ORIENTATIONS APRIL 2005 ISSUE
Asian Art in the San Antonio Museum of Art

Asia in the Heart of Texas: A History of Collecting in San Antonio by
Martha Blackwelder, Maddux-Cowden Curator of Asian Art at the SanAntonio
Museum of Art. The author reflects back on how the collection developed and
who has been instrumental in amassing over the past 70 years some 1400
works from East, South and Southeast Asia and the Himalayas. Most notably
is the commitment made by Lenora and Walter F. Brown to guide the
development of the Asian collection and their numerous donations which
comprise early Chinese pottery, including from the Liao period, and late
Ming and early Qing porcelains. The late Gilbert Denman provided the first
funds for the new Asian art wing and the Himalayan gallery owes an enormous
amount to him. Elizabeth Coates Maddux significantly endowed the museum and
this gift was matched by Fay Langley Cowden. Other donors include John T.
Murray and Bessie Timon whose ! interests were in Chinese textiles,
furniture and decorative objects; Kay and Tom Edson who loaned their
collection of Japanese paintings and lacquer and recently donated a pair of
Edo period screens; a pair of Edo period screens are also among David
Douglas Duncan's gifts; Floyd L. Whittington enriched the collection with
ceramics from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam; and Ann and Robert Walzer
have expanded the South Asian collection.

The Lenora and Walter F. Brown Asian Art Wing at the San Antonio Museum of
Art by Martha Blackwelder, Maddux-Cowden Curator of Asian Art at the
SanAntonio Museum of Art. The museum will celebrate the opening of the new
Lenora and Walter F. Brown Asian Art Wing in May. The author gives a tour
of the six newly-installed galleries and highlights in the collection
selected for discussion reflecta comprehensive view of Asian a!rt. For
example, powerfully modelled Chinese tomb figures and striking
examples of vessels from the Song kilns of Yaozhou, Jun, Cizhou and
Longquan; Qing period textiles; an 18th century garniture de cheminee from
Jingdezhen reflecting northern European Baroque interior design taste;
monumental sandstone sculptures from Rajastan;glazed ceramics featuring
distinctive Vietnamese iconography; and an Edo period screen of scenes in
and around Kyoto.

Tales told in Porcelain: Jingdezhen Blue-and-White Wares at the San
AntonioMuseum of Art by Julia B. Curtis, an independent scholar who lives
in Virginia andspecializes in 17th century Chinese porcelain and
iconography. The collection provides an expansive overview of the art of
the Jingdezhen potters from the Yuan and to the Qing periods and the
breadth of decorative schemes in cobalt blue, based on religion, history,
poetry, novels and dramas, enable the visitor to explore the m!
eanings which reveal the many facets of China's natural, ethical and
political culture.

Nomura Yozo: A Bridge Across the Pacific by Thomas Lawton, a specialist in
Chinese art. He was director of the FreerGallery of Art (1977-87) and
founding director of the Arthur M. SacklerGallery (1982-87). The author
gives an account of Nomura Yozo's early development as a student in Japan
in the second half of the 1870s, a time when Western influence was
pervading every aspect of Japanese life, and how his interests and goals
developed through travel to the United States and Europe. By opening acurio
shop in Yokohama on his return to Japan, Yozo became a bridge across the
Pacific sharing his enthusiasm for Japan and its unique culture. He actedas
Charles Lang Freer's guide on his first visit to Japan in 1895 and hadclose
ties with Mrs Charles M. Cooke, who established the Honolulu Academy of
Arts, but he also developed close friends
hips with many Japanese collectors and artists.

Imagining Efficacy: The Common Ground between Buddhist and Daoist
PictorialArt in Song China by Shih-shan Susan Huang, Assistant Professor of
Chinese Art History at theArt History Division, School of Art, University
of Washington. The author looks at the supernatural experiences associated
with some examples of Song dynasty Buddhist and Daoist religious paintings
in orderto shed light on a new way to think about and view religious art.

