Page 179 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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demonstrated his scientific attitude. In the catalogue Exhibition of Chinese, Indian and

Cambodian Art Formed by C. T. Loo, Loo noted, “At the beginning, the dynastic periods

are given in a table which may serve for reference in respect of attribution noted in the

list…Every effort has been made to date the objects with care and conservatism.” (Loo

1931, 3-4) Loo’s exhibitions were often presented as Chinese art history in miniature.

The review of Loo’s 1936 exhibition inaugurating his new galleries observed, “In the

exhibition examples from the Han through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries

reiterate the artistic development of the ten centuries.” (Davidson 1936, 12) Loo’s 1940

Exhibition of Chinese Stone Sculptures was also noted for its comprehensiveness, art

historical approach, and authority. Salmony, who compiled the 1940 exhibition

catalogue, compared this exhibition to Osvald Siren’s authoritative work Chinese

Sculpture Chinese Sculpture from the Fifth to the Fourteenth Century (1925), “The

exhibition at the gallery of C. T. Loo and Company, New York is equally comprehensive

by illustrating each creative stage of the evolution of Chinese stone sculpture by one or

more important examples.” (Salmony 1940a, Introduction)

Considering Loo’s close connection to high officials in the Guomindang government

in China, Loo’s display of Chinese antiquities can be seen as part of the Chinese

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nationalistic campaign to construct a grand and coherent narrative of China’s past. Loo

often presented his collection as the spokesman of ancient Chinese civilization. In the

1931 catalogue for the Exhibition of Chinese, Indian and Cambodian Art, Loo stated,

“The great span of years covered by our exhibits clearly manifests the fulfillment of our