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At this year's fair, more than 55 exhibitors from
the Far East, Europe and the USA set up booths in the Armory and
presented a wide variety of Asian art, ranging from antiquity to
the present, and from India, China, Japan, the Near East, the Himalayas
and South East Asia. Some major Asian art dealers from New York
and abroad did not occupy booths at the fair but exhibited in their
own or other locations in New York. For instance, Giuseppe Eskenazi
of Clifford Street in London set up his exhibition of ancient Chinese
bronzes and sculpture at PaceWildenstein on 57th Street in New York;
Jim Lally exhibited in his gallery on 57th Street; and Robert Ellsworth
exhibited in his space on Fifth Avenue. Among the many categories
of objects exhibited at the fair, and among the dealers outside
of the Armory, were arms and armour, basketwork, bronzes, books,
carpets, costume and textiles, furniture, jewellery, miniatures
and manuscripts, pottery, porcelain and enamels, paintings, prints,
sculptures, snuff bottles and much more.
As a safeguard for buyers, recognised specialists strictly vetted
each item for sale at the fair for quality and authenticity. There
were separate honorary vetting committees for each category, with
the membership of each drawn from leading authorities in the respective
fields, including many museum curators. There are two main reasons
for this vetting. It acts as a safeguard for buyers, to ensure,
as far as possible, the authenticity of the material presented and
thereby to inspire confidence in the public to buy; and it also
maintains the integrity of the fair and ensures the reputation of
the exhibitors. The honorary vetting committee co-chairmen this
year were dealers John Eskenazi, from London, and Joan Mirviss,
from New York. New York dealer Robert Ellsworth is the committee's
Chairman Emeritus.
The fair's preview night was held on 31 March. As in the past, the
proceeds from funds collected went to benefit the Asia Society in
New York, which was founded in 1956 by John D Rockefeller 3rd as
a non-profit educational organisation dedicated to fostering an
understanding of Asia and communication between Americans and the
peoples of Asia and the Pacific. This year at the fair, the Museum
of Arts and Design in New York created a special loan exhibition,
'Heavenly Earth: Contemporary Asian Ceramics at the Museum of Arts
and Design', which included miniature vessels with intricate and
delicate celadon glazes by Chun Liao, exuberantly patterned work
by Harumi Nakashima and meditative, architecturally pure works by
Yasuo Hayashi, on display in one of the booths. Another special
presentation this year, organised by the dealer Michael Goedhuis
of Goedhuis Contemporary, featured the artistic expression of Oscar-winning
Chinese designer Tim Yip (Figure 1), who discussed his work and
presented an exhibition on loan featuring the original award-winning
costumes from the martial arts epic movie 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden
Dragon'.
The Ten Ten Foundation Inc. sponsored lectures that were held on
3 April. Mary Hunt Kahlenberg, Director of the Tai Gallery/Textile
Arts, gave the morning lecture, 'Who Influenced Whom? The Relationship
between Indian and Indonesian Textiles in the 17th Century', and
in the afternoon, Amy Poster, Curator and Chair of the Department
of Asian Art at Brooklyn Museum of Art, lectured on 'Asian Art in
America: Building your Collection'. Michael Goedhuis, the New York
and London dealer, who specialises in Chinese contemporary paintings,
led a panel discussion on 4 April.
There were a great number of interesting and aesthetically appealing
objects at the fair. Notable among them were two Chinese funerary
ceramic horses (Figures 2 and 3) of the Han Dynasty (206 BC-220
AD). One of these is 84 cm high, has a green lead glaze, and is
from Priestley & Ferraro, London, and the other, a large unglazed
but painted figure of a walking horse, courtesy of A&J Speelman
Ltd., London, is from China's Sichuan Province and of the Eastern
Han Dynasty (25-220 AD). The Chinese Porcelain Company of New York
provided a pair of large painted pottery figures of lokapalas from
the late 7th or early 8th century. The figures are of grand proportions
and crisply defined figural modelling, bearing armour of the Chinese
Tang Dynasty (618-907). They stand 123.2 cm high (Figure 4) and
are modelled in a mirror image standing pose, one atop an ox and
the other on a small ram. Commonly placed in tombs in pairs, as
guardians of the four directions of the universe, such figures,
known as 'tianwang' (Heavenly King) in Chinese or 'lokapala' in
Sanskrit, generally bear Central or Western Asian features that
reflect a greater familiarity with foreigners in China's Tang Dynasty.
