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| Auspicious Cranes about 1112 |
Auctions, museum exhibition, lectures, gallery selling shows some by dealers who temporarily take over premises in the center of London offer more Indian, Chinese, Japanese and Southeast Asian art each November than anyone, except maybe the most determined collector, can see and certainly more than I know enough about to appreciate. I did not see everything, not nearly. But the outings that meant a lot to me were "Masterpiece's of Chinese Paintings," at the Victoria &Albert Museum and "Reflecting Nature," a selling exhibition in Cork Street (Mayfair), staged by private dealer Simon Pilling
The 80 Chinese paintings at the V&A date from 700 to 1900. In addition to the pleasure of gazing on their works there is the amazement, yet again, of the sophistication; the vision and accomplishment of Chinese Artists in the 12th and 13th centuries when, by comparison, Europeans were illuminating manuscripts with sometimes vivid and beautiful but comparatively primitive works. Then as the great Italian artists of the Renaissance emerge--Titian, Raphael, Veronese--the Chinese decline and continue to decline until we arrive at the free for all that is 21st art everywhere. This evidence of such cycles of genius, like those of prosperity and power, is bracing--reassuring and unnerving.
The objects made by 30 year-old SASAKI Gakuto on view in "Reflecting Nature," are 21st century alright but seem outside the free for all that is global contemporary art. The artist, who teaches and works in Tokyo, is on a journey of his own==surreal, humorous and technically prodigious. His pieces-boxes, like those below-- look like the sort of luxury goods you might find at places like Dunhill --if they strayed from the conventional. But pick one up, open the box and the surprise is electric. These are not snakeskin covered leather objects that zip open; they are fabulous lacquer objects. He has applied layer upon layer of lacquer using exquisite control and technique to create in superb detail the look and texture of both reptile skin and metal zips. It is a honey of show...Prices from 3,000 to 5,000 pounds sterling. Covetable.
The 80 Chinese paintings at the V&A date from 700 to 1900. In addition to the pleasure of gazing on their works there is the amazement, yet again, of the sophistication; the vision and accomplishment of Chinese Artists in the 12th and 13th centuries when, by comparison, Europeans were illuminating manuscripts with sometimes vivid and beautiful but comparatively primitive works. Then as the great Italian artists of the Renaissance emerge--Titian, Raphael, Veronese--the Chinese decline and continue to decline until we arrive at the free for all that is 21st art everywhere. This evidence of such cycles of genius, like those of prosperity and power, is bracing--reassuring and unnerving.
The objects made by 30 year-old SASAKI Gakuto on view in "Reflecting Nature," are 21st century alright but seem outside the free for all that is global contemporary art. The artist, who teaches and works in Tokyo, is on a journey of his own==surreal, humorous and technically prodigious. His pieces-boxes, like those below-- look like the sort of luxury goods you might find at places like Dunhill --if they strayed from the conventional. But pick one up, open the box and the surprise is electric. These are not snakeskin covered leather objects that zip open; they are fabulous lacquer objects. He has applied layer upon layer of lacquer using exquisite control and technique to create in superb detail the look and texture of both reptile skin and metal zips. It is a honey of show...Prices from 3,000 to 5,000 pounds sterling. Covetable.
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