Page 184 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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Vollard, after looking at the landscapes by Wang Yuan-chi remarked, ‘But I see Cezanne

in them.’” (Devree 1949b) 383 Vollard’s pairing of Chinese art of the Qing dynasty and

Western Modernist art was based not only on their correspondence in form, but also on

their shared newness. Old Chinese art, like modernist art, arrived in America art market

as new categories. The constructed affinities between Chinese antiquities and Western

Modernist art became a major selling point in Loo’s dealing in Chinese painting and

ceramics in the 1930s and the 1940s.

While Buddhist sculpture had been conveniently assimilated into Western art

discourse, Chinese painting, different considerably from Western painting in medium,

technique, and aesthetics, remained one of the least understood categories of Chinese art

in the West. An article published in 1910 viewed Eastern painting as inferior to Western

painting on the basis that it did not follow the Western ideal of “scientific truth and

384
faithful representation”. Eastern painting was dismissed for its poor formal qualities
and lack of intellectual and emotional depth. The article observed, “Eastern line is the

repetition of a formula, Western line is a report of

385
386
reality”, and Oriental painting is “flat on the surface”. The Westerners’ preference
for naturalistic representation resulted in the popularity of the Song paintings with

383
It has been indicated that part of the paintings in the exhibition may come from Loo’s
collection (G.B.Washburn to C. T. Loo, April 20, 1949, folder, C. T. Loo & Co.1945-
1949, RISDA). Ambroise Vollard, the pioneer dealer, patron, and publisher, played a key
role in promoting and shaping the careers of many of the leading artists during the late
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

384
Edinburg, (October 1910): 469.
385 Edinburg, (October 1910): 476.
386 Edinburg, (October 1910): 469.