Page 142 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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the West: while Sinologists worked with text, art historians and connoisseurs concerned

themselves primarily with aesthetic and formal elements. Pope criticized Western art

historians for their application of rules of stylistic evolution in Western art history to

study Chinese art, and their negligence of Chinese history, archaeology, epigraphy, and

language (Pope 1947, 389).

Loo’s dealing reflected this methodological debate in the study of Chinese art. Loo’s

use of Westernness/Chineseness had categorical implications. Chinese sculptures and

ceramics were low-context objects, which depended less on native knowledge. They

could be conveniently recontextualized in the West. In contrast, bronzes and paintings

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were high-context items with distinct forms, media, and formats. One needed to have a

good understanding of Chinese history, language, and customs in order to appreciate

them in the Chinese manner. Aware that the unique features of Chinese art presented

enormous challenges to the Western audience in the first half of the twentieth century,

Loo embarked on a series of projects to educate the Westerners about “Chinese taste”. It

is important to note that while placing a great emphasis on Chinese contexts, Loo’s

dealing in paintings and bronzes often struck a fine balance between Chinese and

Western, Sinology and art history, context and form, text and image.

The Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient and Genuine Chinese Paintings published by

Loo’s firm in 1916 was Loo’s first important project to introduce and promote Chinese-

style connoisseurship in America. Designed to be sold as a lot to Charles L. Freer and his

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Benjamin March pointed out the problems in categorizing objects that were uniquely
Chinese in America: whether to categorize Chinese bronzes as bronze or sculpture, and
whether to categorize mortuary clay figures as ceramics or sculpture (March 1929a).