High prices appear in auctions. Is the auction price proportional to the artistic value?
In response to the recent report that some media in Taiwan said that "the total selling price of Chinese and foreign paintings was ranked first in Zhang Daqian", He Huaisuo, a well-known art critic in Taiwan, recently submitted a book on "The Paper·Art Review" (www.thepaper.cn) and believes that the Nobel Prize in literature and the ranking of the art market have nothing to do with the level of true literary and artistic achievements. Judging from this artistic value, it can be said that burning a piano and cooking a crane.
In late September, I went to Hangzhou to attend the China Academy of Fine Arts seminar, and at the invitation of the famous local Xiaofeng Bookstore, I held a symposium with readers on my book "The Master's Heart". It happened that Mr. Zi Zhongyun was in Hangzhou and had a symposium in Xiaofeng Bookstore. I have the opportunity to meet this academic predecessor who is well-educated in Wuche. The owner of Chengshu House arranged that after the tea party, he had lunch together. This was an unexpected honor for me to visit.
On October 19th, with a friend, he returned to Taipei from Hokkaido, Japan, and read Mr. Zizhongyun online. "Is the Nobel Prize in Literature of the World Meaning? 》 article. That was her old article twenty years ago. When I was a college student, I didn’t think that Western literature experts could judge the pros and cons of literature from all ethnic groups around the world. The Nobel Prize could only set awards such as peace, medicine, physics, and chemistry. Literature is not like science and has objective and universal benchmarks, so the "Literature Award" should not be included.
However, the "Western Center" ideology has become accustomed to it for two hundred years, and the arrogance of some Europeans and Americans has reached a point where they are unaware of it. Many people in the East also regard the West as the best country. Mr. Zhongyun criticized it so well, and I fully resonated with it. The Nobel Prize in Literature not only does not have "world significance", but also does not have "meaning". Because literature, philosophy, religion, aesthetics, art, thought, etc. that are closely related to nationality and traditional culture cannot be judged by one standard. Therefore, it is ridiculous to have a very small number of Western "authorities" decide who deserves the prize. In fact, the Nobel Prize in Literature is not only meaningless, but also has negative significance. Because rating works that cater to Western tastes as the highest achievement of literature in a certain country is a confusion of value and will cause misleading younger generations and the world.
2013 Hong Kong Sotheby's "Meiyuntang Collection Zhang Daqian Painting" special auction
is unique. Recently, there was a news from Taipei China Times: "Zhang Daqian's works were the best-selling world last year." Ranking the total selling price of Chinese and foreign paintings is the news that Zhang Daqian is the top of the list. It can be seen that some contemporary media have a pathetic attitude towards the proliferation of art, utilitarianism and materialism. All Chinese and foreign painters are inevitably priced at auction, but the quality of art and achievements have nothing to do with whether they are "best-selling". With the total transaction price, the competition for each painter who sells the best to suggest the victory of art is an extremely vulgar standard. Moreover, no matter whether the total price is based on the sum of three or five pieces, or the sum of twenty or thirty pieces, it is not fair to compare the amount of money, nor does it have any "meaning" of art reviews.
Zhang Daqian’s lotus works
Why did Zhang Daqian’s total price be sold at a one-year auction? If you know the inside story, it is not worth a smile: Most of the collectors who like to buy Zhang Daqian are local tyrants or big businessmen on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, and there are many people who do not understand the true value of Chinese calligraphy and painting; secondly, most of Zhang Daqian's paintings imitate traditional famous works, with a very formulaic sweet style. Zhang Daqian's works are dozens or hundreds of times that of creative first-class painters. Therefore, Zhang Daqian has the most paintings at each auction, and of course the total price is the most.
Big thousand
Literature's Nobel Prize and the art market rankings have nothing to do with the level of true literary and artistic achievements. Judging from this artistic value, it can be said that burning a piano and cooking a crane. But contemporary times have become "authoritative". This is a phenomenon that has never been seen in the past and ancient times, not to mention the mystery of the Nobel Prize and the auction.
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— There are no books on the market now. Guangdong People's Publishing House is going to publish a new edition. I will take this opportunity to carefully review it myself. At the same time, I will also add some discussions that are unclear and in-depth.
At that time, the situation before and after the rise of the Chinese calligraphy and painting market, and described why the popular Zhang Daqian was not included in the Eight Great Masters I commented on? This is a very worthy issue. In the future, if any critic's comments on Zhang Daqian are very different from mine in the art world, perhaps only then can I particularly realize that this is undoubtedly the opinion of ordinary theorists.