Wai Kam-ho (1924-2004) Chinese painting scholar Wai-kam Ho died in Shanghai
on 27 December 2004. Maxwell K. Hearn pays tribute to his art-historical
expertise and extensive contributions to the field concluding that `Wai-kam
Ho belongs to the same traditions of Daoist free spirits and reclusive
sages whom he often invoked in his scholarship. Now, he has taken his
rightful place in that pantheonof China's immortals.'

In her review of `Rules by The Masters: Paintings and Calligraphies by BaDa
and Shi Tao - Collections from the Palace Museum and Shanghai Museum' atthe
Museu de Arte de Macau from 3 September to 21 November 2004, Hwang Yinuses
examples of works in the show to illustrate her discussion on the
rolesplayed by Bada and Shitao in the development of Chinese
ink-and-brushpainting.

As noted by Carol Morland in her review of `Dream Worlds: Modern
JapanesePrints and Paintings from the Robert O. Muller Collection' at the
Arthur M.Sackler Gallery, Washington DC from 6 November 2004 until 2
January 2005,this exhibition served as an excelle nt introduction to the
superb qualityand rich variety of the Muller collection.

New ideas and research presented at three recent conferences are
discussedin this issue. Katja Triplett reviews the papers delivered at `The
Worship of Stars inJapanese Religious Practice' organized by the Centre for
the Study ofJapanese Religions, SOAS, London on 16 and 17 September 2004;
Maggie Wan examines the discussions presented at `Noble Riders from
Pinesand Deserts: The Artistic Legacy of the Qidan' organized by the Art
Museumand the Department of Fine Arts of The Chinese University of Hong
Kong on 25October 2004; Inne Boos surveys the topics addressed at `Text and
Image: Tibetan Booksand Their Illuminations' organized by Circle of Tibetan
and HimalayanStudies at SOAS, London on 6 November 2004.

Kathmandu Valley Preservation Trust Shortly after King Gyanendra declared a
state of emergency in Nepal on 1 February, the Kathmandu Valley
Preservation Trust (KVPT) held a conference in New York. Three former US
ambassadors reviewed the gravity of the situation and concluded that
international development assistance should continue `now more than ever'.
Peter Burleigh emphasized that support of worthy projects should be
encouraged, and Michael Malinowski identifiedKVPT as `a fine example of an
aid organization which functions with great effectiveness despite the
obvious challenges of the present situation'. Founded in 1991, this
US-based non-profit organization is the only international charity
exclusively dedicated to preserving architectural heritage in the Kathmandu
valley, and has an impressive track record saving historically significant
religious and secular buildings. The trust's field operations are directed
by Rohit Ranjitkar and it employs more than eighty craftsmen and p
roject personnel. Ongoing projects include the preservation of Itum Baha, a
13th century Buddhist monastery in old Kathmandu, and three 17th century
structures in the Kathmandu Darbar Square: the stone shrine of Kal Bhairav,
and the Jagannath and Kageswar temples. Local participation has played a
major role in these four projects. Support from the sangha of Itum Baha and
a consortium of Nepalese businessmen, led by Prabhakar Rana, was used as
leverage to obtain international funding from the World Monuments Fund, the
Robert W. Wilson Challenge Grant Program, the German Foreign Ministry and
the American Ambassador's Discretionary Fund. Work on three other templesin
the Darbar Square - Indrapur, Narayan and Mahavishnu - has recently been
completed, and the trust has plans to restore Bansagopal, Lakshmi Narayan
and Mahadev. KVPT will hold its annual fundraising event, `New York for
Nepal', on 18May in New York. At the cocktail and dinner, KVPT's executive
director, Erich Theophile, and the board will honour the achievements of
Mary Slusser. They will also announce the establishment of an annual
research scholarship in her name. Slusser was a founding board member of
KVPT, and her research, scholarship and documentation of the valley has
proved invaluable to its conservation projects. For further information on
KVPT and the fundraising event, contact KVPT, email: kvpthotmail.com; tel:
1 212 727 0074; or see www.kvptnepal.org.

