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Vivienne Chow

Surrealism is the next big dream for Chinese art collectors.
After several years of being attracted to multimillion-dollar paintings by renowned artists such as Pablo Picasso and Claude Monet they are now widening their focus, say auction houses.
India Phillips, head of Impressionist and modern art at Bonhams, based in London, says Chinese collectors have moved on from acquiring trophy pieces that cost about US$7.5 million to nurturing a deeper and more nuanced taste in European art.
“Interest in surrealist artists like [Salvador] Dali and [René] Magritte has gone up over the past year,” Phillips tells the South China Morning Post.
In the past she saw hardly any mainland Chinese buyers bidding at New York and London sales of Impressionist and modern art, she says.
Interest in Western masters started spawning a potential market among mainland Chinese collectors in the late 2000s when auction houses, including Est-Ouest Auctions from Japan and Seoul Auction, began selling their pieces in Hong Kong.
Western art auction houses, galleries and art fairs have been vying to attract the deep pockets of Chinese art collectors, who never shy away from buying and displaying their highly valuable collections.
Sotheby’s jumped on the bandwagon in 2010 with its first exhibition selling Impressionist and modern art in Hong Kong.
The European Fine Art Fair, the largest art fair in Europe focusing on fine art and antiquities, held in Maastricht, the Netherlands, has also started actively promoting its events in China in recent years.
Since then, Phillips says she has seen a small number of mainland Chinese collectors making their presence felt at the New York and London sales by bidding for Impressionist and modern art pieces.
Conor Jordan, deputy chairman of Impressionist and modern art at Christie’s in New York, says mainland Chinese who are new to this category – especially veteran Chinese collectors that have been used to the aesthetics of Chinese ink paintings – tend to focus on famous names.
Christie’s recently showed Picasso’s 1955 masterpiece Les Femmes d’Alger (Version “O”) in Hong Kong. The painting is estimated to fetch US$140 million at Christie’s New York auction on May 11, and Christie’s hopes to generate a buzz among mainland Chinese and other Asian buyers with the Hong Kong showing.

The works of famous artists such as Picasso, Monet and Henri Matisse are the favourites of mainland collectors, who admire strong images and vivid hues, Phillips says.
“My experience is that [Chinese collectors] are very decisive in what they want,” she says. “They respond to bold images and strong colours.
They want to spend money, and they want to grow their collections fast. Some have bought 10 or 15 pieces of art [priced below US$1.5 million each] in one go. That’s like a dream for anyone selling art.”
It is only over the past year that more mainland Chinese collectors have begun venturing into surrealism art, as they become more familiar with Western art aesthetics and history,” Phillips says. “They have begun to look for works much further down the price range, and have developed a more European taste in art.”
Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in Paris in the 1920s, after cubism. Growing from Dadaism in the early 20th surrealism, it was said to have a deep connection with Sigmund Freud’s psychoanalysis theories in the conflicts between the desire of the unconscious and society.
Surrealist paintings lay out the inner battles and appear to be “illogical”. Artists such as Dali, Magritte and Max Ernst are among the key figures.
Besides paintings, Chinese collectors also like to acquire sculptures, Phillips says.
One Hong Kong-based Chinese collector recently bought a collection of more than 20 ceramics by Picasso priced at more than US$1.5 million.
Jordan says mainland Chinese collectors are buying up pieces that now go beyond the kind of art with which they have grown up.
“They are in their 40s or above, who have made enough money from property, finance, manufacturing and retail, and are largely male,” he says.
Phillips says more education is needed to introduce Western art to mainland Chinese collectors.
Some international auction houses and galleries have been bringing Western art to China, already and she plans to bring Impressionist, modern and surrealist art featured in overseas auctions to Hong Kong and Beijing in 2016.
“Although mainland collectors are well-educated and travel extensively to overseas museums and galleries, it is necessary to bring art to China,” she says.


It's high time that Chinese art collectors get surreal

Surrealist paintings by Salvador Daii, such as the iconic 'The Persistence of Memory', are becoming increasingly popular with Chinese art collectors. Photo: SCMP Pictures

  Previous Page 66 of 114 Next Page   

Pablo Picasso's Les Femmes d'Alger (Version 'O')

The art of the real deal: China's auction market

China's art market is having growing pains, and stronger regulation is needed, industry experts say. Photo: SCMP Pictures 

Sotheby’s sold Wu Guanzhong’s Climbing Vines on Wall in October, but a legal dispute has arisen over payment. Photo: SCMP Pictures 

Hu Yanyan, president of China Guardian Auctions, says cheats damage the industry’s development in the long run. Photo: Dickson Lee

Sotheby's auctioneer Henry Howard-Sneyd (left) accepts the final bid for a "Guan yao" vase from the Southern Song dynasty in Hong Kong in April. Photo: Nora Tam

Shanghai collector Liu Yiqian shows his Ming dynasty Meiyintang "chicken cup" in July, 2014. Photo: Sam Tsang

Auction houses hope touch of modernism can lure back Chinese art lovers

Chinese collectors have hit the headlines over the past five years with purchases of modern art by Pablo Picasso (above) and French Impressionist Claude Monet. Photo: SCMP Pictures

Hu Yanyan, of China Guardian, says selling Impressionist and modern art will be great business for the auction house. Photo: SCMP Pictures

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Mainlanders have grown more sophisticated in their art and are showing more interest in the works of surrealist painters such as Salvador Dali and René Magritte


Mainlanders have grown more sophisticated in their art and are showing more interest in the works of surrealist painters such as Salvador Dali and René Magritte.
