Page 124 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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1929 loan exhibition of Chinese art at the Detroit Institute of Arts, for example, included

not only C. T. Loo and other dealers, but also museums, and private collectors (March

1929b, 9). The collaboration among the market, museum, and academia was manifested

in organizations such as the Chinese Art Society of America. Established in 1943 in New

York, the organization devoted itself “to the exposition of all Chinese art forms in

exhibitions, lectures and publications and an enlarged program of scientific research”. 273

The list of its officers and board of directors showed a mix of prominent curators,

scholars, collectors, and dealers, including C. T. Loo as treasurer; Edgar Bromberger,

collector; Horace H.F. Jayne, curator of Oriental Art in the Pennsylvania Museum;

Theodore Y. Hobby, keeper of the Altman Collection at the Met; Alfred Salmony,

curator/scholar; and Alice Getty, collector and scholar of Buddhist art.

The dynamism and mobility of this network was also reflected in the crossover of the

players’ roles. 274 As a large quantity of objects moved quickly through the exchange,

display, and evaluation systems, the line between dealers, collectors, curators, and

scholars became blurred. 275 C. T. Loo, for example, acted as a dealer, collector,

exhibition organizer, and scholar, all at once.

273 New York Times, October 16, 1944.
274 Ernest Fenollosa (Lawton 1993, 131-146) and John C. Ferguson (Lawton 1991, 65-
104) had intensive involvement in the market, museum, and academia at the same time.
275
This phenomenon was prominent before the increased curatorial specialization since
the 1950s (Pearlstein 1993, 9). Asian art experts Ernest Fenollosa (Lawton 1993, 131-46),
John C. Ferguson (Lawton 1991, 65-104), and Ananda Coomaraswamy were active in the
market, the museum world, and academia.