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Excellent Sales and Record Crowds
PREVAIL AT
THE 13^TH
INTERNATIONAL ASIAN ART FAIR,
NEW YORK
583 Park Avenue, New York City

New York, New York – “Refreshing, intimate and interesting” were the order of the day for the International Asian Art Fair, which beautifully filled out its elegant new premises at 583 Park Avenue and attracted record crowds and some of the most vigorous  buying seen in recent years at the fair. While smaller than in previous years in its former home at the Park Avenue Armory, the show’s resulting line-up was a varied and exciting range of international names.  The dazzling array of works on display, many of which were snapped up in the first few minutes of the opening, constituted a fair that has comfortably adapted to inevitable winds of change.

The International Asian Art Fair had the distinction of being the first art and antique fair to take place at 583 Park Avenue, since its renovation and conversion to premiere event venue. Built in 1924, 583 Park Avenue, on the Northeast corner of 63^rd Street, was designed by William Adams Delano and Chester Holmes Aldrich, also the architects of the nearby Colony and Knickerbocker Clubs.  The building retains its 50-foot-high ceilings and original light fixtures, including the 2,500-pound chandelier in its Grand Ballroom. With its very tall lantern top, handsome proportions, arched windows, columns, pediments and dome, this red-brick, Georgian-style building is one of the great architectural masterpieces of Park Avenue.  The Haughtons transformed the building with their elegant signature style.  They designed the exhibitions ingeniously into the space to accommodate the exhibitors and public both aesthetically and comfortably. 

Record crowds and extremely well-educated buying prevailed over the 5-day run of the fair and most of the 31 exhibitors reported excellent sales.  A crowd of more than 1,000 guests packed the Gala Preview evening for Asia Society on the evening of Thursday, March 14th where collectors flocked from all over the world and raised $800,000 for Asia Society. 

Among the large number of groups who visited the fair this year were the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Cornell University Museum of Art, China Institute Young Collectors, Chinese Consulate, Taiwanese Consulate, HSBC Bank, Mountbatten Interns, English Speaking Union, Consular Women’s Club of New York, Citibank, Japan Society Women’s Group, and the Cooper Hewitt Design Museum. 

Enthusiastic new young buyers in the market were particularly evident at the 2008 Asian Art Fair when contemporary Chinese, Malaysian and Indian art were among the major successes alongside the more traditional. 

New exhibitor Galerie Christian Deydier (Paris, France) enjoyed exhibiting in the International Asian Art Fair immensely and sold two major pieces within the first two days of the fair.  Mr. Deydier commented on the extremely “high caliber of people who came through the fair who were sincerely interested in learning” about the works of art.  Among the pieces Deydier sold was the beautiful Chinese Tang Dynasty (618-907) Sancai ewer illustrated in the fair catalogue.  It was snapped up on the opening night of the fair. 

Douglas Dawson Gallery (Chicago) experts in ancient and historic ceramics, megalithic sculpture, bronze and textiles from Indonesia, mainland South East Asia and Japan reported vigorous sales and healthy interest from a highly sophisticated audience of collectors and institutions. He sold a Gandharan  stone torso, 3^rd/4^th century and a Drum Top, Dong Song Culture, Vietnam, 300 BC/300 AD to a new collector.

Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art (Kyoto, Japan) reported 6 pieces sold on the first day of the fair, including one of the centerpieces of their stand, an important Jomon pot, 5000 BC..  Jomon pots were hand-turned, not made on a wheel, and marked with cord impressions. Cord marking has a practical, as well as an aesthetic affect, preventing cracking when the pot is fired.  The Jomon pot sold to a private collector.  Hiroshi Yanagi also sold a Wooden Seated Amida (Buddha), 12^th century, to a private collector. Pure Land or Amida Buddhism was oriented around the figure of Amida Buddha. Amida, the Buddha of Everlasting Light, was a previous incarnation of Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha. In the previous incarnation, as a bodhisattva, he refused to accept Buddhahood unless he could grant eternal happiness in the Pure Land to whoever called on him.  Mr. Yanagi also sold a Wooden portrait of Gyoki (13^th-19^th century) and a Wooden sculpture of Tobatsu Bishamon , 12^th century.

