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· 82 ratings · 26 reviews
Start your review of The Prc Collectors: America'due south Century-Long Hunt for Asian Art Treasures
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This was a wonderful book, I really enjoyed information technology. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Asian art. Also groovy if yous like to read nigh People's republic of china/Chinese history. Filled with lots of interesting facts, mini-bios of lots of eccentric characters, all without existence gossipy. Very objective. I would requite it iv 1/2 stars if possible.
If yous are fascinated past Chinese art, yous must read this book. Northward American museums actually house an amazing assortment of Chinese art, due to numerous expeditions past sea captains, missionaries, and museum curators over the years. Reading of the fine art throughout the ages, I got a better grasp of Chinese history -- the Opium Wars, the Boxer Rebellion, the Cultural Revolution. The book is not like shooting fish in a barrel to read but information technology is fascinating.
非常有趣的一本書。其實，跟我想像中有很大的差距，我一直以為它會介紹那些被美國各大博物館收藏的精品文物，但書的目的只是想告訴我們在明末清初的那個年代，美國這些學者，考古學家，因鐵路鋼鐵金融發跡的企業家如何興起迷戀和熱愛中國文物的收藏。
我個人認為，在那個年代的大環境，很難說清楚誰對誰錯，即使連清朝官員私底下也在變賣文物，只能說這一批最終流落到美國各大博物館的文物與藝術品是屬於極致幸運的一批。至少收藏家並沒有把它們當成經濟投資而是當成藝術來收藏，後都捐贈給各大博物館收藏讓大眾欣賞，從某種意義上它們是從中國走向了世界，從帝王將相的家或陵墓走向大眾。如果當年它們是被投機客當成財富來累積買賣，可能最終下場是很糟糕的。也慶幸這些文物在某種意義上避過了當時的一些人為的災難。
但另外一方面像蔭余堂，雖然它也是幸運的，跟它一樣的老房子，或許早就被拆遷，摧毀。但家是有氣味，有聲音，有記憶的地方，天氣，鄰居，節慶都是構成這房子大環境的一部分，在美國的蔭余堂就只剩下了一所老房子。一旦脫離了大環境，到美國看一所房子其實跟雜誌上看一張照片，從意義上也就沒有太大的分別了。我們如何保存自己的遺產，是不是被外國人搬走了，才 非常有趣的一本書。其實，跟我想像中有很大的差距，我一直以為它會介紹那些被美國各大博物館收藏的精品文物，但書的目的只是想告訴我們在明末清初的那個年代，美國這些學者，考古學家，因鐵路鋼鐵金融發跡的企業家如何興起迷戀和熱愛中國文物的收藏。
我個人認為，在那個年代的大環境，很難說清楚誰對誰錯，即使連清朝官員私底下也在變賣文物，只能說這一批最終流落到美國各大博物館的文物與藝術品是屬於極致幸運的一批。至少收藏家並沒有把它們當成經濟投資而是當成藝術來收藏，後都捐贈給各大博物館收藏讓大眾欣賞，從某種意義上它們是從中國走向了世界，從帝王將相的家或陵墓走向大眾。如果當年它們是被投機客當成財富來累積買賣，可能最終下場是很糟糕的。也慶幸這些文物在某種意義上避過了當時的一些人為的災難。
但另外一方面像蔭余堂，雖然它也是幸運的，跟它一樣的老房子，或許早就被拆遷，摧毀。但家是有氣味，有聲音，有記憶的地方，天氣，鄰居，節慶都是構成這房子大環境的一部分，在美國的蔭余堂就只剩下了一所老房子。一旦脫離了大環境，到美國看一所房子其實跟雜誌上看一張照片，從意義上也就沒有太大的分別了。我們如何保存自己的遺產，是不是被外國人搬走了，才來呼天搶地？ 這是值得關注深思的地方。
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I read this book because of Laurence Sickman, the Indiana Jones-similar art collector who, fresh from higher in the early 1930s, went to China and brought back the art and artifacts that now grace the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. I'm in a book club with museum guides from that museum. Nosotros always read a book that is connected to art in some way (though I'm partial to the novels). Sickman was also one of the Monuments Men, rescuing fine art stolen by the Nazis in WWII. He subsequently became the D I read this book considering of Laurence Sickman, the Indiana Jones-like art collector who, fresh from college in the early 1930s, went to China and brought back the art and artifacts that now grace the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City. I'm in a book guild with museum guides from that museum. Nosotros always read a book that is continued to art in some style (though I'm partial to the novels). Sickman was also 1 of the Monuments Men, rescuing art stolen by the Nazis in WWII. He later became the Manager of our museum.This book should have been riveting. The other collectors featured were also eccentric, brilliant, and brave. They oftentimes put their lives at hazard. They were passionate about the art and culture of China. Of form, some had ulterior motives, too. Parts of the book, specially the photos and straight correspondence from the collectors, were fascinating, but the book was likewise weighted down by fact upon dry fact until it was impossible to retain much of it.
