen in the print IN SITU various ways to ensure that particular Coutts around 1794. It was acquired crafts, and daily activities of Chinese room of Erddig in Wales, owned by UK: A good number of National Trust CHINESE WALLPAPERS goods would end up with those who through his customer, the frst Earl life, which can be seen on a smaller the National Trust. properties have Chinese Rooms, had requested them. It is telling that Macartney, who led England’s frst scale in the earlier export paintings. Demand started to wane for these as well as conserved wallpapers in the most of the directors of the EIC were ambassadorial visit to China from Others represented an assortment of exotic scenes by the late 19th century, properties they look after. themselves participating in the private (1792-94). Coutts originally had it exotic plants and birds – some factual, as new design trends, alongside more The Royal Pavilion, Brighton Te market for Chinese goods started these papers were still being ordered, on silk rather than paper. Although ship captains, and supercargoes and trade, too’. hung it in his drawing room above the some imaginary, but all elegantly modern production methods, : Schloss Hellbrun, Salzburg to become popular in Europe from the but in fewer numbers. not enough is known about the set-up soon discovered that there was a huge Although some export wallpapers bank at 59 Strand, London, where balanced in the landscape that could changed the taste in both domestic and Schloss Halbturn, Burgenland late 17th century, begun by the Emile de Bruijn, in his book Chinese and working procedures of the market for a variety of goods that they could also be found in more modest visitors could admire his fashionable create a story and cover the walls of an and public interiors. However, in the : Huis Arnold Vander increased contact with China through Wallpapers in Britain and Ireland notes, Created in the workshops that produced the could privately commission and trade. homes, the great majority was destined taste and – even more signifcantly – entire room. Ironically, the Chinese frst half of the 20th century, renewed Haeaghen, Ghent trade with the Portuguese. Ten the ‘It appears that pictorial Chinese wallpapers, the silk variations were Along with the ‘ofcial trade for royalty and the large country houses know of his excellent social and did not use wallpapers themselves and interest resurfaced when the craft of France: Chateau de Mainetenon, establishment and development of the wallpaper, combining the painting and workshops of probably hand-painted in the same commodities’, such as tea and silk they of the aristocracy and wealthy business connections that led to their products were made exclusively hand-painted and hand-blocked Eure-et-Loire and Chateau d’Ussé, East India Company (EIC) and other wallpaper formats, only came into Canton workshops since the technique exported popular items such as merchants across Europe. In Britain, ownership of such a sought-after for export. With their exotic subject papers started to emerge and became Rigny-Ussé Canton, demand , Schloss Nymphenburg, trading companies created huge being because of the Western demand used to create them seems very similar porcelain, lacquerware, and furniture. they were also found in the homes of treasure. Te wallpaper was later matter and their rich hand-painted fashionable again for interiors Inn the demand for luxury goods made in Asia. for Chinese pictures to be used as wall grew throughout to the preparation of other hand- Armorial porcelain was also a part of families with connections to the EIC removed and placed in the new colours and fne detail, they were 1920-30s. Tis demand was especially Munich and Schloss Dyck, Jüchen Europe also sent diplomatic missions decoration. When exactly this crucial painted silk goods. As Helen Giford this trade, commissioned out of and other established trading banking headquarters, and in the 21st unlike any of the domestically hand- popular among some groups in the The Netherlands: Oud Amelisweerd, to forge links between East and West, transition from pictures to wallpapers the 18th century explains in her already cited paper, Canton, as well as all manner of other companies. For these European buyers, century, now adorns the Coutts Board produced wallpapers available in US, when there was high demand for Utrecht; Huis ten Bosch, The Hague; which all helped to focus interest on took place, and who was involved, may ‘Chinese wallpapers were manufactured goods that were perceived as luxurious the Chinese Rooms they created Room in Te Strand, London. Today a Britain at that time. antique Chinese wallpapers. Homes and Heeswijk Castle, Heeswijk Dinther China. Chinese wallpapers and prints never be known. But from the currently in production-line workshops. and exotic to decorate their homes. In allowed the viewer to admire the replica of the wallpaper can also be Quite a number of Chinese export such as the Kersey Coates Reed’s USA: The China Trade Room, the seem to have been frst imported into available evidence, it seems that Working to a copied design and with the private trade, these orders were scenes of Chinese life – its people, seen in Coutts’ ofces in Singapore. wallpapers survive in a complete form house, Lake Forest, in Illinois (built Sleeper-McCann House, Beauport, the UK in the late 17th century and Chinese paintings and prints were labour divided according to skill, a usually paid for in advance, and EIC activities, and fora and fauna. Te Tese wallpapers have always been in the country houses of across Europe, around 1929) and Highland Park Massachusetts and Winterthur House, were at their height of popularity in the available in Europe from the late 17th team of painters produced sets of employees collected their goods on scenes also created a theatrical fantasy exceptionally expensive and the and some homes in the US. Tey are built by Mr and Mrs Robert Mandell, Delaware mid to late 18th century, when the century onwards, whereas the earliest wallpapers to decorate entire rooms’. their return trips. element – a way of experiencing how specialist hanging that they required also found in museum collections also in Illinois, were both designed by craze of Chinoiserie took over the documented Chinese wallpapers – in By the mid-18th century, the Te annual arrival of the EIC ships in they imagined the far-away land of added further cost to their use. Helen around the world. Te Chinese the renowned Chicago architect MUSEUMS West. Helen Giford notes in her paper the sense of purpose-made decorative Canton System (1757-1842) had been London, whose annual trade took China in their own homes. Giford notes that once the export Wallpaper Study Group in the UK David Adler and the interiors were The V&A Museum, London; Chinese Wallpaper from Canton to paper wallcoverings supplied in designed as a means for China to advantage of the northeast monsoons, One of the earliest known examples trade had been frmly established, the have noted that these existing papers created by Francis Elkins (1888-1953), The Louvre, Paris; Abegg Stiftung, Country, ‘Chinese pictures and prints elongated sheets – only arrived from control trade with the West. reached British shores between of Chinese wallpaper to reach Britain workshops worked to a ‘formula’ to can be put into three broad categories. his sister, who often, like other ; and The Metropolitan were imported in small quantities frst China in about 1750’. Implemented through several imperial November and March. Supplies of these was destined for the home of the create the wallpaper that usually came Tese included birds, insects, fowering fashionable interior designers of the Museum of Art, New York. by the Portuguese in the 16th century, Tese exotic wallpapers came from edicts, it was fnally fully established luxurious goods was limited, which London banker Tomas Coutts (1735- in up to 40 lengths, each roll measuring trees and plants in ornamental gardens; time, mixed English, French, and Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, and then into France by Dutch traders, workshops in the port of Canton when the Qianlong Emperor (1711- created even desire for these exotic 1822). Te panoramic wallpaper 3.5m by 1m, sometimes with scenes of Chinese life and industry; Chinese furnishings in her interiors. Massachusetts has in its collection towards the end of the 17th century. (modern-day Guangzhou), in 1799) responded to perceived threats objects. Although imported by EIC discernible numbers that indicated the and a combination of both these She was one of many interior designers the late 18th-century Te earliest precise reference to the Southern China. As the rise in demand from home and abroad and confned cargo ships, the East Indiamen, Chinese sequence in which it should be hung. themes to create panoramas (birds and using these wallpapers for their Drummond Chinese Wallpaper import of graphic art from China to for Chinese objects grew in Europe, this maritime trade to Canton. It wallpaper, like armorial porcelain, was Tey often had to be modifed when fowers seem to be the most prevalent interiors on the East Coast, who England is 1727’. the workshops, which were already allowed for a concentration export part of the private trade that was also they reached their destination by type – and they remain the most bought historic Chinese wallpapers BOOKS Te second wave of popularity in producing smaller pictures for export workshops and shops to be established transported on EIC ships. Te expert hangers who cut, moved the popular in present day markets for from Europe for their wealthy clients. Chinesische Tapeten für Europa: Britain was between 1826-1850, and for tourists, adapted to the to service this export trade. From the Company allowed this private trade to scene to ft the rooms dimensions. Chinese wallpaper). Helen Giford Te National Society of Colonial vom Rollbild zur Bildtapete by coinciding with the impact of the changing market and started to late 17th century onwards, Chinese happen as it earned a good return on Tey often functioned as a central suggests papers decorated with Dames’ headquarters in New York’s Friederike Wappenschmidt (1989) creation of Royal Pavilion situated on produce these large-scale paintings merchants, known as Hongs, had these goods privately commissioned in decorative focus in individual ‘Chinese fowering trees and plants, birds, Upper East Side, built in 1928-30, has and Chinese Wallpaper in Britain and England’s south coast. Its creation, and panoramas for the export market. managed all the foreign trade in the China, as it charged warehouse fees, Rooms’ and were hung in a variety of insects and rocks representing idealised a room decorated the Queen Anne Ireland (2017) by Emile de Bruijn. between 1787 and 1826, is said to have Tey typically depicted life in China, port. Once the Canton System was cargo and handling fees, and commission creative ways, ranging from decorative gardens were the most popular (and room, decorated with Chinese been inspired by the gift of some often illustrating the various trades, implemented, the Hongs, or the 13 from the public auctions they held in panoramas to print room style more afordable). Much more unusual wallpaper acquired in Britain. Te CONFERENCE Chinese wallpaper to the Prince Regent activities, costumes, boats, birds, Canton Factories, were organised into London. However, these limited trade installations. Most of the great houses were the papers decorated with fgures industrialist HF Dupont’s Winterthur A conference on Chinese Wallpaper (1762-1830). A status of a family and insects and plants – all with the aim of the monopoly, or guild, called the conditions ensured that Chinese of Europe had at least one room in landscapes engaged in agriculture House in Delaware, was also was held in the UK in 2016. their wealth, which had often been satisfying foreign customers’ curiosity Cohong. Supercargoes were the wallpapers were never available in large decorated with a Chinese paper – and industry, that depicted buildings decorated using Chinese export wares For more information visit bolstered by trade with the East, was an about China. representatives and employees of the quantities, nor was there a consistent original, or an imitation produced and gardens and festivals. Another and wallpapers. chinesewallpaper2016.wordpress.com ability to own and display these ‘exotic’ Te designs were predominantly EIC, who were based in Canton and supply, and thus they remained a rare domestically. distinctive and identifable group are And the desire for these beautiful luxury goods – and Chinese wallpaper painted by hand, though some earlier worked with the Cohong. It was these and distinctive luxury, which added to Every set of papers was individually the papers which incorporate fgures at wallpapers continues. In the late 1980s, became a very obvious way of displaying examples, dating to the middle of the liaisons between supercargoes, other their appeal and elite status. composed, but often followed the bottom edge, with trees and the frm de Gournay responded to this status, along with textiles, 18th century, show printed outlines Wall panel with garden urns, late 18th EIC employees, and merchants that Tese decorative goods were formulated styles. Tey may have been bamboo, which appear from the 1790s demand when they started to create CLICK HERE porcelains, lacquerware and other objets made by using small woodblocks, with century, Chinese, for European market, were crucial to the success of the export imported into Europe by all the foreign Detail of the early 18th-century made on speculation, or a specifc onwards. Te remaining percentage and reproduce hand-painted Oriental For more information d’art. By the mid-19th century, this the rest of the design in-painted by silk taffeta, painted and printed, trade. Certain Cantonese merchants trading companies granted the rights Chinese wallpaper presented to theme may have been commissioned relate to Chinese pictures, used as wallpapers for clients, which are still in on the conference demand had diminished, however, hand. Some wallpaper was also painted The Metropolitan Museum of Art were well-known to the EIC ofcials, to trade in China. As Emile de Bruijn Thomas Coutts (1735-1822) in the private trade. Some of the prints, either separately or deployed in high demand today.

ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 14 East Asian Art East Asian Art 15

The Container series (2009) by Liu Jianhua, porcelain with celadon and red glaze, 37 pieces, Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of the artist and Beijing Commune with financial assistance from the Peter John McBurney Fund © LUI Jianhua. Photo: AGNSW, Jenni Carter

Jar with painted decoration, Neolithic period, Majiayao culture ‘Fu ritual vessel, porcelain with yellow glaze, Qing dynasty, Jingdezhen ware dish with floral scroll design, porcelain with (circa 2350-2050 BC), earthenware, 37.7 x 37 cm, Tongzhi period (1862-74), 27.4 x 30 x 23 cm, underglaze blue decoration, Ming dynasty, Yongle period Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of Elisabeth M Smith. Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased 1987. (1403-24), 7.5 x 38 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Photo: AGNSW, Jenni Carter Photo: AGNSW, Christopher Snee Photo: AGNSW, Jenni Carter THE WAY WE EAT

by Michael Young in private collections, according to artist who usually works out of a actors vigorously argue over damaged Curiously enough Te Way We Eat Everlasting Gown, who wears a large wide Sotheby’s. Yiqian, ex-taxi driver, studio in Beijing, but who is currently tofu and reparation. A crowd gathers. marks the frst time that Neilson has Celebrations brimmed hat that obscures all facial Tis month, Sydney’s Art Gallery of street vender of handbags and now trapped in Sydney because of Covid Te argument goes back and forth loaned work to the AGNSW, but (1963) features, and a traditional changshan. New South Wales (AGNSW) opens billionaire, paid a whopping US$36.3 19 restrictions on international travel. like a game of ping pong to the not the frst time she has loaned by Zhu Qizhan, Mr Long Gown seems to exist Te Way We Eat, an exhibition that million for it and then proceeded to He has used the idea of fake accompaniment of the women’s work to Australian galleries. Tere scroll painting, outside of time and pursues his life explores how East Asia – China, use it to drink his afternoon tea. Te materiality as an artistic conceit in his rising falsetto voices. Chen’s concern are 11 works in all from her collection ink and colour with a degree of sobriety. He Korea, and Japan, have engaged with one in the exhibition comes from the Metaphysica (2007) – not in the four is the proliferation of fake news and they ofer a succinct overview of on paper, contemplates nature, wrestles fsh food over the centuries. Eighty 18th century. bronze busts themselves but in the stories in a country where opacity is her eclectic taste from Hong Hao’s 137 x 68 cm, and cook’s pork over pine branches, percent of the 100 works on show, Jingdezhen is in northeast Jiangxi items that sit perched on their head paramount. massive photograph My Tings – Art Gallery of activities that often take place within including porcelain, painting, province and for 1,000 years has which are brass painted to look like In 2015, I visited contemporary Tian A (2008), a scanned collection New South Wales, classically inspired Chinese drawing, video, bronzes and works been the manufacturing epicentre of bronze. Te busts are life-sized casts artist Wang Gongxin at his studio of hundreds of chocolates and sweets purchased with landscapes that owe much to a on paper, are drawn from the China’s fnest porcelain, and several of friends and almost anyone who way out in the Beijing suburbs. – through to several of Patty Chang’s funds provided by ‘literati’ style of painting. Lao Shu is gallery’s collection and span an pieces from these kilns are on show happened to be available when Xian Gongxin is an historically important handblown Glass Urinary Devices Goldie Sternberg an accomplished artist, poet, painter/ extraordinary period of time from at the AGNSW. Shanghai-based needed a model, although today the video artist whose work has perhaps (2016) that are, the White Rabbit 1985 photographer, and prolifc writer, as pre-history (the earliest work is an contemporary porcelain artist Liu sitters remain anonymous as Xian can been overshadowed by the popularity website insists, ‘at once absurd and © Zhu Qizhan well as an infuential scholar and earthenware storage jar from circa Jianhua knows this all too well and hardly remember who they were. Te of his wife, installation and textile rather beautiful’. Tey are facsimiles Estate university professor at the Central 2300-2000 BC) to contemporary has all his work made there. Jianhua busts are heavily patinated to a rich artist Lin Tianmiao. Gongxin’s of the original plastic water bottles University of Finance and Economics times. For good measure, someone has a 37-piece set of celadon coloured mottled, emerald green. On the videos invert the viewer’s expectation that Chang used as urinary devices in Beijing. Since he started posting had the brilliant idea of pulling in containers and plates with their heads of all four sit small food related as in Dinner Table (2006), where a on a 2016 trip she made through online in 2011, he has garnered one work from contemporary Chinese, interiors glazed ox-blood red, in the objects – a rooster, a catfsh, a pair of large round dinner table is set at an China tracing the South-North million followers and, one imagines, Taiwanese, and Chinese/Australian exhibition. So skilfully has the glaze piglets and a crab – all picked-up by improbable angle onto which is Water Transfer Project, which by is watched closely by China’s artists and the narratives surrounding been applied that it is hard to tell at Xian for a song at Beijing’s Panjiayuan projected a video of a sumptuous 2014 had become the world’s longest Ministry of Public Security, in case these modern works makes for a frst glance if the containers are full fea market. ‘Tey signify the Chinese banquet. Gradually the plates, aqueduct, and one of the most he navigates too close to the Stem bowl, with dragon and cloud design, Jingdezhen, porcelain with yellow and fascinating show lending the or empty. appreciation of objects,’ Xian told me glasses and cutlery appear to slide expensive engineering projects in imaginary line that delineates what green enamel, Ming dynasty, Zhengde period (1506-21), 10.8 x 15.9 cm, exhibition a complex undercurrent. Ah Xian is a Chinese/Australian recently. He also said that his name from the table. But contrary to the world. is permissible for artists in such a Art Gallery of New South Wales, purchased. Photo: AGNSW, Christopher Snee Food throughout China and Asia Xian in Mandarin means ‘immortal’. expectation instead of the plates If I have concentrated too much restricted society, and what is not. carries social, religious, and cultural While Ah Xian may not be immortal sliding down they miraculously slide on contemporary art to the detriment An artist, who in many ways’ signifcance and lends social cohesion himself his busts are meditative and of upwards, until disappearing over of the historic pieces on display it is straddles both the contemporary and to life. In China, every meal can seem exquisitely beautiful and one senses the edge of the table in a clatter of simply because they ofer a narrative historic is Zhu Qizhan, whose story like a banquet with an abundance of the tension between the tactility of broken crockery, glass and that in most cases is well worth is one of success and tragedy. Born in food played out across several dishes. Food carries the object and their obvious staying subsequent, visual confusion. exploring, a narrative that the 1892, seven years before the Boxer Te Chinese, rather sensibly, believe social, religious, power as they continue their journey Te video of Dinner Table was plethora of containers, jars, plates Rebellion, he lived to be 103. As a that eating good food can bring into the future. loaned to the gallery by the White and storage containers, cannot, on successful artist, he experienced the harmony and closeness to the family and cultural Chinese video artist Feng Chen is Rabbit Collection of Chinese the whole, deliver. Little is known heavy and repressive hand of and relationships. quite happy to trade in fakes, contemporary art owned by Sydney- about many of the historic objects Chairman Mao’s Red Guards during Te majority of the objects in the signifcance although in a conceptual rather a based philanthropist Judith Neilson. other than approximate dates of the Cultural Revolution, a time exhibition are plates, cups, bowls, than material sense. He puts it out Her collection boasts 2,000 pieces by manufacturer, their locale and their when artists, intellectuals and containers, storage jars, etc, and the there, declares his hand and uses approximately 700 artists, which she function. However, this does not teachers were certainly on the wrong fact that they have survived unscathed, actors to create incidents in the street believes makes it the largest detract from the pleasure they give side of the line. Renowned for still- across centuries, is a wonder in itself. which he then covertly flms. Tofu collection of contemporary Chinese to the uninitiated. Tere is a level of life and landscape paintings and his How can it be that a bowl as delicate (2007) is an example; two female art of the 21st century, anywhere. craftsmanship and a fnesse of deliberate integration of Western as Jingdezhen blue and white and Chinese infuences, he was, at bowl dating from circa 1455 is still decoration that is astonishing. Tese art, said this may be addressed later the age of 75, caught in the mayhem with us today, slipping through the objects also play a role as a link to the in the year when works on paper of the Cultural Revolution and centuries like some under-the-radar past and raise questions of history, begin to rotate through the ordered to become a street sweeper time-traveller? It is displayed nearby a culture, and ideas. However, their exhibition. While food is abundant before becoming repatriated at the delicate 18th-century copy of a Ming- allure, for me, resides in the in many countries it is often in the age of 80 as China opened up. dynasty chicken cup. Te name is outstanding and direct aesthetic wrong place to the detriment of If there was just one work in Te colloquial and derives from the cup’s pleasure they ofer the viewer. Being third-world countries that are Way We Eat that I would slip into decoration of chickens and chicks, as able to bask in such aesthetics is as regularly ravaged by famines. my briefcase, it would be Everlasting they are strictly known as wine cups. priceless, and sometimes, remote. As a parting salvo, I will return to Celebration (1963) an ink and colour By default, it shares in the fame Tere is much to see and think the contemporary with the humorous on paper, hanging scroll by Qizhan bestowed on these objects by the high about in the exhibition, in particular cartoons (I do not know what else to where his confdent yet delicate price achieved in 2014 for one of the great chasm that exist between call them) exhibited exclusively on brush work left me mesmerised. these 15th-century cups at auction at artisanal work and that of today’s Sina Weibo (the Chinese answer to Although an Ah Xian bust would Sotheby’s in Hong Kong by Chinese individual artists. If there is a Twitter) by contemporary artist Liu come a close second. But I think I collector Liu Yiqian (see cover Asian criticism to be made about the Shuyong, more widely known by his would struggle to make it out of the Art Newspaper May 2014). Yiqian’s exhibition, however, it lies in the fact penname Lao Shu (which can be gallery undetected, with one of those Cooking Pork with Pine Branches (2017) by Liu Shuyong, ink and colour on paper, cup, the Meiyintang Chenghua that it fails to explore the food loosely translated as ‘mouse’). Lao tucked under my arm. 52.8 x 44.7 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales © Shuyong Liu. The artist is ‘chicken cup’ dates from the Chenghua ‘Chicken Cup’, porcelain with underglaze blue and doucai overglaze enamels, Jingdezhen ware bowl with floral scroll design, porcelain with underglaze blue disparity that exists between rich Shu delivers a weekly secular homily From 3 April through to 2022, Art known on Sina Weibo as Lao Shu and for his posts of Mr Long Gown. period (1465-1487), in the Ming Qing dynasty, Yongzhen/Qianlong periods (circa 1725-50), 3.8 x 8.1 cm, floral decoration, Ming dynasty, Xuande–Chenghua periods (1426-87), and poor countries. Although, Yin to his followers fashioned around the Gallery of New South Wales, Sydney, Photo: AGNSW, Diana Panuccio dynasty and currently only three exist Art Gallery of New South Wales, gift of Mr JH Myrtle 10.3 x 21.3 cm, Art Gallery of New South Wales. Photo: AGNSW, Jenni Carter Cao, the gallery’s curator of Chinese adventures of fctional Mr Long artgallery.nsw.gov.au

ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 16 From the Archives From the Archives 17

