Page 24 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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scholars he contacted, and the most representative publication, exhibition/sale projects he

launched. Many sections in this dissertation are case studies, which deal with some of the

basic questions in this rather new field of Chinese art dealership. Chapters One and Two,

for example, are based mainly on primary sources. References to comparative dealers in

and outside Chinese art are given in footnotes to broaden the scope of this dissertation

and to illuminate shared modes of transaction in the world of dealers.

It is noteworthy that with the advancement of scholarship since the mid-twentieth

century, some attributions made in Loo’s time about authorship and date may no longer

be accepted today. This dissertation often uses direct quotations from Loo-related

materials with the understanding that these attributions reflected how these objects were

received in his time.

Structure and Sources

This dissertation is divided into three parts. Chapter One and Chapter Two concern the

modes of transaction and mechanism in Loo’s business. Chapter One, A Flow Chart,

offers an overview of Loo’s business by tracing the journey of an object in a typical

transaction. Chapter Two, The Network, investigates how Loo’s relationship with other

dealers, collectors, museum professionals, and scholars shaped major American

collections of Chinese art. Part I relies heavily on primary sources that I gathered in

museums and archives, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (MFA), Sackler

Museum at Harvard University, Rhode Island School of Design Museum (RISD),

Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met), Brooklyn Museum of Art, Rockefeller Archive

Center (RAC), Frank Caro Archive at the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University