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JUNE 2009
Latest Clarification Update on US Chinese Restrictions
May 2009
Juanqinzhai Opens to the Public in the Forbidden City.
April 2009
Zodiac Heads Dispute Continues at Christie's Paris
March 2009
US Approves Government Restrictions on Chinese Art
FEBRUARY 2009
Alsdorf Galleries open at Art Institute of Chicago
January 2009
Auction Results Are Yet Again A Mixed Bag
June 2009
The art of Buddhist Sculpture
The art of Buddhist Sculpture
THE VICTORIA AND ALBERT MUSEUM have recently opened their new Buddhist Galleries. It is a very welcome new addition to the museum, as it allows the visitor to see a variety of Buddhist works of art from various Asian countries together for the first time. Objects in the four galleries have mainly been grouped geographically to show the spread of Buddhism throughout Asia
Post-Second World War Photography in Southeast Asia
Post-Second World War Photography in Southeast Asia
IT IS A COMMON assumption that there were few local art photographers in Southeast Asia during the post-WWII era. If we take the notion of ‘art’ to be what we understand today as ‘contemporary art’’, then the idea is not inaccurate, even though the concept of contemporary art (especially with reference to the medium of photography), has just begun to be discussed within certain countries in Southeast Asia. The Loke Legacy: The Photography Collection of Dato Loke Wan Tho, the keynote exhibition during the short-lived KL International Photography Biennale in 2005, provides an unexpected starting point for a regional perspective. It is ‘unexpected’ because this was not the aim of the retrospective. Indeed, when Loke Wan Tho amassed in the 1950s a collection of 539 photos by 173 photographers from 25 countries, possibly the largest collection of Pictorial photography in the world, he was not trying to stake a case for the vibrancy of art photography in Southeast Asia. He was trying to collect what he liked, which was Pictorialism, the style of his era. In the process, Loke bought and received – through donations by photographers – works by artists in China and Southeast Asia. As a result, observations can then be made from the collection. With regards to Southeast Asia, it is a pity that co-curators Alex Moh and Li-En Chong only provided brief biographical notes of a handful of photographers from Malaysia and HK featured in the retrospective.
Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur
Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur
GARDEN AND COSMOS: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur is an opportunity for the public in London to view this exhibition from the US. It explores Indian royal court painting ranging in date from the 17th-19th centuries. The exhibition features a major loan from India and consists of 54 paintings from the royal collection at the Mehrangarh Museum Trust in Jodhpur, which was set up by the current maharaja, Gaj Singh II, in 1972.
Pearl Position: Venice Biennale
Pearl Position: Venice Biennale
VENICE ASSUMES ITS OLD ROLE as a centre point between West and Middle East at this year’s Biennale. For centuries, Venice was the gateway of Islamic culture into Europe. Spain may have become Muslim by conquest, but Venice adopted much of Islam’s art by preference. This was the home of Europe’s earliest Orientalists, looking East more often than West. that was more than 500 years ago. Now that Venice is less of a trading power and more of an aesthetic theme park, the longest queues are not for the Islamic rides. When the Biennale comes to town, the attention tends to go to the countries with the most serious art reputation, and few of those are Muslim. The situation does appear to be changing, however. Just as art goes where the money is, the pavilions are pulsating with a different sort of energy this year.