Page 26 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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utilizes materials from exhibition reviews, Loo’s catalogues, and exhibition installation

photographs to reconstruct the display context.

It is important to note that the three parts in this dissertation are necessarily interrelated

to reveal the inner workings of the market-academia-display mechanism for the

production of Chinese art. The analytical categories in this dissertation are not mutually

exclusive but complementary ones. They can often be applied at the same time to analyze

an object in Loo’s transaction.

The interest in museum provenance research and collecting is burgeoning (Appadurai

1986, Clifford 1988, Vergo 1989, Cohen 1992, Pearce 1992, 1994, Clunas 1994, Wallach

1998). The complicated life history of many prestigious Chinese art objects outside

China, however, has made it increasingly difficult for researchers to find appropriate

sources. The materials pertaining to many world-class Chinese art collections in

museums are not often complete or available. For many Chinese scholars, access to

objects outside China and the relevant information is still limited. It is hoped that this

study of C. T. Loo, who was in direct contact with important artworks, dealers, collectors,

scholars, curators, and institutions, can serve as a site map and source book for my fellow

researchers. For this end, important objects that this dissertation deals with are given

museum accession numbers. The location of archival research materials can be found in

footnotes and the bibliography.

Biography as History

History, shaped by the character, deeds, and values of individuals, was written as

biography in ancient China (Lawton 1991, 5). An important chapter in the history of the