Mary Slusser by Gautama V. Vajracharya It would take more than a
full-length article to do justice to Mary Slusser's contributions in the
field of Nepalese studies. In this all too brief tribute, I hope to provide
the readers with a glimpse of her achievements. Mary has modestly described
herself as an enthusiast whoached to unravel the past. She first arrived in
Nepal as a wife following her husband's career. Without any specific
training with which to approach the cultural wealth she encountered, she
embarked on research as a means of assuaging her curiosity about the
fascinating world that she hadunknowingly fallen into. Early on, she
realized the merit of scholarly teamwork, and in areas where she was not
proficient, she sought the help of many specialists. In doing so, she was
able to implement immaculate research methodology that combined
interdependent disciplines such as art and architecture, cultural history,
epigraphy, Sanskrit and classical Newari. Mahesh Raj Pant, a well-known
Sanskritist and historian assisted in these areas, as did I. My own
involvement in her work resulted in a series of joint articles on Nepalese
sculpture and architecture. Because of her training in anthropology, she
was fully aware of the valueof historiography, and approached the subject
diachronically and synchronically. She quickly realized that some elements
of ancient Nepalese culture had remained intact in various aspects of Newar
culture of the Kathmandu valley. Long before she started writing her magnum
opus, Nepal Mandala, she began systematically to collect information not
only from international and local publications, but also from
conversations - notwithstanding her rudimentary Newari - with Buddhist and
Hindu priests, and wandering yogis heading toward the sacred Himalayan
lake, Gosainkunda. Mary's most remarkable contribution is perhaps the
establishment of a chronology of Nepalese art and architecture that follows
available sources as closely as possible. She also discovered that the
annual Newari customof circumambulating the city in honour of the ancestors
was a continuation ofa much earlier practice. This proved to be crucial as
it enabled her to precisely define the ancient borders of various cities
and towns in the valley. The importance of the annual ritual of exhibiting
artefacts during the rainy season retreat in Buddhist monasteries of the
valley, and the reliability of traditional chronicles for the investigation
of ancient Nepalese sculptures would not be known if she had
not drawn our attentionto them. The Kathmandu valley is deservedly famous
for the so-called `pagoda-style' temples. But it was only after Mary's
investigation that scholars began to realize the greater significance of
secular architecture that ranged from simple resthouses to royal palaces.
She also found early wood carvings depicting elegant salabhanjika-type
female figures on the struts of the Newar architecture that were unknown to
previous scholars. Given her shortcomings, her accomplishments are even
more admirable - perhaps only one who has undertaken a similarly ambitious
project, with the same spirit and enthusiasm, can understand the gravity
and depth of her lifelong passion.

From the 8 to 12 June some eighty exhibitions will be staged, including
dealers from abroad who lease spaces in and around Place du Grand Sablon in
Brussels. Specialists in Asian art will participate under the banner
BrusselsOriental Art Fair organized by Georgia Chrischilles. She will be
joined by Philippe John Farahnick, Contes D'Orient, Soo Tze Oriental
Antiques, Carlo Cristi, Moke Mokotoff, Art of the Past, Alexis Renard,
Bachmann Eckenstein, Wei Asian Art and Jacques Barrere.

In his report `The Red Sun Rises over China's Auction Scene', Bruce Doar
gives an account of the unchecked proliferation of mainland auction houses,
their capricious and careless attitude to authentication, and the various
reported scandals over the past six months (notably, thefts and losses of
objects in the custody of auction houses, and the damage inflicted onthem).
He concludes that issues of management and security need to addressed ifthe
mainland market is to provide a viable alternative for the overseas
collectors who share a concern for China's heritage with their Chinese
counterparts.