but also the latest maps and globes and astronomical charts, as well as other luxury objects. As a result, Europeans were regarded with curiosity and some interest in the Encompassing imperial courts in Ming and Qing- dynasty China, Mughal India, and to some extent, in the early days, in Japan. However, with the exception of the scientifc instruments taken to China, the long-term cultural efect the Globe of these initiatives was limited. Te exhibition was divided into six main sections, with the introductory, the largest section focused on the impact of the Portuguese discoveries Bowl with ‘Ave Maria’ inscription, sacred monogram, the Portuguese coats of arms on Europe and the exchange of with armillary sphere of King Manuel I, and Buddhist lion, Jingdezhen, knowledge with the peoples whom Jiangxi province, China, Ming dynasty, Jiajing period, second quarter of the the Portuguese encountered. Te 16th century, porcelain with underglaze cobalt blue, 10.8 x 15.5 cm, ‘Age of Discovery’ focused on Fundacao Medeiros e Almeida, Lisbon Portugal in its European context, on the origins of Portuguese expansion, spices shaped the pattern of and on the works of art and exotic Portugal’s expansion and drive for objects that document the fow of commercial trade. Te empire’s information to Europe from Africa, operating method was not like later Portrait of a European, Asia, and America. Te next two expansionist empires to control vast India, Mughal dynasty, sections focused on Africa and Brazil. swathes of other countries, rather opaque watercolour ‘Te African Coast’ centred on the they set up a network of trading and gold on paper, three principal areas in west and stations and coastal forts , where the 29.5 x 18.3 cm, central Africa that produced works key assets were centres of production Victoria & Albert of art connected with the Portuguese: and distribution of the merchandise. Museum. This Sierra Leone and the kingdoms of As Jack Turner noted, ‘Within two painting, which on Benin and Kongo. ‘Brazil and the decades of Gama’s voyage, Portugal stylistic grounds dates New World’ traced the development had established a presence in every to about 1610, is of Portugal’s most important land- major spice-producing centre. unlikely to be a based colony in the frst two centuries Territorial acquisitions were backed contemporary portrait after Cabral’s arrival, before the by the ambiguous goad of taxing and Liturgical cope, made from a woven Chinese textile with auspicious symbols, of a 17th-century discovery of gold in 1690s. sinking all maritime competition. Ming dynasty, silk and gold thread, The State Hermitage Museum, St Petersburg European visitor to the To explore this global infuence Te frst expedition to the Moluccas Mughal court. and trade, the exhibition presented set out in 1511, after a successful established their principal settlement and silver and often exported to However, details of his approximately 250 objects produced Jahangir Preferring a Sufi Shaikh attempt to conquer Malacca. Tis on the Macau peninsula in 1557. By Europe. Rare surviving examples are dress (the pinked by each of the cultures touched by to Kings (1625-28) by Bichitr allowed the Portuguese to control 1583, they had become frmly recorded in European treasuries, boots and the Portugal’s early trade routes. Te (active circa 1615-1640), the European spice trade. However, established and the Emperor tacitly including one made for the Duke of open-fronted ruff) are trade route along West and Central from the St Petersberg Album, India, the Portuguese never quite achieved had approved their presence and by Alba in the late 16th century that is seen in European Africa was represented by hunting circa 1615-18, Mughal dynasty, a real monopoly over the Indian the end of the century the settlement now in the Kunsthistorisches portraits of the 1580s, horns and saltcellars made of ivory, opaque watercolour, gold and ink on Ocean spice trade, and with a few had become one of the great Museum, Vienna. Te stone was while the hilt of the and a section of religious works that paper, 25.3 x 18.1 cm, Charles Freer decades the Venetians were back and commercial ports of Asia. It was usually a compound of organic and rapier may date from included terracotta statues from Lang Endowment, Freer Gallery of Art able to revive their land-based trade from Macau that the Jesuit Matteo inorganic materials, including bezoar, as early as the 1560s, Brazil. Maps of the world (as then route’. Ricci, in 1582, was dispatched on a shell, amber, musk, resin, and crushed suggesting that the Tiered food box, jubako, early Edo period, 17th century, gold and silver sprinkled known) used by the Portuguese ships origins in the Indian Ocean world In the section devoted to China, mission to the Chinese mainland, precious gems, which would be Mughal artist used a designs, maki-e, and gold foil, heidatsu, on black lacquer, 27 x 24 x 22 cm, for navigation also formed a via a network of merchants and the exhibition explores Portugal’s arriving in the capital (Beijing) and scraped and ingested with tea painting as his model. Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga, Lisbon fascinating display to emphasise the entrepôts stretching as far afeld as frst contact, which began soon after seat of the Chinese court, where he or water. reach of the Portuguese at this time. China and Indonesia. While a great their conquest of Malacca in 1511. died in 1610. His knowledge of Indian miniatures painted in the Te Portuguese used Macau to Objects from the section deal about the spice trade was then Led by Jorge Álvares, the Portuguese mathematics and science allowed late 16th and 17th centuries by artists launch their religious missions to ‘Portuguese in Asia’, included pure conjecture, it was an article of arrived in the Pearl River estuary in him access to increasingly exalted from the Mughal courts, especially Japan alongside their annual trading scientifc instruments made by Jesuit faith that the trafc in spices was a 1514 aboard a charted junk from intellectual circles and made him an during the reign of Akbar (r 1556- trip on the ‘Black Ship’, a carrack or missionaries for the imperial Chinese pillar of the commercial strength of Malacca. Several successful voyages invaluable source of information that 1605) and his son Jahangir (r 1605- cargo ship, that sailed to Nagasaki, court, religious objects and textiles, the Islamic powers of the Levant and from Malacca to the port of Canton eventually led him to the imperial 27), provided an unusual window using the prevailing monsoon winds including a chasuble from Macau, Indian Ocean. It also was beyond (Guangzhou) followed. After an court. Te Jesuits presence survived onto the activities of the Portuguese to facilitate the journey. Once this rock-crystal and gold, both religious dispute that , long the outbreak of hostilities with the local the demise of the Ming dynasty and in India. Some images depict trade link was established, Nagasaki and domestic, objects made in Sri dominant European players in the government and the closure of the found new life and close relationships historical events in which the grew into a busy port for foreign Lanka (Ceylon), paintings and spice trade, had enriched itself by port to foreigners, the traders began within the Qing courts, although it Portuguese participated, others trade and attracted other foreigner fligree silver and gold ware, as well as acquiring spices from those same clandestine trade along the coast, never manifested into mass include identifable images of traders, including the Dutch and the intricately inlaid cabinets from India. Islamic powers. Essentially, frst to the north in the provinces of conversions as they had hoped. Europeans in India, with some British. A consequence of this was an From Japan, there was a selection of Portugal’s ambition was to supplant Fujian and again around the Pearl In India, the Portuguese had portraying the Jesuit priests who intensive missionary efort by the lacquerware, including a 17th- Venice as the prime supplier to