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AT first there were just two. Two auction houses in
Southeast Asia, that is: Sotheby’s and Christie’s.
Sotheby’s, which has been in
existence since 1744, is probably the oldest auction house in the
world. It first came to Asia in 1973 when it mounted a highly
successful auction in Hong Kong. This event helped open up Asian art
to a global market. In 1985, Sotheby’s formally opened an office
in Singapore where for the next 22 years it hosted a bi-annual
auction of Southeast Asian art, until recently held every April and
October.
Christie’s, founded by James
Christie in 1766, decided to do their auctions in Hong Kong.
Although they preview artworks in Singapore, Christie’s auctions
are usually held in May and in November in Hong Kong.
Two other auction houses,
relatively new players, also hold auctions in Singapore—Borobudur
and Larasati. Larasati was established in Indonesia in April of
2000. By 2004, it had expanded with auctions held twice a year in
Singapore.
Borobudur, only four years old,
also started its auctions in Indonesia and before expanding to
Singapore three years ago. Led by shipping magnate John Andreas, its
growth has been phenomenal. Last January 14, Time Magazine’s Neel
Chowdhury noted that Borobudur’s October 2007 auction held in
Singapore for contemporary and modern Southeast Asian art generated
$6.89 million—only $200,000 lower than Sotheby’s for the same
category.
Big changes for 2008
All of these are indicate a
healthy market for Southeast Asian art. However, for 2008, there are
important changes.
Sotheby’s has decided to move
its venue for Southeast Asian art to Hong Kong. Both houses continue
to maintain offices and hold previews in Singapore. But from now on,
both auction giants will be consolidating sales of Southeast Asian
contemporary and modern art in Hong Kong.
Perhaps the reason behind this is
that Hong Kong has, thanks to the large sales volume of Chinese
paintings, become the all-important venue. But it is not because
there is a dearth of collectors in Singapore. According to Quek Chin
Yeow, deputy chairman of Sotheby’s Asia, the reason for the move
is because it “fits our corporate strategy more.”
Indonesia-based auction houses
view Sotheby’s move to Hong Kong as a welcome business
opportunity. And a new Indonesian auction house has entered the
market: Masterpiece. Originally based in Indonesia, where it hosts
12 auctions a year, Masterpiece has recently joined the trek to
Singapore, holding its first auction there on March 2. Auctioned off
were over 418 lots of Southeast Asian and Chinese art. Including
buyers’ premiums, it generated total sales of Singaporean
$10,668,146.
The next scheduled auction in
Singapore: Larasati on April 13 at the Raffles Hotel and Borobudur
on May 18 at the Suntec Trade Hall.
What used to sell at auctions
Until recently, at auctions of
Southeast Asian art, what sold well were pieces by Indo-European,
Indonesian, Filipino, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Malaysian and Thai
artists. Indo-European artists are painters of European origin who
lived or visited Indonesia during the time of the Dutch colonial
period.
If the Philippines were under the
Spaniards for several hundred years, the Indonesians had the Dutch
as their colonizers. For the Indonesian section, what was popular
were paintings by masters such as Affandi, Sudjojono, Hendra Gunawan,
the Chinese-born Lee Man Fong, Widayat and Sudjana Kerton.
Although most of the revenues for
Southeast Asian art generally came from Indo-European and Indonesian
paintings, Filipino masters also found their niche in the auction
markets. Works by masters such as Juan Luna and Felix Resurreccion
Hidalgo found their way to the auction, although the most consistent
in terms of presence and success were works by National Artist
Fernando Cueto Amorsolo. Other National Artists and masters such as
Jose Joya, Manansala, Ocampo, Bencab, Arturo Luz, J. Elizalde
Navarro and Ang Kiukok were likewise selected and included at
auction together with the works of Presidential Medal of Merit
awardees Anita Magsaysay Ho, Fernando Zobel, Nena Saguil, Romeo
Tabuena and Juvenal Sanso.
On its 20th anniversary in
Southeast Asia, Sotheby’s stated in an article about Southeast
Asian art: “The Filipino painting has been able to create a
stimulating and original balance between traditional themes and new
ideas. Colorful, passionate and ostentatious, Filipino painting
encompasses the totality of the contemporary experience in the
country, from low to high culture.”
Vietnamese painting was in recent
years quite actively in demand, particularly works from masters such
as Le Pho, Vu Cao Dam, Mai Trung Thu and Le Thu Thu. From Singapore
and Malaysia, works from artists such as Cheng Soo Pieng, Chen Wen
Hsi, Liu Kang and Parisian born Georgette Cheng were the most
predominant ones.
All seemed to be going well for
the works by masters from different Southeast Asian countries. That
is, until a few years ago, when the auction houses saw it fit to
include a new category in their activities. This was what they
titled “New Contemporary Art.” From that time on, things have
never been the same at the auctions.
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