Prahlad Bubbar Ltd (London) specialists in Indian miniature paintings, from 1400-1850 AD as well as old masters of Indian photography, 1850-1910 sold two of the their major pieces in the first weekend of the fair  “The Great Seige”. Kota or Uniara, Rajasthan, India, 1770-1800 was sold to an Asian collector and “The Rousing of Kumbhakarane”, illustration to the Ramayana; Guler, Punjab Hills, India, circa 1790, opaque watercolor and gold on paper to a London collector.  The Ramayana is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the poet Valmiki and an important part of the Hindu canon. The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in seven cantos and tells the story of Rama, whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon king of Lanka, Ravana. Through the narrative the epic explores themes of human existence and the concept of dharma.

New exhibitor Shalini Ganendra Fine Art, The Private Gallery (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, London, UK) specialist in Asian contemporary art, introduced the work of artists from Malaysia and Sri Lanka for the first time. Ms. Ganendra sold pieces to museum curators and private collectors and enjoyed the introduction to the American market, finding the level of interest very educated and sophisticated.

Kaikodo (New York) specialist in ancient Chinese ceramics & works of art, traditional Chinese & Japanese paintings and contemporary Chinese paintings in traditional format, sold a highly important picture entitled EARTHSCAPE, by Li Huayi, born 1948 , ink and slight color on paper, framed, 3 ft. x 4 ft.

Li Huayi was born in Shanghai and is well versed in traditional Chinese painting and classic Western painting as well.  He moved to the San Francisco area of California in 1982 to study modern oil paintings but found himself inextricably drawn back to the Chinese tradition, particularly to the monumental landscapes of the Northern Song period.  His paintings combine elements of this lauded classical tradition with abstract qualities of the modern artistic vision in general, and his own in particular, colored by the reality of the  dramatic landscape of California's rugged northern coast.  Li Huayi  is one of the most sought after of Chinese painters currently working in the traditional mode.  It sold in the region of $220,000

Flying Cranes Antiques (New York) enjoyed an outstanding fair selling numerous pieces of metalwork, cloisonné, porcelain and baskets to private collectors from all over the world.  Some of the star pieces that sold are a large baluster-shaped studio porcelain vase with tenmoko glaze and marriage white peonies, Meiji Period, Japan; A magnificent Chinese silver bowl on reticulated pedestal base with carved dragons and fluted rim, late 19^th century, China, which sold to a collector in Hong Kong; A copper-patinated bronze base marvellously carved as a bamboo basket, a writhing gold dragon emerging from chiselled breaks in its side, Meiji Period, h: 8.25 inches.

In honor of New York’s IAAF and Asia Week, Dillon Gallery (New York) featured the work of eight contemporary Nihonga painters from Japan.  The exhibition entitled, Ma (an interval of space and time), is focused on the broad artistic stratagems used to master compositional space.  Nihonga is a technique whose roots extend back more than a thousand years.  Dillon sold three paintings including the work of Chen Wenguang, one of their master artists whose works in mineral pigment, gold and silver leaf on paper attracted major attention from collectors at the fair.

Goedhuis Contemporary (New York, London, Beijing) sold one of the much-admired and rare centrepieces of the fair:  A Large Shrine (Shenchu), Shanxi Province, China, Ming Dynasty, 1368-1644, Elm wood with tiled roof, Remnants of red and green pigments, 53 x 17 in (135 x 43 cm) to a gifted young Indian collector from Greenwich, CT, for in the region of $175,000. 

Kashima-Arts Co. Ltd (Tokyo, Japan) a first time exhibitor at the IAAF sold a stunning hanging scroll and commented on the “very positive feedback from our clients, collectors and academic professionals.”