I was born in the countryside of Guangdong and loved painting and reading since I was a child. After graduating from junior high school, I believe that men are determined to be in all directions and are determined to go outside to see the world, so as not to be blinded by the views of the local rumor. Go to , Wuchang to study at the Affiliated Middle School of Art, the Department of the Normal University. Sure enough, it was eye-opening. Among the painters from the late Qing Dynasty to the 20th century, my favorite master was already there, but it was often very different from my teachers and classmates. This made me taste the "sense of loneliness" long ago (later my collection of essays has the title of this book). My views and judgments often do not resonate with those around me. For example, half a century ago, I had a very high opinion of Huang Binhong and Fu Baoshi, and others always found it very strange. Later, Zhang Daqian was praised to heaven, and I thought he was a great painter, not a first-class artist. To this day, many colleagues disagree.
In the years I was in Wuchang, the God of Destiny was particularly favored by me: I had the opportunity to see the original works of three painters I admire. It's nothing to others, it's a god-given opportunity to me. Our school department manager borrowed two batches of works from Fu Baoshi and Li Keran from the Wuchang exhibition, which were successively traveling to the sketch exhibition for students to view and imitate. Mr. Fu also gave us a speech that I would never forget for my life. (I remember he talked about the spirit of Chinese painting, full of pride in national art and self-esteem for Chinese culture. He made me wonder and still unforgettable; Mr. Li did not come to Wuchang, so he did not have the opportunity to visit him back then.) Another time, he borrowed about a hundred small landscape paintings (not mounted) with Mr. Huang Binhong, who lives in Wuhan. These three good opportunities are worth it. I have been suffering in Wuchang for several years, and it has become very worthwhile. At that time, I was studying hard day and night. Three chances to personally capture the original work, I copied no less than a hundred of them. I am the only one who works so hard in the entire department. I still keep some of the teenage exercises I did back then. My excitement and hard work are really enjoying myself sleeping all night long. No wonder others think I am a little crazy. In the 1960s, I studied in the Department of Fine Arts of Taiwan Normal University and felt that Taiwan's academic style was very narrow. The student only learns the method and learns from the master, and the teaching method is still copying the teacher's drawings, which is too outdated (there is still this bad habit today). I am determined to write two books in the future: one is teaching methods; the other is on modern Chinese painters. I have published both books for more than ten years. The former is "To the Artist of the Future"; the latter is "The Heart of the Master".
Mr. He Huaishuo
Chinese society cannot have a correct understanding of the artistic genius of its own nation, which is really sad. Many vulgar, superficial, wrong concepts and vision, habitual fashions and clichés have caused most people to see clearly that they have real creative achievements, inherit traditions, and make pioneering contributions to the future. Who are the great painters who have a high status in history in the future? Because I am a painter, I want to put forward my opinions and leave my testimony. Of course, my judgment must be delivered to history to judge, and I have great confidence in my opinions. By the end of the last century, those who agree with us gradually became the vast majority. My expectations have not been disappointed.
Chinese society and even the "art world" (including art education circles, calligraphy and painting collection circles, art galleries, etc.) Why can't we correctly understand the great painters of modern China? In fact, there are the sufferings of modern and modern Chinese history.
The 20th century was an era of turmoil and change in China's society. The collection of Chinese antiques and calligraphy and paintings was greatly impacted and fluctuated. The collections changed hands at a low price, and were moved out in large quantities (especially during the "Cultural Revolution". Before reform and opening up and before the great power rose, there was no market for calligraphy and painting in the mainland, nor was there any new collectors (old collectors were hiding or being copied. Private collections of calligraphy and paintings given by friends were not systematic, and they were not considered real collectors). By the end of the 20th century, Chinese collection activities and markets were transferred to the United States, Hong Kong and Taipei, China. It was a wonder that has never been seen in Chinese history for more than a thousand years. In this once-in-a-lifetime period, countless people have become rich. True experts become international godfathers in new collection markets and activities (such as Wang Jiqian , Wang Fangyu, etc.); many impersonators take advantage of the situation; antique calligraphy and painting merchants have a prosperous business; brokers traveling from all over the world also have opportunities for huge profits.