the River delta, where they fnally established the headquarters of the arrived at the imperial court in Society of Jesus (Jesuits) in Japan, century tiered food box depicting European market, enriching the Estado da India on the west coast, in Fatehpur Sikri in 1580. Te Mughals’ Southern Barbarians in Japan, pair of six-panel folding screens, Edo period, 17th century, ink colour and gold on paper, each 153 x 331 cm, which during the Momoyama period foreigners, as well as several pairs of kingdom and funding the crown’s Goa. Te spice trade may have frst curiosity about other worlds, as well Charles Lang Freer Endowment, Freer Gallery of Art (1573-1615), ran up against the folding screens portraying the imperial ambitions in the East while attracted the Portuguese to the area, as their receptivity to new ideas, might of the emperor and the ‘Southern Barbarians’ in Japan. beggaring the religious enemy (and but they soon diversifed and were made this artistic interchange Portugal was the frst European trade after the great ‘Age of Tokugawa shogunate that eventually Ceramics from the kilns of southern the Venetians) at the same time. and entered the feld of luxury goods, possible. nation to build an extensive Discovery’ that began in the mid- Goa Stone and gold case with gold ended in their expulsion from the China, including some 16th-century Gama’s voyage to India, and the which also served as ambassadorial Encompassing the world showed commercial empire reaching 1400s. As the western-most country filigree and repoussé, with cast legs country in 1639. In Japan, the Jesuits blue-and-white wares that were ambition of importing spices via the gifts. Artworks and furniture that how the early trade routes developed eastward to Africa and Brazil and in Europe, Portugal was the frst to and finial, probably made in Goa, were supported by the commercial sometimes embellished with Cape of Good Hope, represented a survive from the period attest to the through the skills of the early westward, through the Persian Gulf signifcantly probe the Atlantic late 17th/early 18th century. activities of the Portuguese. Tese Portuguese coats-of-arms and dramatic slashing of this Gordian extraordinary skills of the artists and Portuguese explorers and traders and Indian Ocean, to India, China, Ocean, colonising the Azores and The container was originally brought frst traders were known to the inscriptions. An example of this in the knot. Te Portuguese believed a the craftsmen working in Indian and using the only tangible thing left – Southeast Asia and Japan. Contact other nearby islands, then on to to the UK in the 18th century by a Japanese as ‘Nanban’, or ‘Southern exhibition is a bowl with ‘ Ave Marie’ crusading empire would be built on Sri Lanka, as well as to the richness the precious objects that were with these regions, which had been exploring the west coast of Africa. In British officer in the East India Barbarians’, as they arrived in their inscribed on its side with the the control of the spice trade’. and rarity of the materials used in cherished at home and in other parts virtually unknown to Europeans, led 1488, Bartolomeu Dias was the frst Company. The Metropolitan ships from the south. Eventually, the Portuguese coat of arms, armillary Spices were at the heart of this their manufacture, include gold and of the world, often displayed in to the creation of highly original to sail around the southern tip of Museum of Art, New York Portuguese lost their trading position sphere of King Manual I, and a early trade. Since the travels of silver fligree, ivory, tortoiseshell, ‘cabinets of wonder’, predecessors of works of art, some intended for Africa. Tese African voyages soon to the Dutch, who were more focused Buddhist lion from the important Marco Polo, it had been known that pearls, and precious and semi- the modern museum. Elements of export and others for domestic led the Portuguese to Asia – and in on trade than saving souls: the Dutch Jingdezhen kilns. pepper grew in southwest India on precious stones. Goa was an entrepôt these cabinets from royal and enjoyment. During the 16th century, 1498 Vasco da Gama repeated the were allowed to remain after the Another section, ‘Indian Ocean the Malabar Coast. Tis spice could for all these luxury goods, including aristocratic collections can be found their commercial dominance earlier experiment, making it as far expulsion of the Catholic Portuguese. from Muscat to the Spice Islands’ also be found farther east – in Borneo silk and cotton cloth produced in the in museums and private collections expanded and this naval empire as India. From these explorations, However, the Jesuits ultimately related the history of the Estado da and Sumatra. Te only true textile centres of India, were sent to around the world. Tese paintings, connected civilisations from all the Portugal would establish ports as far went on to establish far more India (State of India), the string of cinnamon, Cinnamomum zeylanicum, Europe and to other Portuguese ports sculptures, manuscripts, maps, early known continents, transforming west as Brazil, as far east as Japan, successful missions in China. Several coastal settlements, trading posts, could be found in Sri Lanka, but in Asia, Africa and South America. books, textiles, scientifc instruments commerce and initiating and along the coasts of Africa, India LISTEN Jesuit painters were employed at the and fortifcations that supported the early explorers had only vague idea of One of the objects on show, owned by and objects d’art assembled in the unprecedented cultural exchange and China. Portugal soon had to a Met court of Qianlong Emperor’s (1711- Portuguese feets and the success of the island’s location – the Portuguese the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is exhibition provide a rich treasure and linked continents and cultures as control of the sea routes eastward to curator talk 1799), including the celebrated their trading, as well as the contacts eventually arrived in 1505. More a ‘Goa Stone’ container. Goa stones, trove that documents a ‘new world’ never before. India and the Spice Islands (now part about this Giuseppe Castiglione (1688-1766), of the Jesuit missionaries with the mysterious still were the mythical named for the place where they were during its formation. Tis 2007 exhibition, at the Freer of Indonesia) to commence a period object who was also known by his Chinese Mughal Empire in northern India. ‘spice islands’, or the Moluccas. manufactured by Jesuits in the late Encompassing the Globe: Gallery of Art, explored the artistic of great commercial prosperity. name Lang Shining. Tis presence Te Estado da India eventually Located in the far east of the 17th century, were manmade versions Portugal and the World in the achievements that fourished when Trade with China came next, in China facilitated a fow of stretched from Mozambique to Indonesian archipelago, this chain of of bezoars (gallstones from ruminants). 16th and 17th Centuries was on view these traders exposed new creative although it took decades for the information from Europe to Asia, Macau. As Jack Turner wrote in the small, scattered, volcanic islands Child Christ, circa 1600, rock crystal, Both types were used for their from 23 June until 16 September, techniques and imagery to the world Portuguese to establish a permanent and vice versa, as the priests not only catalogue accompanying the were the sole producers of clove, gold, sapphires and rubies, medicinal and talismanic powers. 2007, at the Arthur M Sackler Gallery as they transported goods from port base at Macau, an island of China’s brought religious objects with them, exhibition, ‘For centuries spices had nutmeg (kernel) and mace (the outer 15 x 4.3 x 4.4 cm, Sri Lanka, Tese treasured objects were encased and National Museum of African Art, to port, establishing a truly global southern coast. arrived in Europe from their remote coating) of Myristica fragrans. Tese Tavora Sequira Pinto Collection in elaborate containers made of gold Washington DC. Catalogue available.

ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 18 Burmese Art Burmese Art 19

ashram in West Bengal, India, that Santhal female received many noted pilgrims, as well figure, circa as students, which had eventually 1951–1954, expanded into a fully-fedged watercolour and BAGYI AUNG SOE university in the same year. In 1951, pen on paper, at the age of 27, he joined this group 10 x 11.5 cm. for only a brief one-year period, Courtesy Te Centre Pompidou in Paris has before returning home, but in that Gajah Gallery organised the frst major exhibition of short time he had imbibed the ethos Bagyi Aung Soe (1923-1990), who of knowing and being able to draw was renowned for his modernistic, from various pictorial traditions in semi-abstract art and considered one his own art: what he called ‘manaw of Myanmar’s most prolifc modern maheikdi dat painting’, an idiom that artists. A selection of 300 works and stands for an individualised and documents trace his evolution particular approach to synthesising bestriding regional and international existing pictorial traditions of the sources of inspiration over more than world into a new and modern 40 years. Works are in diverse media: tradition of its own. oil paintings, reverse glass paintings, Yin Ker is an expert on the artist’s illustrations, as well as felt-tip pen on work and life and is the curator of the paper works. Archival materials are Paris exhibition. She comments, ‘On also included in the exhibition, as his return to Burma, over the next 19 well as flm excerpts of the artist, who years Aung Soe managed to explore was also an actor during the golden diverse art forms and concepts from The artist searched for age of Burmese cinema. He also Self-Portrait, circa 1970–1975, around the world. He never explained worked as an illustrator of books and oil on board, 59.7 x 47.8 cm, the reason for his abrupt return, but a new idiom, neither magazines throughout his career. National Gallery Singapore considering the guidance given by Trough 88 works, most of which Santiniketan’s gurus to the renowned Western nor Burmese, are from the last decade of the artist’s ‘Art is what fows through the soul of Indonesian artist Rusli – to seek but his own life, the exhibition explores the Aung the people, where the old and the inspiration in his homeland at the Soe’s ideas and conception of ‘modern new meet. We cannot destroy all ancient Buddhist site of Borobudur. art’. Tere are also over 200 that is old, or accept all that is new. It is likely Aung Soe had been passed documents, including printed matter, Nature will choose the good similar advice: to seek enlightenment photographs and manuscripts from traditions out of the old, sincerity at home’. the 1940s to 1990s that record his and truth out of the new. Not Once back home, he travelled life. Te exhibition shows how the everything old is decadent, not throughout the country to study its artist was infuenced by, and mixed, everything new is revolutionary. We arts and crafts, and later its classical the Soviet Union in the winter of unique method and style of coloured Kali with Om in artistic and spiritual legacies: Western have to search for the soul in the old, art and architecture, particularly that 1953 proved to be his last outside inks on paper, while expounding the Bengali script, Modernism, the thoughts of Indian and foster the progress of the new … of Bagan. He also studied the Burma (Myanmar). linear tradition of Burmese aesthetics, circa 1986, Nobel Laureate Rabindranath We must sow the seeds of modem Buddhist art of the region and of Under the regime of the late Ne and the calligraphic features of the mixed media Tagore, as well as Hindu and art, to weed, to fertilise; this is the China and Afghanistan. It was also Win, Aung Soe had to rely on art Burmese script. Whether it was on the on paper, Buddhist tenets. Cultural infuences artist’s responsibility towards the during this period of self-study that books from the Rangoon University backside of calendars, on scrap paper or 45.5 x 30.5 cm. including Burmese classical art, folk people’. Taken from Te End of the he left on a diplomatic exchange for library for inspiration. But it was for a fresh piece of paper which a Courtesy culture, and the distinct architecture End, in From Tradition to Modernity Moscow, where he acquainted the most part his imagination – and sympathetic fellow artist or student had Gajah Gallery found in the country – especially the (Yangon, Khin May Si Sapay, 1978). himself with the works of 20th- the occasional swig from the liquor presented as a gift, Aung Soe drew and arts that fourished around the city of Te artist was one of a handful of century European masters such as bottle – which he called upon for painted relentlessly. Bagan. Southeast Asian artists who was Picasso, Matisse, and Kandinsky at creative strength. Te works he Aung Soe’s works are monologues Bagyi Aung Soe. Photo: © Sonny Nyein Aung Soe says of his own work, invited to study at Santiniketan, the the Pushkin Museum. Tis trip to exhibited introduced Rangoon’s which discourse on the objectives of intellectual community to the modern Burmese artist of the international art movements like 20th century: to assimilate foreign Cubism and . infuences without renouncing From his subsequent exchanges cultural identity; to accept the with students, and studies of his challenge of contemporary Western artistic development, it is clear that art whose values contradict the very he never forgot the teachings of essence of local artistic traditions. In REACH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE Santiniketan: the technique of other words, to imitate neither the mnemonic drawing (as opposed to Western nor the Burmese, but to the Western approach of copying invent a new idiom rooted in one’s WITH ASIAN ART NEWSPAPER from sight), the linear tradition (as origins – a task which preoccupied opposed to the Western concept of the Japanese artists of the Meiji the efects of shadow and light) and period and Chinese artists in the frst Woman in Asian Art Newspaper has evolved its advertising choices to keep up to date with the most importantly, the emphasis on third of the 20th century’. traditional the artist’s natural environment, his Burmese attire advances in online opportunities, as well as continuing to support the print edition. cultural origins and identity. Tis Bagyi Aung Soe (1923-1990), and Buddhist was Aung Soe’s food for thought Pompidou Centre, Paris, novitiation throughout the years of ideological centrepompidou.fr. At the time of ceremony, on and artistic solitude. going to press, the exhibition is the cover of Advertisers will be able Yin Ker wrote in an article for Te temporarily closed due to Covid-19 Yadanamun to customise and Irrawaddy, ‘By the 1970s, Aung Soe restrictions. Check the centre’s website magazine, choose unique links came to judge his stylised interpretations for updated information on opening. January/February, they would like readers of pwe (festival), peya (the Lord 1974. T e Guardian Daily Telegraph Time Out CLICK HERE CLICK HERE CLICK HERE CLICK HERE to see and experience. Private collection to see more Buddha), and zat (theatre), for example, images to visit our to see more to watch a home page images video as superfcial. He aspired for his paintings to be visual translations of CLICK HERE to see more images Buddhist truths, not mere illustrations Shaikh Zain ud-Din, Black-Hooded Oriole and Insect on Jackfruit Stump (detail), Calcutta, 1778, Stump on Jackfruit and Insect Oriole Black-Hooded ud-Din, Zain Shaikh watercolour. Gift of Elizabeth and Willard Clark, Minneapolis Institute of Art Institute Minneapolis Clark, Willard and of Elizabeth Gift watercolour. DIGITAL INTERACTIVE of episodes from the Buddha’s previous Adverts placed in our print edition also appear in the interactive digital edition. lives or pretty pictures of pagodas and This allows advertisers to add an extra layer to their advert in digital bringing a new dimension to monks. His commitment to creating their advert. Advertisers will be able to customise and choose unique links they would like readers an artistic idiom based on the Buddhist Curated by William Dalrymple Late to see and experience. laws of impermanence intensifed in Friday FINAL WEEKS - BOOK NOW Openings in Closes 19 April March & the years of ailing health, his family’s April Members & Under 18s go free WEBSITE fnancial degradation, his country’s wallacecollection.org Adverts on our website are flexible and timely and easily adapted for last-minute bookings, or ideal for a economic slide, and his increasing In partnership with dedicated online campaign with other digital options. For all possibilities, take a look at our rate card online. recourse to Tamahta meditation. Works from his last years are NEWSLETTER especially spectacular: Burmese An absolute pleasure to read. Tis volume of essays will

| | | | | alphabet, Pali mantras, the Buddha’s have a huge impact on the field of Mughal studies, our ASIAN ART MAY 2020 #AsianArtPaper asianartnewspaper asianartnewspaper Asian Art Newspaper Our newsletter goes out each month to a wide variety of collectors, dealers, curators and library heads, as well as students. profle, magical squares (called in) and understanding of Shah Jahan’s reign, the early 17th century references to numerology, all represented and the quality of Early Modernity…what was once a alongside each other in striking shades of ink and ‘magic pen’. Not only is the neglected area will probably be one of the most illuminated. asianartnewspaper.com/advertising iconography never before seen in painting, the style and technique are Sunil Kumar, Professor and Head, Department of History, Delhi University For more information contact our commercial director Kelvin McManus, +44(0)7877 866692 [email protected] equally original. Te essence is Buddhism as it is practised in the Buy online at www.marg-art.org | Price: $90 / `4200 | 320 pages c. 125 illustrations country. Indeed, material limitations did not stop Aung Soe from creating; it led him to greater heights, to invent his

ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 20 Exhibitions Exhibitions 21

THE IMPERIAL COURT AND THE ZHE SCHOOL ELECTRIC WIRES IN THE NAME OF

At the imperial court during the Ming on themes that acclaimed the court’s From Kiyochika Kobayashi THE FATHER dynasty (1368-1644), paintings of majesty and glory. In an efort to align birds and fowers, animals, human the new dynasty with prestigious to Akira Yamaguchi Invisible Buddha (1999) fgures, and landscapes were initially periods and episodes from the past, by Yan Pei-Ming, produced by painters from Zhejiang Ming-dynasty court painters often oil on canvas, and Fujian province, who had followed the traditions of the imperial Trough electricity wires and 235 x 200 cm. inherited and revered the style of Song academy of the Song dynasty utility poles, this unusual Private collection, dynasty (960-1279) court painters. Te (960-1279), particular the Southern exhibition re-examines the France. Zhe School, considered part of the Song, mentioned earlier. Te emperors modern city of Tokyo from a Photo: André Morin Northern School, was led by Dai Jin favoured a representational style that new perspective. Te highly Yan Pei-Ming, ADAGP, (1388-1462), who is traditionally revived many features from the visible wires that run freely Paris, 2021 considered its founder. Te ‘Zhe’ of Southern Song Imperial Painting around the city are often hated, the name refers to Dai Jin’s home Academy, portraying an idealised safe because they spoil the aesthetic province, Zhejiang. Te school did not and secure world. Tese palace landscape, and it is undeniable as such formulate a new distinctive painters excelled in religious themes, that everyone longs for a style, preferring instead to further the auspicious bird-and-fower motifs, as cityscape that is free of these ugly style of the Southern Song (1127- well as large-scale landscapes. wires, wanting them buried 1279), specialising in decorative and A highlight of the exhibition, and underground to be able to see a large paintings. Instead the school was Important Cultural Properties, are clear blue sky. However, the Over the past 10 years, Yan with a motivation to complete identifed by the formal, academic and three bird-and-fower paintings by the citizens of Japan have become Pei-Ming (b 1960, China) has them often based on childhood conservative outlook, being seen as a Lu Ji (1477-1505), who was born in used to this feeling of clutter and been the subject of numerous memories and personal revival in the early Ming dynasty of Ningbo in Zhejiang province and part muddle of wires and for some important solo exhibitions thoughts. From small drawings the Ma-Xia ‘academic’, style of of the Zhe school. Te artist is mainly they even contribute to a feeling featuring his large-scale oil to the monumental paintings, painting landscapes found in the known for his bird and fower works. of nostalgia. Tis exhibition paintings. Te present for which the artist is known, earlier Southern Song period. attempts to understand the roles exhibition is neither a the exhibition underlines his In the frst half of the Ming Until 11 April, The Imperial Court and played by the wires and utility retrospective nor a show mastery, bringing the subjects’ dynasty, the court actively recruited the Zhe School: Painting and poles from the early Meiji era to unveiling a new series of work, powerful expressions to the painters from across the empire to Calligraphy of the Ming Dynasty, Flowers and Birds of the Four Seasons by Lu Ji (1477-1505), 15th/16th century, Ming dynasty, the present day – and why artists but rather a lens through forefront. serve in an academy producing works Tokyo National Museum, tnm.jp each 176 x 100.8 cm. Important Cultural Property, Tokyo National Museum thought it was so important to which to look at the artist’s Yan Pei-Ming also pays record their existence. Artists in practice in a diferent light. tribute to the site of the the exhibition include Kiyochika With more than 60 paintings exhibition, the Musée MASTERPIECES Kobayashi, Ryusei Kishida, and drawings, the exhibition Unterlinden, which features Gentaro Kogure, Kawase Hasui brings together a wide Grünewald’s world famous and Asai Kaemon. selection of pieces, some of ‘Isenheim Altarpiece’. On his From the Japanese painting collection of the Until 18 April at Nerima Art View of Mount Fuji from Hakone Mountains, sketched at 3 a.m. in early January (1881) which have never been own initiative, he completed Museum, Tokyo, neribun.or.jp by Kobayashi Kiyochika, woodblock colour print seen by the public before. the piece Pandemic during the Minneapolis Institute of Art What makes the exhibition second lockdown that afected Twilight at Kiba particularly interesting is the France in November 2020. Te Daoist Immortals Te Minneapolis Institute of existing collection of Japanese Timber Yard juxtaposition of important painting is a dialogue with (1646) by Kano Art (MiA), in Minnesota, and Korean art holdings. (1920) paintings completed while in Grünewald, emphasising the Sansetsu (1589- has one of the fnest In this exhibition in Japan, by Kawase Hasui, France next to early drawings notion of sacrifce. 1651), formerly collections of Japanese art in the Suntory Museum’s focus woodblock colour dating back from the time the With Yan Pei-Ming sliding screens in the US – in terms of both is on paintings from the Edo print, artist was still living in China. currently being one of the most Tensho-in Temple, quality and quantity. Te period, including the Kano Tokyo University Such is the case, for example, celebrated painters, this one of four sliding museum’s holdings were and Rimpa schools, and the of the Arts for the works depicting Mao exhibition is very timely, door panels, greatly enlarged when, in Eccentrics, as well as some that the artist initiated in the allowing for a true immersion ink, colour, and 2006, Mary Griggs Burke ukiyo-e. Te large-scale 1970s in China and then into the artist’s universe. Te gold leaf of paper, announced that the museum exhibition charts changes in revisited in the late 1980s. selection of the series of Edo period, would be included in her Japanese painting from the By also integrating series powerful paintings as well as Minneapolis bequest and would receive a middle ages to the modern that are generally less known the ability to secure the unseen Institute of Art, substantial donation of period by introducing a to the audience with more drawings make In Te Name of The Putnam Dana Japanese art alongside a gift selection of masterpieces to famous ones – Mao, the father, Te Father an exhibition McMillan Fund. to Te Metropolitan Museum ofer a complete picture of the Buddha, the man from absolutely worth seeing. Photo: Minneapolis of Art in New York. Griggs Japanese paintings of which Shanghai, international Olivia Sand Institute of Art Burke was born in the Minneapolis Institute is landscape, self-portraits – we From 2 April to 6 September, Minneapolis and her family justly proud. get an intimate glimpse into Musée Unterlinden, Colmar, made its money in the 19th Suntory Museum of Art the artist’s practice. Indeed, musee-unterllnden.fr. The century through timber, 60th Anniversary Exhibition, City of the Roof (1911) by Koito Gentaro, oil on canvas. Collection of the Yan Pei-Ming has worked on exhibition is temporarily closed, railroads, and utilities. When 14 14 to 27 June, University of Art Museum, Tokyo these series for several years, check the website for openings. living in New York she Suntory.co.jp. amassed a large collection of The exhibition tours to the Japanese art. Te Burke gift Fukushima Prefectural to MiA comprised nearly 700 Museum of Art from WONDROUS WORLDS objects, from prehistoric to 8 July to 5 September, contemporary times, adding to the Miho Museum in Shiga, Art & Islam depth to the museum’s from 18 to 12 December. Tis touring exhibition from Urdu. ‘Hospitality: Fasting, Newark Museum explores the Feasting, and Fun’ celebrates long history, vast geographic the domestic arts. An SHIMABUKU expanse, and remarkable installation of a setting for a diversity of works of art in the Moroccan feast features a The 165-metre mermaid and other stories Islamic world and features Rabat carpet, leather more than 100 works in nearly cushions, a wooden screen, Te Japanese artist installation, a sculpture or a all media, including carpets, and ornate metal table Shimabuku (b 1969) has been series of photographs. I’m travelling with a 165-metre Mermaid (1998-ongoing) by Shimabuku, costumes, jewellery, ceramics, settings. Ceramics, paintings, part of the contemporary art Troughout most of the watercolour on paper (detail of the installation), Sydney, (1998), glassware, metalworks, prints, and musical instruments from scene for over two decades. year, the National Museum 75 x 104 cm. Collection NMNM. Courtesy of the artist and paintings, and photographs. other regions are also While some of his fellow in Monaco is highlighting Air de Paris, Romainville Contemporary works from highlighted. artists seek the limelight Te 165-metre Mermaid and artists Rachid Koraichi and ‘Modest Beauty: Dress, through fashy and provocative Other Stories, an exhibition Victor Ekpuk, and Fashion, and Faith’ places pieces, Shimabuku works in a based on a legend the artist calligrapher Hassan Massoudy Harem #1 (2009) by Lalla Essaydi (b 1956, Morocco), chromogenic print mounted to aluminium, silk, velvet and sequined subtle, personal, and poetic discovered while travelling to are shown alongside works Newark Museum Purchase 2011, Alberto Burri Memorial Fund established by Stanley J Seeger, costumes alongside ornate way. His oeuvre is built Fukuoka. Fascinated by the from as early as the 9th Newark Museum jewellery fashioned from around topics that caught his story, Shimabuku has revived century. Highlights of the diamonds, pearls, emeralds, Reading the Miracle of Splitting attention, ranging from it, frst through a 165-metre exhibition include lustreware of Islam: Declaration of history of inter-continental all featured in this section. jade, gold, and silver. Finally, of the Moon (Shaq-ul-Qamar), natural elements in the long rope that has been taken from Iran and Spain, prayer Faith, Daily Prayers, Charity, trade and the role that the ‘Elegant Epigraphy: Writing ‘Architecture and its Deccan, India, circa 1780, environment to animals, around the world and rugs from Turkey and India, Fasting for Ramadan, and the Hajj pilgrimage plays in as Art’ looks at the power of Ofspring’ highlights Mughal period (1526-1857), legends, or traditions. An developed into an installation. and a pair of early-20th- Hajj, to provide context and a promoting international the written word, not only architectural legacies opaque watercolour heightened observer of his surroundings, Tis central piece to the century Egyptian appliqué distinctive view into the interconnections. Te trade of through the holy text of displayed in carpets, printed with gold on paper, the artist is a curious, looking exhibition is a marvellous way tent hangings, and in the function, artistry, and Turkish textiles to Morocco, Islam, but also through textiles, furniture, tile-works, 12.5 x 7.75 inches, estate of at things that may appear to further get acquainted with contemporary section, Harem cultural histories of the English and Dutch textiles histories and poetry written and contemporary sculpture. Ellen Keely Hunniken, insignifcant, unusual or even Shimabuku’s practice. #1 by the Moroccan-American objects. Te exhibition then inspired by Indonesian prints in a variety scripts Until 9 May, at the Newark Museum irrelevant to others. For him, Olivia Sand photographer Lalla Essaydi. expands in fve themes. that were exported to Africa, representing a diversity of Michael C Carlos Museum of they become the starting point Until 3 October, Nouveau Te show opens with an ‘Internationalisms: Now and and ceramics traded between languages including Arabic, Emory University, Atlanta, of a performance, an Musée National de Monaco introduction to the Five Pillars Ten’ highlights the long China, Iran, and Turkey are Farsi, Nsibidi, Turkish, and carlos.emery.edu

ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 22 Auctions / Gallery Shows Islamic Arts 23

Clarke, his wife and business partner, and for many years dealt from his gallery at 16 Cliford St, Mayfair, London, which closed its doors in June 2020. Huanghuali square Highlights include a 17th/18th- games table, qizhuo Islamic Arts Diary century, imperial, pale-green jade 18th century, est fgure of the Buddha (est £30- £800,000-1,200,000, 50,000), a yellow-ground dragon Bonhams and ruyi bowl, Kangxi six-character mark and of the period (est £30- The very superior 50,000), and a polychromed bucket signed by limestone fgure of a luohan, Mahmud al-Kurdi, 9th/10th century (est £30-50,000). one of the greatest Underglaze blue and yellow ground masters of inlaid dragon and ruyi bowl, Kangxi century BC (est £120-150,000). metalwork, six-character mark and of the period THE H COLLECTION Te vessel has an inscription ‘Shou Christie’s (1662-1722), est £30-50,000, Bonhams, London, 13 May Archaic bronze ritual wine vessel and made this precious ritual vessel as a Bonhams Te H Collection sale comprises a cover, you, Early Western Zhou sacrifce for ancestor Father Yi’. private European collection of dynasty, 10th century BC, Of the Japanese lots of ofer, two Chinese furniture, archaic bronzes, est £120,000-150,000, Bonhams highlights are a pair of 18th-century and a selection of Japanese art. On folding screens depicting books ofer are over 80 lots, comprising an using fragments of a robe that date important group of rare classical to the Edo period (est £50-80,000) huanghuali furniture, early archaic and a gilt-copper mounted Namban scheme is all the artist’s though. bronze ritual vessels, ceramics, jades lacquer cabinet, Momoyama period Everyone is wearing blue, yellow or and scholar’s works of art, as well as (1573-1615), which has an estimate orange. All have dark hair although Japanese screens, works of art, arms of £20-30,000. the horses are mostly white. Apart and armour. Te core of the from the buildings, it looks like an collection is a group of Chinese MEMORIES OF idyll by a Nawab’s lakeside pleasure classical furniture dating from the INDOCHINA palace. Te building that is most Ming dynasty to the Qing dynasty 18 April, Sotheby’s, Hong Kong clearly recognisable, although cut of in the 18th century, all made from Gilt-copper mounted Namban lacquer Sotheby’s has announced a new slightly at the edge – is Notre Dame. the prized huanghuali wood. cabinet, Momoyama period (1573- direction for its oferings of Modern One can only wonder whether the A highlight of the sale is a 1615), late 16th/early 17th century, and Contemporary Southeast Asian artist knew it was a church. Te huanghuali day-bed with humpback est £20,000-30,000, Bonhams Art in Hong Kong, which will now Paris of the 18th century, as seen by an artist from northwest India, Sotheby’s fying buttresses were clearly stretchers, ta, Ming dynasty, circa be presented within the Modern Art something that confused him, but Imperial, pale-green jade figure of 1550-1600 (est £800,000- and Contemporary Art auctions. by Lucien de Guise or Leonardo coming up are somewhat redundant term ‘Veneto- they have a delightfully futuristic Buddha, est £30-50,000, Bonhams £1,200,000). Te day-bed is an early design, which includes a concealed As part of their 2021 spring cycle of very remote indeed. Saracenic’. Ever since James Allen’s favour to them. example and fashioned from wooden recess to store game boards (est sales, Sotheby’s is highlighting four BACK ON THE BLOCK Of the three main auction houses, extensive research in the 1980s Some of the Occidentalism on sections of an unusually large size, £800,000-£1,200,000). Other lots Vietnamese paintings from the Just as spring begins to emerge from there are few superstar signatures on promoted the theory that many of sale at the moment is looking in a ROGER KEVERNE LTD making it a rare piece. Other of interest on ofer include a group collection of Madame Dothi the bleak months of winter, so there ofer this time round. Christie’s does, these gorgeously worked items were less westerly direction. Bonhams has MOVING ON furniture on ofer include an of archaic bronzes, a highlight is a Dumonteil as part of the Modern are signs of life in the landscape of however, have a 500-year-old probably produced in Damascus, a fascinating and very rare depiction painting such as this because its Bonhams, London, 11 May and 7 June 18th-century huanghuali square ritual wine vessel and cover, you, Art Evening sale. Te paintings Islamic art. Activity is in the air. masterpiece of metalwork signed by rather than Venice, experts are a bit of what seems to be a young origins lie in Iran. Bonhams have been given the task games table, qizhou, with a complex early Western Zhou dynasty, 10th come from the golden age of Tere are even a few more Mahmud al-Kurdi. For want of a more cautious with the words Veneto sub-Saharan soldier in the uniform Back at Christie’s is a painting from of auctioning the entire contents of Vietnamese Modern art. Led by exhibitions happening, although better term, these works are called and Saracenic. Tis bucket’s origins of the Safavid army. It was painted a later era in Iran’s history. Te Qajars the long-established London Mai Trung Tu’s Portrait of none of global consequence. Like ‘buckets’, which does reduce some of are uncertain. Te old belief that this in Isfahan during the late 17th were fascinated by the Mughal rulers Chinese-art dealership Roger Mademoiselle Phuong, the collection the solar cycle, the most reliable their importance. Mahmud al-Kurdi type was made in Venice by Muslim century and seems to be the frst who had been the rivals of their Keverne Ltd in two dedicated features works by pioneering artists, indicator of a market warming up is is at the top of this category, working craftsmen has been discredited, but Persian depiction of an African. Safavid predecessors. While the single-owner sales, in May and June, who established a new canon of the auction calendar. Tis is the in a style that is known by the objects such as this were extremely Isfahan, the Safavids new capital, Safavid sub-Saharan subject was in London. To be sold at no reserve, Vietnamese art, elevating traditional season for London to assert its popular among rich consumers in was as multicultural as any city in painted as realistically as possible, the the sales comprise over 800 lots that crafts and mediums to modern continuing dominance in this feld Venice. Tis style of metalwork is the world, but the black 1803 Qajar interpretation of the cover the broad range of Chinese forms of expression. Painted in at least. Christie’s, Sotheby’s, and fascinating because it shows a demographic was small. Tis subject Mughals was something almost ceramics, archaic and later bronzes, 1930, Portrait of Mademoiselle Bonhams are all putting on a crossing of cultures in the 15th and appears to be a musketeer in a identical to themselves. Or, to be jades, lacquer, cloisonné and painted Phuong stands as one of the most reassuring show this month, 16th centuries. Christie’s star lot is regiment of foreign mercenaries, more accurate, callow efeminate enamel and other works of art, in signifcant works by the artist to although it is disappointing that one of only 11 known works signed although his accessories seem rather versions of themselves. Tese were not which the distinguished London- appear at auction – a rare oil Sotheby’s is no longer producing by Mahmud al-Kurdi. lavish for this role. Te jewel- full-bearded men of arms, but fops in based dealer specialised for over 50 painting which was one of the few catalogues for this category of Te crossing of cultures is encrusted dagger and the glittering Mughal costume. Te Qajar artist did years. Keverne was well known for pieces selected for the 1931 collectable. something that is becoming more embroidery are of regal a good job with the clothing, weapons warmly welcoming into his gallery Exposition Coloniale Internationale in One of the more generally obvious at Islamic-art auctions. magnifcence and gloriously and the stunning array of emeralds all manner of younger collectors, Paris, and was featured in the iconic predictable aspects of Islamic-art Tere is a rise of interest in depicted. He is most defnitely and other precious stones. Te face of Chinese art enthusiasts, scholars and 1993 flm Te Scent of Green Papaya, sales is the content. Certain ‘Occidentalism’ – as opposed to the carrying a gun, with every detail Shah Jahan, however, is not even an students, where he shared his directed by French-Vietnamese categories of item are always being better-known Orientalism – which shown. Everything is so joyously attempt at realism. His appearance knowledge, stories, and famous director Tran Anh Hung. Te sale ofered; the excitement for collectors provides insights into how the alive and opulent, the viewer feels had been standardised in India almost sense of humour. also includes works by Vu Cao Dam is in discerning between lots that Islamic world viewed the West. that this must be someone special. two centuries beforehand, but the Roger Keverne began his 50-year and Pham Hau, each presenting can often look very similar. Coins, At Sotheby’s there is a charming Perhaps, as Bonhams says, he is artist must have had a diferent career of dealing in Chinese art with works that have a mélange of in particular, provide some of the example of how an artist from special solely because he would have agenda. It was perhaps a subtle form the celebrated dealers Spink & Son French, Vietnamese, and Chinese most esoteric distinctions, but are northwest India visualised Paris in been unusual – an ‘exotic type’. At of Edward Said’s version of Ltd in London, rising to head the infuences, as well as nostalgia hardly ever sold with the usual the late 18th century. It was probably the same time he seems real, and Orientalism: was the painter looking Polychrome limestone figure of Asian departments by the age of 28. for Vietnam. assortment of manuscripts, ceramics taken from a French print of the proud. It is a shame that in these further east to create an image of a luohan, 9th/10th century, He left Spink in 1992 to start his Conversation by Vu Cao Dam, ink and gouache on silk, circa 1930s, 46 x 55 cm, and metalwork. Because it is a feld The rarest of sights – an African soldier time, and shows the dress of the days, when black lives matter so efeteness that couldn’t compare with est £30-50,000, Bonhams own business together with Miranda est HK$2,000,000-3,000,000, Sotheby’s that has usually been flled with in the uniform of the Safavid army, ancien regime rather than much in art, the US government is the manly vigour of the slightly anonymous artists, the chances of a Bonhams revolutionary attire. Te colour still banning the import of a further-west Qajars?