Tai Gallery/Textile Arts (Santa Fe, NM) specialist in museum-quality textiles from Asia and Africa, contemporary Japanese bamboo art and Japanese photography.   A perennial favorite exhibitor of the fair, Tai gallery found an extremely appreciative audience at this year’s Asian Art Fair.  Rob Coffland, director of Tai Gallery commented that he “sold to new clients who have fallen in love with bamboo art.  New collectors continue to be delighted to learn how affordable this material is. Our Japanese photography has also attracted younger collectors as well.”

Jonathan Tucker/Antonia Tozer (London) Asian Art specialists in Indian, Southeast Asian and Chinese works of art, particularly sculpture, sold six pieces of exceptional quality and provenance within the first few days of the fair.  These include a beautiful Papier mache, gesso and polychrome figure of the Sage Mother (Yi Jiang), China, Shanzi province, Northern Song dynasty, late 11^th century.    Tucker and Tozer also sold a Bronze Seated Buddha, Thailand, Early Ayutthaya period (U Thomg C style), 15^th century, from an American private collection; and A Bodhisattva Maitreya, Northwest Pakistan or Afghanistan, 2^nd-3^rd Century, AD;

Erik Thomsen (New York), sold in each of the five categories he offered for sale at the fair including screens, scrolls, lacquer, bamboo and ceramics. Thomsen enjoyed vigorous sales including a wonderful Kōrakuen Black Tea Bowl, Tokugawa Harutoshi, attr. (1773-1816), Edo Period (1615-1868), 19^th century.  The bowl is a fine example of the important kilns operated by the daimyōs, the powerful warlords of feudal Japan on their own estates.  This piece was sold to the Art Institute of Chicago.   Thomsen also sold to the Princeton University Museum, San Francisco Asian Art Museum, and The Clark Center for Japanese Art.

Phoenix Ancient Art (New York and Geneva, Switzerland) a leading dealer in rare and exquisite antiquities, saw a successful exhibition at the International Asian Art Fair, capped with the sale of a pair of gold bracelets from the Islamic Seljuk period. Dating from the 12 century A.D., they feature an Arabic inscription wishing “to their owner glory, prosperity, wealth, peace, victory, happiness, grace, tranquility, mercy”.

The stunning pieces are composed of two thick solid gold ribbons, semi-circular and with a triangular section. Their lower ends, modeled in the shape of stylized lions heads, can be opened or closed with a small hinge, emerging directly from the wildcats' mouth.

In the upper part of the bracelets, a semi-precious stone (a turquoise and respectively a rose quartz) is set in a pyramid-shaped gold sheet support, at the base of which both semi-circular arms are inserted.  The richness of these jewels is not limited to their structure: two tiny statuettes of lions seated on their hindquarters flank the pyramids, and geometric patterns in relief (lozenges) are incised on the sides of the bracelets.         

With an asking price of $180,000, the bracelets were among the highlights of the Phoenix offerings purchased at the Fair. 

The stunning, zen-like installation of the gallery Japonesque of San Francisco was a highlight of the IAAF. Among other things, the gallery specializes in large scale stone sculptures by master carver Masatoshi Izumi b. 1938, a collaborator of the late of Isomu Noguchi.  The major centrepiece of Japonesque’s stand was an extraordinary 15-foot low stone piece in Swedish granite, entitled Okidoko, 2007 and a serene Owan Tsukubai (water basin), 2008 both by Izumi.

Joan B. Mirviss, Ltd presented and sold the work of celebrated contemporary ceramicist KISHI EIKO at the International Asian Art Fair in an exhibition entitled Rays of Light: The Intricate Ceramic Art of Kishi Eiko.  More than sixteen sculptures of varying size, representing the work of nearly two years, ranged in price from $ 2,500 to $ 10,000. This was the artist’s third solo exhibition in New York, all organized by Ms. Mirviss.  Unlike most Japanese ceramists, Kishi Eiko (b. 1948) works without any ties to a formal tradition or trend. She invented her own incredibly intricate technique called saiseki zôgan, or “colored stone inlay,” whereby she meticulously carves and tools her forms, incising them with delicate linear striations. Ms. Mirviss also sold a major painting -- ink and color on paper – by Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754-1799), Bamboo in hazy moonlight, ca. 1795. 

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