Berwald Oriental Art, New York, exhibited a pair of earthenware
horses (Figure 5), also dating from the Tang Dynasty of the early
8th century, (71.2 cm x 67.5 cm and 70.5 cm x 66 cm). Each horse
is saddled and standing foursquare on a fitted plinth, the right
foreleg stepping forward and the head turning to one side. The horses'
tails are docked and bound with a runnel for the manes, originally
fitted with hair in a realistic facsimile, and each retains similar
pigments of red, black and white. Similar large-scale pairs, specifically
created to interact as these two do, are found in several famous
tombs of the Tang court around Xian, China. Thermoluminescence tests
have confirmed the date of origin estimated for the pair.
Among the ancient Chinese bronzes and sculpture that Guiseppe Eskenazi
exhibited at PaceWildenstein was a very beautiful marble Buddha
of the Tang Dynasty, 77.5 cm high and seated in 'viras“na' (hero)
pose (Figure 6). Although missing its head, right hand and fingers
of the left hand, the work is powerfully modelled with wide shoulders,
a broad, well-defined chest and narrow waist and wears layered monk's
robes, which are arranged over the shoulders and diagonally across
the chest and fall in well-spaced linear folds over the arms, stomach
and thighs. Two apertures hollowed in its back were probably meant
for the insertion of a 'mandorla', a sometimes flame-like aureole
framing the figure and implying its majesty or divinity.
Sidney Moss Ltd. of London exhibited a number of scrolls of Chinese
calligraphy, considered to be China's highest art form. Among them
was a tall hanging scroll, showing ink written on silk in 'ts'ao-shu'
(cursive or 'grass' script) written in the technique known as 'i-pi-shu',
which is calligraphy executed all in one brushstroke (Figure 7).
Of course, the brush had to be lifted for reloading with ink, and
close inspection reveals where the line was cleverly rejoined with
a heavier absorption of the thicker ink. The calligraphy is signed
Wang To (1592-1652), written in Nanjing, with one seal of the artist,
and has been dated to 1636. The text, which Wang To copied, is a
letter by an earlier great calligrapher, Wang Hsi-chih (303-379),
replying to a friend who had enquired after his illness, and who
had himself been ill. According to several admirers, Wang To was
the most accomplished of the 17th century calligraphers, and to
some, the best of the Ming (1368-1644) and Ching (1644-1911) dynasties.
Goedhuis Contemporary of New York and London exhibited a more recent
example of Chinese calligraphy by Fung Ming Chip (b. 1951), titled
'Post-Marijuana', (2000), ink on paper (70 cm x 69 cm), written
in a contemporary swirling script, alongside the traditional script,
in a character-for-character translation (Figure 8).
China 2000 Fine Art of New York exhibited the work of 20th century
Chinese painters, among them Shao Yixuan (1886-1954), who spent
most of his life as a journalist and artist in Beijing. An example
of his painting shown in Figure 9, 'Banana Leaf and Butterfly',
is ink on paper (90.17 cm x 36.83 cm) and is signed Shao Yixuan.
There is an inscription in the upper left by the painter Pu Ru (1896-1963),
signed Xin Yu, which reads, 'The rain moans and sighs/The banana
leaf says goodnight'. Although he is not widely known today, in
the first half of the 20th century, Shao was recognised as one of
the most important and influential artists of his time. Born in
the eastern Zhejiang province, he was a close friend of his contemporaries,
Qi Baishi (1864-1957), Huang Binhong (1865-1955), Chen Banding (1876-1970),
Wang Mengbai (1888-1934), Pu Ru (1896-1963), Xiao Sun (1883-1944),
Yu Shaosong (1882-1949), Yu Feian (1889-1959) and Zhang Daqian (1899-1983).
