Page 66 - Bonham's Asian Art London November 12, 2015
P. 66
THE JEANNETTE CLAUDE JONGEN I was fortunate that in 1968 I married a man
COLLECTION OF BUDDHIST ART who shared my interest in the arts. His family
were picture framers and had been framing
Lots 70 - 90 masterpieces for generations.
I was born in Brussels, Belgium during the chaotic When my husband took over the reins of the family
years of the last World War and was brought company, we decided to open a gallery in addition
up on a healthy diet of Tintin and classical and to keeping our frame manufacturing activity. This
comptemporary art. My engineer father, son of gallery, which carried my name showed many
Belgian composer Joseph Jongen was somewhat prominent names of contemporary artists but
of an explorer and mountaineer, climbing remote as we approached the mid-seventies, an idea
regions such as Peru and the Himalayas. My crossed my mind: to exhibit ancient Oriental
mother preferred spending her time and artistic art together with comptemporary artists in joint
passions in her ceramic studio. shows. Whether this was an excuse to revisit the
regions I had fallen in love with a decade earlier
Later as a student of political science at the I do not know, however, in 1974, we travelled to
University of Brussels, I had the opportunity Nepal for several months. I became increasingly
to travel extensively throughout the Middle passionate about Buddhist art, mostly Chinese
East - Iran, Iraq, Syria, Turkey and the Indian Tibetan bronzes and thangkas.
subcontinent. This was an eye-opener and
wherever I went, I saw things that piqued my The exhibitions that took place in my gallery
interest – paintings here, sculptures there, following this trip were enormously successful
ceramics, bronzes. Everything was so and my fascination with Buddhist and Islamic art
different from the art I knew back home, yet so continues to this day.
complementary.
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