Page 81 - C.T. Loo A paper about his impact and activities in the Chinese art Market

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CHAPTER 2: THE NETWORK

While Chapter One offers a flow chart of C. T. Loo’s typical transactions, this chapter

looks at a cross section of Loo’s dealing in Chinese art. “Chinese art” is investigated here

not only as a class of objects, but also as a discursive formation in a web of relations in

America (Foucault 1972, Clunas 1994). This chapter examines the relationship between

the art market, the museum world, and academia, which played a central role in the

formation of Chinese art collections in America in the first half of the twentieth century.

In Loo’s time, the unprecedented speed, scale, and complexity of Chinese antiquities’

circulation gave rise to a dynamic network of dealers, collectors, curators, and scholars. It

was a place where collaboration and competition coexisted, where profit, politics, and

pleasure intertwined. This network, however, has been neglected by scholars largely due

to its secretive nature and the limited sources of research materials.

This chapter employs mainly archival materials to reconstruct this obscure matrix

through an investigation of C. T. Loo who, in close contact with the most preeminent

dealers, collectors, museum professionals, and scholars, functioned as an active player

and mediator in this network.

The first four sections examine Loo’s interaction with other dealers, collectors,

curators, and scholars. The final part brings together the previous parts to foreground how

“Chinese art” was framed by the art market-museum-academia network.

Dealer-Dealer

In the first half of the twentieth century, Chinese antiquities, especially early Chinese

art, arrived in the American art market as a new category. Although trading in Chinese