Page 187 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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pointed to the Modern quality of these ancient murals, “Free and ‘modern’ in spirit these

ancient fragments are very close to contemporary Western work.” (Reed 1949, 16) The

affinities between the ancient Chinese mural and modern American art were illustrated by

the New York Times review, in which a flying figure from one of the frescoes was placed

together with the work Beach Wood by the contemporary American artist William Brice

(Fig.56). This juxtaposition was a visual statement that their shared linear and expressive

quality allowed Chinese art to bridge the gap between “East and West Eight Centuries

Apart”(Devree 1949a). The review commented on the frescos’ expressive lines and

compared the mural to Japanese prints, which had a profound impact on the modern art

movement: “The black outlines of the sketched draperies and forms and clouds are firm,

subtle and resonant. Draperies are intricately depicted. In the driving outline of the clouds

beyond a flying figure there is a kind of expressionism such as later artists and the

Japanese color print makers used in their breaking waves, something that has come back

again into art with the modern movement.”(Devree 1949a)

It is noteworthy that time and timelessness were not conflicting concepts in Loo’s

dealing. His promotion of Song dynasty ceramics, for instance, emphasized both

historical context and contemporary relevance. In the introduction to the 1947 catalogue,

Exhibition of the Wares of the Sung Dynasty, Loo located Song ceramics in the history of

Chinese ceramic art, “…the great creative period with unsurpassed achievements began

only during the Northern SUNG Dynasty: 960-1127 AD and continued with the

following Dynasties till the end of the 18 th Century, then came the decadence” (Loo

1947, Introduction). Loo promoted Song porcelains not only for their age and rarity, but