A decade ago the Chinese art-market, like the American one today, was barely standing on its feet and it was impossible to call it developed. Right now it’s the biggest in the world, and only the US can compete with it.
Experts interpret China’s success in the sphere of contemporary art and photography in a simple way: economic growth increases the level of wealthy collectors who in this case patriotically buy up contemporary Chinese art and photography. Some astute Western collectors are not far behind. Their interest can be fuelled both from an aesthetic point of view by the closed nature of Chinese society up to a certain point, the lack of free creativity due to the political regime and its recent resurgence, the exoticism of it, and by practical interests. It’s a huge market-perhaps the best so far. And now the world’s art dealers are buying Chinese art in the hope of reselling it at a higher price.
It is fair to say that the modern government of China has played an active role in the development of the art market. They invest a lot of money in the field, build museums and subsidize participation in international exhibitions of their artists. Chinese communities all over the world support their compatriots, take an active interest in their art and buy their works. The result is clear: 7 of 10 places in the ranking of the most popular contemporary artists belong to the Chinese. Sales of works by such unknown artists as Zeng Fanji and Chen Yifei can be compared with those of the pillars of modern Western art such as Jeff Koons and Richard Prince.
Photo Story
Fame has literally descended upon Chinese photographers whose triumph is particularly surprising given their photographic history. Photography came to China in the mid-nineteenth century and was of course an incredible luxury. Photographers of that time could be counted on the fingers of one hand in China.
One of China’s most famous photographers was Lan Jingshan 1892-1995 . In 1927 he became one of the first photojournalists and achieved great success and recognition not only at home, but also in the world: in 1964 he was the only Asian photographer at the conference of the International Federation of Photographic Art. Much later the China Photographers Association was founded which gives an annual award named after Lan Jingshan.
In addition to reportage photography there was portrait photography, but a very peculiar one. Active development of this genre has been going on since 1947 – the date of foundation of the famous photo studio “China”. People came here to have their portraits taken at important occasions in their lives, such as weddings and anniversaries. There were practically no cameras in the families of ordinary people. Although it was very expensive to take pictures in a photographer’s studio you could pay one or two months’ wages for a set of four black-and-white photos , there were lines of eager photographers lined up outside. This photo studio still exists today, with Chinese people from all over the country coming to take photos labeled “China Photo Studio”.
Years of wars, invasions and, on top of that, the Chinese Cultural Revolution at the end of the 1960s, destroyed many photo archives, leaving only a crumb. In fact, the history of Chinese photography begins anew in the 1970s. With the advent of domestic cameras, more and more people bought them for personal use. In the early 1980s China introduced color film, which led to a boom in amateur and professional color photography.
All the more striking is that today Chinese photography is conquering the modern world. Until 2005-2006, only a handful of vintage Chinese photographs appeared at auction at auction houses. In 2009, the lists already had about fifty names. Some of them, like Wang Qingsong and Zhang Huan, have taken to representing galleries in New York.
It came as a surprise to many collectors and photography researchers. But not for everyone. For example, for Howard Farber, a leading collector of Chinese art from New York, who purchased works for $25,000 in 1995 and then sold them at auction for $4 million.
ON PHOTO:
1. Dai Chenlian.
A game of shadows. Film Formulas No. 2.
Video, 4 min. 6 s. 2009
2. Zeng Chuanxing
Blue Paper Bride-Dream, 2008
© Courtesy of Phillips de Pury
& Company
3. Ma Jiawei.
Loss.
Mixed media, 2010
And not for Larry Warsh, who founded a private company, AW Asia New York , in 2007 to support contemporary Chinese artists and photographers. The company educates, promotes, and develops projects on Chinese art. Including U-TURN magazine, which has been chronicling Chinese art since 1979. Worsh did his collection of Chinese photography from 2002 to 2004, touring the studios of Chinese photographers. Only a few years passed, and in 2008 the Museum of Modern Art in New York MoMA acquired 23 photographs by 11 contemporary Chinese photographers from the AW Asia collection, including Ai Weiwei, Hai Bo, Zhang Dali, Rong Rong and Hong Hao. AW Asia gave another seven photos to the museum. Works by Hai Bo, Song Dong, Sheng Qi, Hong Hao, Weng Fen, Wang Qingsong, Zhang Huan and Xing Danwen from AW Asia were also purchased by the Metropolitan Museum of Art for its permanent collection. In 2010, and J. Paul Getty Museum began acquiring works by Chinese photographers such as Wang Qingsong, Hai Bo, Rong Rong, Liu Zheng, Song Yongping, Zhang Huan, Qiu Zhijie.
What is so special about them?? All these photographers are very different but they share the same theme – changes in Chinese society, China’s past and present, and the interweaving of tradition and new outlook. Wang Qingsong captures and documents globalization, Rong Rong is nostalgic for the purity of a lost tradition. Liu Zheng breaks old taboos on nude photography by creating stylizations of 19th century scenes. All this is very much in line with what the whole world is so interested in: the process of change in China – where will it lead to?? And Chinese artists, as the most sensitive and able to reflect all these thoughts, anxieties about tectonic shifts in the culture of one of the most powerful powers, are interesting and in demand.