Together, they were a group of brilliant artists who formed a kind
of Beijing painting salon, shared intellectual and artistic pursuits
and collaborated on paintings. Strongly influenced by the work of
the great 17th century painter, Shitao, Shao Yixuan demonstrates
complete mastery of ancient brushwork techniques, from which he
created a distinctive personal style. In contrast, Goedhuis Contemporary
demonstrated Chinese painting of today in the work of Yang Yanping
(b. 1934), 'Song of Fall', 2000-2001, Chinese coloured ink on rice
paper (68.6 cm x 136.5 cm), (Figure 10), and Wang Dongling (b. 1945),
'Inhale Wind and Take a Ride on a Cloud', 2004, ink on paper (278
cm x 145 cm), (Figure 11).
Japanese art was well represented at the fair with pairs of traditional
six-fold screens such as 'Hawks', a pair of the Momoyama period
(1573-1615), measuring 168 cm x 371 cm, exhibited by Liza Hyde of
New York. Among other works, Brian Harkins of London exhibited 'Carp',
a scroll painting in ink on paper (86 cm x 45.2 cm), by the master
18th century painter Itõ Jakuchu (1716-1800), signed 'Shin'enkan
Jakuchu' painted with two seals, 'Ti jokin in' and 'Jakuchukoji'
and another seal, 'senga zeppitsu'. Moving closer to the contemporary
period, the Hiroshi Yanagi Gallery of Kyoto, Japan, exhibited 'Coming
and Going Begging Monks' (135.3 cm x 32.8 cm), a popular subject
of 18th, 19th and 20th century Japanese ink paintings, with this
one by Nantenbo (1839-1925) closely following the design of a similar
subject by Itõ Jakuchu that is now in a New York private
collection. The Tai Gallery/Textile Arts booth represented master
craftsmen basket makers of 20th century Japan with exquisite woven
baskets (Figure 12).
In the field of Indian and South East Asian art, John Eskenazi of
Bond Street, London, presented two exquisite sculptures of Maya,
mother of Buddha: one in beige sandstone (Figure 13) from 1st century
Bihar, India, (89 cm); and one in terracotta (Figure 14), from the
5th to 6th century Gandharan region of Pakistan/Afghanistan, at
135 cm high, with the date corroborated by thermoluminescence analysis,
depicting Queen Maya giving birth to the Buddha Shakyamuni with
the baby Buddha emerging from her right hip. Doris and Nancy Weiner
of New York presented another example from the Gandharan region,
a beautiful stucco Standing Buddha (Figure 15) of the Kushan period,
3rd to 4th century, at 139.5 cm high. John Eskenazi exhibited a
stucco Bodhisattva Maitreya from the same area, dated to the 3rd
century, which has traces of polychrome and measures approximately
86.3 cm high; and a Central Asian grey schist head of a crowned
Bodhisattva, also of the Kushan period, 2nd to 3rd century, which
measures approximately 60 cm tall. Doris and Nancy Wiener also exhibited
a bronze Parvati from South India, circa 1300, at 76.2 cm high (Figure
16). The Art of the Past Gallery presented a Pichwai (Figure 17)
from Bikaner, Rajasthan, Western India, 1760-1770, in gouache and
metallic pigment on cloth, at 208.3 cm2.
Doris and Nancy Wiener also exhibited a Bodhisattva Avolokiteshvara
(Figure 18) in bronze with silver inlay and traces of cold gold
and blue pigment of the Kashmir School of Western Tibet, from the
11th to 12th century (65 cm high).
South East Asia was ably represented by a beautiful 7th century
Cambodian, pre-Angkorian period, bronze standing Buddha (Figure
19), 19 cm tall, from Doris and Nancy Wiener, and a bronze seated
Kubera figure of 8th to 9th century Java, 18 cm high, from John
Eskenazi.
Obviously, from what has been mentioned or illustrated here, it
is evident that the fair was enormously successful in presenting
splendid examples of Asian art. Unfortunately, it is impossible
to present all the excellent objects, paintings and furniture exhibited,
or name, individually, all the dealers who participated. Hopefully,
they will all appear again next year with many more beautiful examples.
LDK
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