One critical thing to keep in mind about Chinese painting is that it is coterminous with and in some sense equivalent to Chinese writing. “When the sage-kings of antiquity received the orders of Heaven and responded to the call, the characters on the tortoise appeared and gave them spiritual power….hese happy omens…were transmitted on slabs of jade and tablets of gold.”Īccording to the account, after these inscriptions and symbols were found by a later generation, painting was invented as a means of copying them. Classical Chinese writings about art-and there is a vast literature of art history and art criticism, including explicit rules for painting, in Chinese-assign the art a divine source: “It originated from Nature and not from any decrees or works of men,” wrote Chang Yen-yuan in the Li Tai Ming Hua Chi. One thing that can be said with absolute certainty about Chinese painting is that it is old, much older than Western painting. All of these ink paintings are considered within the classical Chinese painting market, and are being sought by many of the same collectors who buy much older works. At the same time, however, there is a sizable contingent of painters in China and Taiwan today who create new work in traditional styles or use the traditional ink-and-brush technique in new styles that combine Chinese and Western elements. More recently, Chinese painters have been aggressive entrants into the world of international contemporary art, and famous works such as Yue Minjun’s series of ubiquitous smiling men have been created with Western-style painting techniques. Under Western influence, many Chinese artists took to oils during the 20th century, some to emulate pre-modernist European figural art of the Academic or Impressionist schools, some to engage in Social Realist work for the Communist cause. To be clear, when we talk about Chinese painting we mean ink (black or colored) and brush on paper or silk, not oil on canvas. Through his writings, art dealing, donations to museums, and perhaps most of all his cultivation of a whole generation’s worth of Chinese art experts, Ellsworth did a great deal to make Western collectors aware of the riches of traditional Chinese painting, and to dispel some of their fear that these works are too recondite, too scholarly, perhaps even too refined, for non-Chinese to understand and appreciate. Substantially represented among them will be Chinese paintings from the 15th through 20th centuries, an art form that until recently was much more sought after by Chinese collectors than by Westerners. When that series of sales takes place this month, the largest private collection of Asian art ever to appear at auction will come on the block, a total of approximately 2,000 objects. Tang Yin (1470–1524), Playing the Zither.Īncestral Portrait of a Princess, Qing Dynasty, late 18th century, ink and colors on silk.įrom One Hundred Portraits of Peking Opera Characters, Qing Dynasty, late 19th–early 20th century, ink, color, and gold on silk īefore his death last August, the American collector, dealer, and scholar Robert Hatfield Ellsworth prepared a historic bequest-that a major part of his collection of Asian artworks would be auctioned, without reserves, through Christie’s in New York. Ma Lin, Landscape With Great Pine, second quarter of the 13th century Wu Lan-chiann (born 1972), Precious Light, scroll, mounted for framing, ink and color on paper.
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