Before there was an auction company, the value of Chinese calligraphy and painting (the achievements and historical status of the artist, the quality of the work, etc.) and the price (the price of the market) depend on many factors. Briefly speaking, the reviews of historians and critics (if there are famous masters’ titles, their value will increase); the evaluations of great painters; the intentions and attitudes of collectors (the popularity of collectors of all sizes and big or small to collect); the publicity of galleries; the general reflection of the public in society; the reflection of art merchants and market facts; the style of the painter himself (such as Picasso’s countless girlfriends and Zhang Daqian’s Taoist robe and long beards are praised as beautiful talks, which also helps his voice); the amount of publications (news, media) and albums... It is very delicately integrated and turbulent, and the price is formed by reference and influence, and it also continues to rise and fall. Moreover, collectors are often critics, and they are closely related to markets, art merchants and galleries, and their identities often overlap. In terms of artistic value, qualified in-depth comments can better affect the positioning of artists and works. In terms of the price of art, the collector's intentions and the market conditions (some are fake, exceptions) are the dominant factors. Wang Jiqian, the most important collection of calligraphy and paintings in the United States, is the main collection of heavyweight calligraphy and paintings in the Song, Yuan and Ming dynasties. Hong Kong and Taiwan, take three people as examples: Hong Kong’s “Xu Baizhai” (Liu Junliang), Taipei’s “Lan Qianshan Pavilion” (Lin Baishou), and “Yi Zhentang” (Wang Shijie). They all inherit the rest of the past from mainland collectors and collect masterpieces of calligraphy and painting that have been reviewed by previous generations. The three Taiwanese and Hong Kong companies have included painters in the recent period only reach the middle Qing Dynasty. Ren Bonian from the late Qing Dynasty to Qi and Huang in the 20th century. Because it has not yet entered the eyes of collectors.
After the mid-20th century, there was no collection activities and art market in mainland China, and the market driven by overseas and Hong Kong and Taiwan collectors only reached the mid-Qing Dynasty. Therefore, the comments and evaluations of Chinese painters over a hundred years after the Opium War were not yet fixed, and there was no standard for collection activities, so they were in a state of mixed opinions and inseparable dragons and snakes. Because education has not yet been popularized, art education is even more lacking, and their love and taste for art remain at the stage of utilitarianism and superficiality. If you like good luck, wealth and longevity, or peacock beauty, fairies and tigers, calligraphy and painting are only used for decoration and beautification at most. The aesthetic ability of ordinary people is much worse than that of foreigners. For example, Van Gogh's "Crow Flying Over the Wheat Field", foreigners will rush to buy it, while Chinese people have no interest in collecting it. Before and after I graduated from college, Taipei was the most famous and most valuable person, including landscape Huang Junbi , flower and bird Gao Yihong, and beauty Ji Kang. Gao Yihong is the most expensive, and the peony is priced at 200,000 yuan per flower. Later, Zhang Daqian came to Taiwan to settle down and became the leader of the painting world. At that time, most of the Chinese paintings were high-ranking officials and businessmen, and the upper class decorated the halls to show their elegance and status. The largest collectors in Hong Kong and Taiwan mainly focus on antiques. China has been weak and poor for more than a hundred years and cannot support the high prices of national treasure-grade art. Foreigners have vision and money, and the market and prices of Chinese antiques have long been dominated by Europe and the United States. With "world price" as a "backer", Hong Kong and Taiwan collectors have the courage to "invest". As for the collection of modern and modern Chinese calligraphy and paintings, there was no real collector of Chinese people at that time. As far as I know, it is impossible to admit that this aspect is also started by foreigners.The Japanese were prosperous and powerful in modern times and later invaded Asian countries. However, the Japanese people like and collect modern Chinese calligraphy and paintings; Europe collected paintings of famous masters from the early 20th century very early, and few people knew about them. In addition to collecting foreigners, research is very attentive, and experts are more cautious than Chinese. We are really ashamed. After the mid-20th century, the price of ancient Chinese porcelain had reached astronomical numbers. Foreigners discovered that the "weak and poor" Chinese people would only pursue antiques with foreigners, and they did not know that they would pay attention to modern Chinese calligraphy and painting, nor did they know that they would be new national treasures. When foreigners start collecting, it becomes a trend, Chinese talents, like antique dealers of porcelain, get "game" from foreigners.
In the second half of 1980s, before Sotheby's began to include modern and modern Chinese paintings in the lot, Hugh Mosse, an antique merchant who was very qualified and in the West, told me that they operated Chinese antique porcelain, and there were fewer and fewer good things, but the prices were getting higher and higher. If one porcelain is broken, one less is lost; if the collector donates it to the museum, he will never return to the market. They found an ancient porcelain worth several million dollars that could almost buy works from Qi Baishi, Huang Binhong and others throughout their lives. Why do you still collect porcelain and not modern Chinese paintings? At that time, I personally witnessed the earliest transformation of the art world, the market and the collectors. The auction company started to sell modern Chinese calligraphy and paintings from Sotheby's and was influenced by prophets such as Mo Shisheng. At the beginning of mainland reform and opening up, Taiwan was the beginning of economic takeoff. At that time, a painting of NT$100 to NT$1000 was NT$1000. Thirty years later, today it has reached a sky-high price of tens of millions of times. As the price of paintings continues to rise and profitable, the number of collectors and art dealers continues to increase, and there are also galleries in Hong Kong and Taiwan that specialize in 20th century painters. Cai Chennan and founded the first folk "Cathay Tai Art Museum". Later, for some reason, Cai also started another career in the mainland.
