As you read this column, part of what’s regarded as the world’s largest private collection of imperial Chinese porcelain in the West will be on sale in Hong Kong. The international auction house Sotheby’s is flagging off its 2011 spring auction today with 77 lots from the famous 2,000-piece Meiyintang collection of Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasty potteries. Owned by the family of Swiss businessman Stephen Zuellig, the artefacts are likely to attract buyers, mainly Chinese, whose hunger for rare Chinese art objects is growing exponentially.
But this sale is important for another reason. It’s the most significant confirmation yet of a trend that has been evident for some time: Old Chinese masterpieces, taken away by Western collectors in the last century, when art had little market value and was available cheap, are coming back. The art drain is at last reversing.
The new generation of Chinese now has the money as well as the interest. To them, buying art is not only good investment but a sublimating spiritual activity. So, while they don’t mind spending huge sums of money to buy back their own country’s art that may still be outside, they’re equally keen to acquire, say, Impressionist masterpieces from Europe or contemporary art from elsewhere in Asia. It’s this new-found interest that has made the Chinese a major force in the international art market today and turned Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong into global art hubs, as important as New York and London.
According to Artprice, regarded as a world leader in art market information, China topped all other markets in terms of fine art auctions last year, accounting for 33 per cent all global sales, ahead of US’ 30 per cent, UK’s 19 per cent and France’s five per cent. This included paintings, installations, sculptures, drawings, photography and prints. Even if other items, like art objects and furniture, are included, China’s 2010 standing was second in the global ranking, after the US, with a market share of 23 per cent, as London’s Financial Times recently reported.
With such a frenzy of buying, it isn’t surprising that, of the world’s top 10 artists by auction revenue last year, four were Chinese. One of them, Qi Baishi, even outranked Andy Warhol. Owning a Qi Baishi (1863-1957), whom Picasso once described as “the greatest oriental painter,” is every Chinese art collector’s dream, more so because his often playful style makes him a modernist path-breaker in the traditional Chinese milieu.
The growing Chinese demand for art was equally evident at last month’s Maastricht Art Fair in the Netherlands, where one dealer reportedly sold four pieces of imperial jade on the opening night. Also last month, at the Asia Week in New York, Hong Kong and mainland Chinese collectors grabbed six pieces of Ming and Qing dynasty ware on the first day itself. At Sotheby’s worldwide auctions last year, Chinese buyers bought 23 per cent of all the lots sold. When remembered that the share was 14 per cent in 2009 and seven per cent in 2008, the growth must appear phenomenal.
It’s true that transaction charges in Europe are one reason why the auction market is moving out to places like Hong Kong, where no such charges are levied. Also, internationally, money is flowing Asia-ward in search of newer avenues of investments. But it’s the blossoming of wealth within China itself, arising mainly from stock dividends and real estate profits, that acts as the driving force. This is abetted by a dramatic change in the cultural outlook of the people. The government doesn’t frown at modern art any more and corporate houses consider collecting a form of “patriotic” duty.
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As a result, the growth of China’s domestic auction market has been equally exponential. According to People’s Daily, domestic auction sales of what’s described as “cultural relic artwork” amounted to the equivalent of $4.78 billion last year, up nearly 38 per cent from 2009. Most of these sales took place in Beijing. By comparison, Christie’s and Sotheby’s logged $722 million and $685 million, respectively, from their Hong Kong sales last year.
Popular awareness of art is growing, too. Art biennales are now a regular activity in many Chinese cities, exposing the people to modern international art and lowering the barriers for China’s own contemporary artists. There are at least a dozen major art museums in the country, besides numerous minor ones. It’s now the government’s intention to make all public museums and galleries free. When Shanghai Art Museum went free last month, thousands stood in entry lines, including flocks of school children. By the end of this year, all national and provincial galleries are expected to follow suit.
China is now more open to modernism and internationalism, including “alternative art,” than even five years ago. And when awareness grows and the outlook broadens, markets will follow. Art markets can’t flourish in a vacuum, as we in India are painfully finding out.