East – West
Not all Western art critics are thrilled with dominance of Chinese art. Many are doing their best to change this trend, including calling Chinese tastes underdeveloped, primitive, but the Chinese don’t seem to care much.
However, since 2001, Western auction houses have begun to increase their presence in the region, targeting Chinese buyers. Foreign galleries are eager to represent the Chinese avant-garde and open their branches in China. In the past couple of years, galleries and art organizations from Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, France and England, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea have started working in Shanghai. Every year the Shanghai Art Fair is held with more than 1,000 galleries from 50 countries participating. According to ARTEconomics, in 2010 alone the volume of art auctions in China tripled compared to the previous year to 5.96 billion euros.
The first million-dollar auction sale for a work by a Chinese artist was held in 2006, a year later the number of seven-figure sales increased from 9 in 2006 to 76 in 2007. Contemporary Chinese artists are ahead of leading Western European artists, including some old masters. It’s fair to say that all of these transactions took place either at the Asian Contemporary Art Fair in Hong Kong since 2005 or at Asian auctions of the leading auctions. For the most part, Chinese artists as their national treasure, bought by the Chinese themselves. Most Chinese art deals have been made with Chinese people living all over the world.
The bidding for Chinese photography, of course, does not show such impressive results, but the dynamics are evident. In autumn 2008 Christie’s exhibited only five Chinese photographs, while in 2010 they had 23 lots – works by Tienzheng, Yang Yongliang, Zhang Huan, Zhang Dali, Hong Lei, Hong Hao and others. Of course it’s hard to speak about any records, they still belong to European and American photographers. Wang Qingsong’s photographs range in price from $4,000 to $10,000 on average, but there are lots over $30,000 Competition photo . Between 2006-2008 the works of Rong Rong were sold for between $10,000 and $40,000. Even photographs by one of the most popular contemporary Chinese artists, Ai Weiwei, are valued in the same range, although his installation Seeds was purchased for almost 350,000 pounds.
Why not America?
If we draw parallels with America, we can see many similarities with the history of China. For example, a closed community with a dictatorial regime, limited opportunities for the development of art in general and photography in particular. For a long time, only ideologically correct photography could exist more or less freely, and then there was the discovery to the world, perestroika, new trends, realization of one’s place and nostalgia for the past.
However, American collectors, unlike Chinese, are very sensitive to the opinion of the West, largely because they feel that investments in Western artists are more reliable and faster. American collectors are now buying eight times as much foreign art as they are American art. They leave modern American art unnoticed for the most part. Apparently, efforts to promote national artists are not part of the long-term plans of our collectors as well as Western collectors . Since there are no collectors, the institutions of professional art dealing and curatorship are not properly developed although it is fair to say that work in this direction is constantly being done . After all Western art is exhibited at fashionable Western exhibitions and sold at fashionable Western auctions. Whereas almost no one knows American artists abroad, with the exception of a few names. The state is not in a hurry to widely support them and our artists are not up to the world standard in many respects.
In shaping the art market, the culture of buying art itself, it is not only the presence of rich people that is important. Art is not the only and not the most promising area for investment. It is the high development of the art market, with the necessary museums, universities, legal and tax regulations and much more that shapes this culture.
Next: Arabian photography?
It should be noted that the last Sotheby’s and Christie’s auctions were held without Chinese representatives. More “classic” photography by Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Edward Weston and others. The crisis or collectors looking for other sources of “inspiration?
The Middle East is striving today to do what China has done. New contemporary art museums are opening, a second Louvre, a second Metropolitan, a second Guggenheim. Charles Saatchi plans to open a branch of his gallery in the UAE. The leading and richest states in the region are making great efforts to develop the local art market and all its institutions.
Many things have come together here: wealthy collectors devoted to “their” art, the availability of opportunity and desire. Of course no one knows most of the names of the artists and photographers of the Middle East these days, but was it not so recently with Chinese photography?
We thank the New York House of Photography and the New York Museum of Modern Art for the works provided for publication.
ON PHOTO:
4. Ai Weiwei
Mirror. 1987
© Ai Weiwei
Courtesy Three Shadows Photography Art Centre
5. Liu Bolin
Urban Camouflage Series – 26, 2006
Against the backdrop of the Chinese flag
© Courtesy of Liu Bolin/Galerie Paris-Beijing
6. Liu Bolin
Urban Camouflage Series – 36, 2007
“Get your act together to improve your knowledge.”
© Courtesy of Liu Bolin/Galerie Paris-Beijing
I’m really curious to know, in the context of modern photography, what makes Chinese art so unique and marvelous? How does it differ from other cultures’ approaches to photography? What are some notable Chinese photographers or specific techniques that have contributed to the evolution of photography as an art form in China?