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A proficient introduction to major American, European and Canadian collectors of Chinese art. It raises interesting upstanding bug about whether the drove of art by strange individuals and museums preserves heritage or steals it from the country the at originated the works. If you lot read about art, compages and literature destroyed intentionally during the Cultural Revolution, it'south difficult not to wonder how much of what the collectors gathered would accept been lost. A good introduction to major American, European and Canadian collectors of Chinese fine art. It raises interesting ethical bug almost whether the drove of art by foreign individuals and museums preserves heritage or steals it from the land the at originated the works. If you read near fine art, architecture and literature destroyed intentionally during the Cultural Revolution, it'due south hard not to wonder how much of what the collectors gathered would have been lost. ...more than
Abandoned at page 62. I could non bring myself to care about rich white men stealing fine art and justifying it as preservation.
This fine art book is similar many others which describe how looted art objects are brought to American institutions from China-and other parts of the globe.Are these Chinese antiquities real or fake? My sense is many of them are "replicas." All visits to museums with antiquities should be viewed with skepticism!
This art book is like many others which depict how looted art objects are brought to American institutions from Red china-and other parts of the earth.Are these Chinese antiquities real or faux? My sense is many of them are "replicas." All visits to museums with antiquities should be viewed with skepticism!
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Chapters 8, 19, and twenty, the biographical chapters of Freer, Brundage, and Sackler, are the all-time written and most interesting. The residual of the book explains the historical elitist bent on Asian collecting, horrifying and fascinating to this unknowing son of a municipal employee. I discovered this book in a residual catalog and got it from the library.
This is a thoroughly fascinating book about Chinese art -- and more about men and women from America and Europe who collected it (sometimes through looting, particularly in the early times) and brought it to collections and museums in the United States. We read about the adventurers, diplomats, curators and others who entered Prc a century ago and discovered Chinese fine art that was not recognized in the West. Famous collectors, like J.P. Morgan, Charles Lang Freer and the Rockefellers play importan This is a thoroughly fascinating book about Chinese art -- and more about men and women from America and Europe who collected it (sometimes through looting, especially in the early times) and brought it to collections and museums in the Usa. We read well-nigh the adventurers, diplomats, curators and others who entered Mainland china a century ago and discovered Chinese art that was non recognized in the West. Famous collectors, similar J.P. Morgan, Charles Lang Freer and the Rockefellers play of import roles, as do Chinese counterparts and suppliers of art like C.T. Loo. Nosotros larn almost how major museums in Boston, New York, Kansas Urban center, Washington, DC, and elsewhere -- developed what now found major collections of Chinese and other Asian art. We also learn about how the Freer Gallery, and later its pair the Sackler Gallery, on the National Mall came about (one of the most entertaining chapters focuses on the life of Arthur M. Sackler). All of this placed in an historical context: the two World Wars, the Great Depression, and naturally Mao's revolution in China all profoundly influenced the collecting of Chinese art by Westerners and the commercial and cultural exchanges more broadly.I took a long fourth dimension reading this book. Partly, it was because I didn't always observe the appropriate time to focus on the book (instead, I found myself reading a number of novels in betwixt). Partly it was because I often felt the need to look up item cultural periods or art works in a reference volume (for this I used Michael Sullivan's gorgeous The Arts of China, Fourth Edition). But partly information technology was also that some of the book was a fleck wearisome. In particular, I establish the early on parts of the book on the Boston Brahmins and Harvard in the tardily-1800s a tad unnecessarily detailed. Overall, I found that the book was somewhat uneven.
