Page 127 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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Certain characteristics of Chinese art, however, allowed Loo to manipulate his

collections conceptually to meet the basic criteria in the Euro-American evaluation

systems. Compared with the so-called “primitive” traditions such as African or Oceanic

art, Chinese art had a well-preserved written history, which could be conveniently

translated and incorporated into a Western art historical framework. In addition, Chinese

art, spanning over five thousand years and known for its diversity and breadth, enabled

Loo to promote selectively those categories that appeared close to Western art in motif,

medium, and aesthetics. Moreover, Chinese art, like many other artistic traditions, did not

develop in a self-contained environment. There were cultures and civilizations that

influenced and in turn were influenced by the development of Chinese art and culture.

This cross-cultural aspect of Chinese art allowed Loo to market the possible links

between China and the West. In 1925 the art critic Roger Fry observed the malleable

state of Chinese art in the West, “…it would not be hard to find specimens that might

puzzle a connoisseur as to whether they were really Chinese or not…At one point we find

Chinese art merging insensibly into Scythian; at another Greco-Indian influence

predominates. It would indeed be surprising if one could generalize readily about the art

of so vast a territory, extending through such long periods of human history…”(Fry 1925,

1-2)

Although artistic contact is often a two-way street, in early-twentieth-century America

it was common to assume that Chinese art was derivative, and less dynamic compared to