In the 1980s, I made a series of comments from modern and contemporary painters since Ren Bonian, which happened to be when Sotheby's started shooting modern and contemporary Chinese paintings. There were very few experts at that time, and they asked me to go to Hong Kong to identify the authenticity of some of the items for them. I went to the designated hotel and when I opened the door, there was a golden welcome card printed on the fruit plate on the table, and I was flattered. Later, experts, scholars and publications commented on famous modern masters quickly increased. After the mainland followed Hong Kong and Taiwan in the past 20 years, modern Chinese calligraphy and painting auction companies also sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain. Everything in the mainland was full of excitement, and it immediately became a hot topic and came from behind. Moreover, its scale and momentum are extremely large. Nowadays, commercialization and artificial operations, the authenticity of paintings are hard to distinguish between true and false, and other complex social factors, bribery and money laundering, the value and price, chaos and inversion of the lots are similar to the stock speculation market, which is no longer understandable to outsiders. When will the big bubble burst? No one can tell. Since Chinese calligraphy and painting are so profitable, the production of fakes is even more common, which is a worse situation. The future of Chinese art, because of the intervention of capitalist market economy auction companies, money has become the supreme authority. "Price" determines "value", and only the Mammon art is worrying.
has spent a lot of time, and as far as I know, a brief description of this history in the past few decades. Because Chinese people under 50 probably don’t know these changes and inside stories. Leave some historical materials for later reference or are of benefit. I want to write this book, to clear the clouds in the chaos and make people know the true masters, which is the effort.
has other reasons. In the 1970s, I was in my 30s and was close to Professor Xia Zhiqing, a Chinese scholar at Columbia University for about five years, and I followed each other. When I talked about writing this book, he encouraged me to write it. He has a preface written for me in "Selected Works of Xia Zhiqing" in 1977. He said that Ruskin (J. Ruskin 1819-1900) is also a painter, an art critic and a master of prose, and is very similar to me. His famous work is "Modern Painter". Of course, I agree and thank Brother Zhiqing for his encouragement. I started writing for many years shortly after returning to Taiwan. I often think: There are two most precious articles in the world: one is the great original work (later regarded as a classic), and the other is the articles written by famous masters (or masters). We want to read the classics, and then we long for the masters we admire to comment on the previous masters and their works.We must look at other giants from the eyes of giants and experience the essence of his evaluation of other masters from the heart of the master. I loved reading Roman, who I had been young since I was young. Roland's "H Three Legends of the Giants " ( Beethoven , Michelangelo , Tolstoy); Valeri wrote Voltaire , Goethe, Hugo , Flaubert; Maugham wrote ten masterpieces and writers of comments; Hoffman edited books such as "The Master of the Master's Writing" (Hugo, Elliott, Orwell and others wrote Balzac, Woolf, Mark. Twain, etc.). Whenever I get a book written by a well-known writer whom I admire, it is as happy as he gives me a key to break into the master's secret garden of the soul.
I hope to be an artist and critic who can lead readers into the genius' garden of souls. However, I may not be able to do it, but I yearn for it. What I learned throughout my life, admired and admired, and pursued; the skills, abilities and insights I accumulated in my life in art study seem to be reserved for me to write this book; from another perspective, these eight geniuses who were only famous masters when I was young (Fu and Li were only forty or fifty years old at that time, and had no universal name yet). They first entered my artistic soul and inspired me to grow up, and were my "old man on the side". So I want to write this book that is closely related to me.
In the 20th century, there are many great painters in the Chinese painting world besides the eight masters. For example, Pan Tianshou , Ye Qianyu ... are all things I admire. But when we look at historical books, there are only a few representatives in each historical period. The "Eight Great Masters of Tang and Song Dynasties" of literature, the "Four Masters of Yuan Dynasty", the "Four Masters of Ming Dynasty", etc., have never seen more than a dozen or twenty.
I also want to say by the way: After the Eight Great Masters, Lin Fengmian (died in 1991), I have not seen any painters who can be compared with the above "Eight Great Masters plus Three". ——The talents of Chinese painting are drifting, and there is no "substitute". This is another topic, and I have a lot to talk about in other articles, so I won't say much.