China's Request: Is the US Government on the Verge of Shutting Down the
Market in Chinese Antiquities? by Laura B. Whitman, former auction house
specialist on Chinese paintings and an art advisor in New York. The mood
was tense as a group of influential experts in the field ofChinese art and
archaeology assembled in a dreary annex of the State Department ona wintry
day in Washington, DC. They had come to the capital to participatein a
public hearing of the Cultural Property Advisory Committee (CPAC). The
committee was considering the request of the People's Republic of China for
US Customs restrictions against the import of all Chinese cultural property
over 95 years old, submitted under Article 9 of the 1970 UNESCOconvention -
the most important piece of US legislation ever proposed in the area of
Chinese art. For all that it was inspiring to see democracy at work, the
hearing was grim and urgent, as CPAC's decision to support, oppose ormodify
China's request will have far-reaching implications for the cultural lives
of Americans, not to mention the livelihoods of people involved in Chinese
art and archaeology: for as this request stands, it is in effect anembargo.
The purpose of the 17th February hearing was to give specialists in the
field an opportunity to comment on the controversial Chinese proposal andto
answer questions raised by the committee. The meeting was run in a fair and
organized manner by chairman Jay Kislick, and despite clear differences in
opinion between certain interests, it was a tea party compared to some
recent academic conferences on Chinese painting! Thick packets containing
all of the speakers' written submissions were available to everyone in
attendance. Numerous other citizens who could not attend the proceedings
had written letters; it was reported that 175 pages of material were
submitted. The fact that the quality of the submissionswas much higher than
that usually reviewed by the committee bears testament to the state of the
field in Chinese art and archaeology. With about 65 people in attendance,
it was standing room only. Twenty-two specialists each gave five-minute
presentations, followed by intelligent questioning by the 11-member
committee. Many in the audience quickly ran down the list of speakers like
a horse-racing sheet, ticking off names opposed to or in support of the
request. Although technically 15 to 7 in opposition to the request, some
pro-request speakers admitted that China's demand was unreasonably broad,
and should be modified to focus only on the protection of certain
archaeological sites and materials. The speakers were reminded that their
remarks should focus on `the very specific criteria' in question. These
criteria, part of governing legislation called the Convention on Cultural
Property Implementation Act (CPIA), must be met before the State Department
can grant this request: a. that the cultural patrimony of the State Party
is in jeopardy from the pillage of archaeological or ethnological materials
of the State Party; b. that the State Party has taken measures consistent
with the Conventionto protect its cultural patrimony; c. (i) that the
application of the import restrictions set forth in section 307 with
respect to archaeological or ethnological material of the State Party, if
applied in concert with similar restrictions implemented, or tobe
implemented within a reasonable period of time, by those nations (whetheror
not State Parties) individually having a significant import trade in such
material, would be of substantial benefit in deterring a serious situation
of pillage, and (ii) that remedies less drastic than the application of the
restrictionsset forth in such section are not available; and d. that the
application of the import restrictions set forth in section 307 in the
particular circumstances is consistent with the general interest of the
international community in the interchange of cultural property among
nations for scientific, cultural, and educational purposes. Those opposing
the request included four major US museum directors (The Metropolitan
Museum of Art was notably absent), a private collector, cultural property
lawyers, a former CPAC committee member, art dealers and auction-house
staff. They spoke of the positive effects of free trade in Chinese art,
including international understanding and awareness, scholarship and
cultural exchange. All agreed that even though the request was, according
to the CPIA criteria, flawed on various levels, looting in China was
nonetheless a grave issue that needed to be addressed. Those in favour of
the request included archaeologists, a cultural property lawyer, and three
members of a fledgling interest group. However, they varied in their levels
of support: some readily conceded that China did not readily meet all of
the criteria and that her demands in this request were unreasonably broad;
but one self-described `fully-cloistered academic' felt that the!
request should be granted regardless. Specific examples cited of
discoveries nearly lost were emotionally powerful. Presenters in both
groups suggested methods to protect archaeological sites and support
archaeological work in China without necessarily completely cutting off
access to non-archaeologists, scholars and collectors. In reviewing the
criteria, the majority of speakers allowed that China had failed to meet
the requirements in protecting its own cultural heritage. Marc Wilson,
director of the Nelson-Atkins Museum, stated: `China maintains the world's
largest archeological apparatus... No other nation has so large or capable
a network.' According to Arthur Houghton, a former CPAC member, currently
with the American Council for Cultural Property, China `cannot be a potted
plant', and she `must make more efforts at self-restraint'. Referring to