HIROSHI SUGIMOTO DESERT STORM Although it was not mentioned Israel. A niche area, but in the hands A quite diferent artist, who tried his before the recent sale, where the of the unquestioned expert in the Theory of Colours best to paint things as they were, has Jolie painting fetched £8 million, feld, very revealing about a culture been in the news a lot lately. there have been some very similar that was already heading for oblivion Teory of Colours, the third solo exhibition by spectrum: yes, I could see his red-orange- Winston Churchill broke his own versions of the same scene. One was 50 years ago. Tis was when Clinton Hiroshi Sugimoto in Paris and focuses on yellow-green-blue-indigo-violet scheme, but record early last month [March] with given to President Harry Truman Bailey started researching the his new body of work, Opticks. Opticks I could just as easily discern many more a painting of Marrakesh owned by instead of President F D Roosevelt, subject. Bailey joined these (2018), was created by capturing the diferent colours in-between, nameless hues Angelina Jolie. What was not and fetched less than a 20th the pastoralists on their journeys photographic transcription of colours, as of red-to-orange and yellow-to- green’. commented on greatly was how price when it was auctioned in 2007. through the Sinai Peninsula and revealed when light passes through an In his studio in Tokyo, designed as an surprising Churchill’s sympathetic Here, I would like to do a spot-the- Negev desert, recording their poetry, optical glass prism. observational space, Sugimoto uses a device opinions about Marrakesh were. His diference challenge for readers to thoughts and fears for the future. Te title of this series is a reference to equipped with a prism through which the views on Islam were almost never guess which one fetched the recent Most of their trepidation was well Sir Isaac Newton’s treatise Opticks, light passes. When the colour spectrum hits favourable, although he did consider staggering price. founded. Tey are more published in 1704. Preserved on Polaroid a surface at an angle, its continuum can be some individual Muslims to be brave While Churchill was a gifted marginalised than ever, living in flm, the colours of each photograph convey decompressed, facilitating a complete and loyal. He was not as kind about holiday artist, his contribution to the poverty but at least their way of life not only Sugimoto’s interest in the most exploration of a particular hue. He explains, Islam, which makes it such a delight understanding of Islamic culture has been observed and understood. subtle hues of the rainbow, but also those ‘I could split red into an infnity of reds. that he should admire Marrakesh was limited. In the same month as Teirs is the plight of almost every colours which embody a transition, which Especially when juxtaposed against the and its Koutoubia mosque, which his painting was sold, the defnitive pastoralist in the modern age. Being appear to be mixed or hard to defne. dark, each red appears wondrous unto itself. Portrait of Mademoiselle Phuong stands out prominently in his archive of one aspect of Muslim life nomads, they don’t even have the Opticks (2018) by Hiroshi Sugimoto was created by Sugimoto writes, ‘Gazing at the bright Moreover, colours change constantly’. (1930) by Mai Trung Thu, painting. He believed Marrakesh to was released. Tis new study tool is a compensation of the greatest glories capturing the photographic transcription of colours as prismatic light each day, I too had my Until 22 May, Galerie Marian Goodman, oil on canvas, 135.5 x 80 cm, be ‘simply the nicest place on Earth massive assemblage of audio of Islamic visual art. At least they revealed when light passes through an optical glass prism doubts about Newton’s seven-colour Paris, mariangoodman.com. est HK$7,500,000-9,300,000, to spend an afternoon’. Tis is recordings made from discussions have the unwritten traditions of the Clinton Bailey has done for the poetry of Bedouin culture what Sotheby’s probably why he painted it so often. with Arabic-speaking Bedouin in past and the beauty of the Qur’an. Wilfred Thesiger did for visual appreciation

ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 | #AsianArtPaper | asianartnewspaper | asianartnewspaper | Asian Art Newspaper ASIAN ART | APRIL 2021 Fine Asian Art 9 th - 10th June 2021 | Viewing: 5th - 8th June 2021

A highly important Imperial gilt-bronze figure of Vajrabhairava

China, marked daming chenghua jiu nian shiyi yue chu‘er ri anxigong shi, dated 1473. h. 92 cm

Provenance: Collection Gumpel, Paris, sold Drouot, 24.11.1904, lot 469 Alan Hartman New York, 1975 Important European private collection

Further information | www.auction.de

Nagel Auktionen GmbH | Neckarstrasse 189 – 191 | 70190 Stuttgart | Postfach 103554 | 70030 Stuttgart Tel: + 49 (0) 711 - 64 969 - 0 | Fax: + 49 (0) 711 - 64 969 - 696 | contact @ auction.de