Page 31 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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Japanese Art (1907), Berthold Laufer’s Chinese Pottery of the Han Dynasty (1909),

Jade: A Study in Chinese Archeology and Religion (1912), and John C. Ferguson’s

Outline of Chinese Art (1919).

In his first few years in America, Loo was busy establishing himself. His galleries

under the name “the Société Chinoise Léyer” first opened at the 489 Fifth Avenue in

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New York, and then moved to 557 Fifth Avenue under “Lai-yuan & Co.” in 1915.
Loo concentrated on the cultivation of his clientele. He approached curators at the

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University Museum, Pennsylvania, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, the Metropolitan

Museum of Art, New York, and the Fogg Museum at Harvard University. He established

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contact with leading collectors such as C. L. Freer, Eugene and Agnes Meyer, and John

D. Rockefeller, Jr. Loo arranged several exhibitions/sales. In March 1915 a painting

exhibition, one of his earliest exhibitions in America, was launched in his galleries in

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New York. In May 1915 an auction of his collection was held at the American Art
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Gallery. Loo also acted as broker between C.L. Freer and other dealers such as Charles

Vignier and Marcel Bing. In the 1910s and early 1920s, the most prestigious objects that

Loo handled include two Yixian Lohans (MFA 15.255, Met 21.76), works in the 1916

Descriptive Catalogue of Ancient and Genuine Chinese Paintings, two relief stone panels

15 Letterhead, invoice from C. T. Loo to C.L. Free, November 8, 1915, C.L. Freer
purchase voucher, CLFP-FGA.
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C. T. Loo to J.E. Lodge, October 29, 1915, folder: Lai-Yuan Co., box: Unofficial
Correspondence L, 1910-1922, AAOA-MFA
17 The earliest correspondence retrieved in my research is dated January 2, 1915, when
Loo visited the MFA (C. T. Loo to J. E. Lodge, January 2, 1915, folder: Lai-Yuan Co.,
box: Unofficial Correspondence L, 1910-1922, AAOA-MFA.)
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In 1915 Loo met C. L. Freer for the first time (Loo 1940, Preface).
19 American Art New, March 20, 1915, 3.
20 American Art New, May 8,1915, 7.