William Perlstein's comments on the 48 major (and dozens of other minor)
auction houses operating in China, all sanctioned and at least partially
owned by the government, Houghton further argued that the US `should at
least allow what the Chinese themselves allow'. Some of these domestic
auction houses, notably the Poly Group, have sold excavated tomb figures,
even promoting them on the covers of their catalogues. `The Chinese art
market is the most international of all art markets,' said James Lally,
whom many consider the de facto dean of the US Chinese art trade. `But,' he
continued, `the most important trend is the rise of mainland Chinese
buyers, brought about both by increasing wealth and the fact that China
actively encourages collecting by her citizens.' Given the explosive
development of China's domestic art market, Lally argued, `it is not
logical that the US market is the root cause of looting in China.' China
itself is virtually an archaeological repository: there is even a newspaper
dedicated to publishing the notable `Findings of the Week'! Anne Underhill,
a practising archaeologist at The Field Museum, held up a copyof the paper
during her presentation stating that `this is an unprecedented period of
collaboration with Chinese colleagues in my field' and that `ratifying this
Request was absolutely essential'. If the Chinese government, scholars and
even those in the commercial art world are in agreement about the need to
protect China's archaeological material, why did the PRC find it necessary
to make such anall-encompassing request, covering works of art in virtually
every media, from the Palaeolithic era to the Qing dynasty? No one from the
PRC was present to answer that, or any other elementary questions. Why has
China not submitted similar requests to othersignatories of the UNESCO
Convention, or sought assistance from other countries which have
established markets in Chinese artefacts? Even the briefest studywould show
that China's domestic market is or will soon be larger than US demand. Marc
Wilson was the only presenter willing to bring up the unspokenpolitics many
suspect is behind all this: the growing conflict between national and
provincial/local officials in China. A New York-based Chinese collector
agreed with this position, reporting that the new head of the Cultural
Relics Bureau is `trying to make his mark' and `deflect criticism from
internal piracy'. `The fact is, construction and development are more
destructive than looters,' said Wilson. And `government engagement in art
trade' is `ambiguous' at best. Remarkably, this deeply informed director,
whose museum has just completed a major survey of Chinese archaeology
documenting literally thousands of sites, asserts that this request `will
not save a single chopstick'! On the contrary, he argued, the biggest loss
will be to the American people, who will lose opportunities to understand
and appreciate Chinese culture. That would be a throwback to McCarthy-era
restrictions of the 1960s, `when all Chinese art imported to the USrequired
proof that it was not owned by a communist', Lally reminded the committee.
It was ironical that the hearing was held only a few blocks from the Freer
Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, which together constitute the
US national museum of Asian art. Whether opposed to or in support ofChina's
request, nearly all of the people in the room had worked with each other at
some point in their careers. All of them love China and her astonishingly
rich heritage, and all want to protect her unknown treasures. Wayne Sayles,
a representative from a coin collectors' group, and one of the few`unknown'
faces in the crowd, reminded the committee: `We don't need a shotgun
solution.' CPAC is known for being fairly radical and granting nearly allof
the requests that have been proposed over its twenty-year history. Let us
hope that the committee takes its time to consider the full ramificationsof
China's request vis-a-vis China's legitimate needs. Laura B. Whitman is a
former auction house specialist on Chinese paintings and an art advisor in
New York. Directors from four museums with sizeable collections in Asian
art appeared before CPAC, namely, The Art Institute of Chicago, the Asian
Art Museum of San Francisco, The Cleveland Museum of Art and the
Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art. When read together, their written submissions
are a comprehensive analysis of the level of cultural relics protection,
collecting and the art market within China, and the effects of a trade
embargo on US culturallife. They made constructive suggestions on how China
can help herself and howthe US can assist in these efforts. Emily Sano,
Katharine Lee Reid and Marc F. Wilson urged China to study the Japanese
model where a ranking system administered by the Agency for Cultural
Affairs determines whether exports of important artefacts are possible,
while James Cuno believes that joint excavations and the sharing of finds
(partage) should be made a condition for US protection of endangered
objects. For more information, please refer to
http://exchanges.state.gov/culprop/index.html.

Fakes, Copies and Question !
Marks: Forensic Investigations of Asian Art by Donna Strahan, Head of
Conservation at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. This month's
commentary highlights the sensitive issues that arose in staging the
exhibition `Fakes, Copies and Question Marks: Forensic Investigations of
Asian Art' at the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco from 25 September 2004
to 27 March 2005. The show comprised 38 objects drawnfrom the museum's
collection to examine authenticity in art.

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Orientations Paris