To me the most interesting parts were in the second half and concerned events after WWII. We were there introduced to a number of colorful characters, such as Sackler, Businesswoman Eduard von der Heydt and the former president of the Olympic Committee Avery Brundage. The volume ends with current events in China, which has experienced an enormous art boom in contempo years and the construction of more than than 3,800 museums in the 2010s alone. Chinese art auction houses have also become equal to the Sotheby's and Christie'southward. In China'southward new Gilded Age, nouveau riche collectors pay millions of dollars for art, while forgery thrives. The Mainland china Poly Group Corporation, endemic past the People's Liberation Army, is the largest of the auction houses and aims to become number i in the world. The book ends with a cautiously optimistic notation about fruitful exchanges between China and the US, and the evolution of fine art in Communist china (including through such mega stars as Ai Weiwei and Zhang Xiaogang), while noting that the Communist Party in People's republic of china even so wants to control how history is written and understood.
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This was both fascinating and infuriating, not necessarily because of the the writing but the content. The China Collectors focuses on American collectors of Chinese fine art, which is sort of a niche affair to write about except it spans centuries from the early on 1800s through today. There's echoes of the nineteenth century naturalists' attitude that art collectors seemed to share with the 'If we don't take this at present to preserve, no one volition see it in the future!' as an alibi to take priceless cave pa This was both fascinating and infuriating, not necessarily because of the the writing just the content. The China Collectors focuses on American collectors of Chinese art, which is sort of a niche thing to write nigh except information technology spans centuries from the early on 1800s through today. There's echoes of the nineteenth century naturalists' attitude that fine art collectors seemed to share with the 'If we don't accept this at present to preserve, no 1 will see it in the future!' as an excuse to take priceless cave paintings and bas reliefs from walls of the Dunhuang caves. The mod new age trend towards the east equally exotic mysticism is really only a historical rhyme of previous trends towards an Asian aesthetic. Bookending historical tape are cases of how modern China is now a role player in the art collecting world, full of both the newly rich looking to collect and a nationalist group looking to repatriate stolen appurtenances. I'thou a tad bit torn considering some of the looting is about equally bad as the theft of the Elgin Marbles from Greece, just on the other mitt having collections stateside means they're much more accessible to me in the future.
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I received this volume for gratuitous through s Goodreads First Reader giveaway.The discipline itself is a piffling dry, as I am not a student of art history. Someone who is, or who is interested in Chinese art and its history would undoubtedly relish the volume more. It was very full of data almost the diverse prominent early collectors and dealers in Chinese art, and the diverse museums that house it.
That being said, and even taking into account I received an uncorrected proof ARC, I establish the volume frus
I received this book for free through s Goodreads Start Reader giveaway.The field of study itself is a picayune dry, every bit I am not a educatee of art history. Someone who is, or who is interested in Chinese art and its history would undoubtedly relish the book more. Information technology was very full of data nigh the diverse prominent early collectors and dealers in Chinese art, and the various museums that firm it.
That being said, and even taking into account I received an uncorrected proof ARC, I found the book frustrating to get into. My copy was riddled with editorial missteps, from repeating paragraphs where it seemed like the authors couldn't decide which version they liked better, to no less than three random tense changes from past to present, and so an every bit random return to past. Words were missing. Sentences ran on for so long I had to become back to the outset to remind myself what was happening. People were introduced in very non linear and jumbled ways.
Hopefully, nigh of these mistakes will be fixed in the concluding copy of the book, and lovers of Chinese fine art will accept a much easier time post-obit the epic scope of a century of collecting China.
...more than This volume offers a comprehensive look at the date with Cathay of American collectors of art. And so many of the names are familiar ones - Morgan, Freer, Sackler, Rockefeller. The museum names resonate, too! Also, as I commented in an interim review snippet, this book provided the perfect segue from my previous story of the whale ship Essex. I knew from that tale that Americans had ventured into the Pacific seeking oil-rich sperm whales. To see how that drew our bold entrepreneurs on to take adv This book offers a comprehensive look at the engagement with Red china of American collectors of fine art. So many of the names are familiar ones - Morgan, Freer, Sackler, Rockefeller. The museum names resonate, as well! Also, as I commented in an interim review snippet, this volume provided the perfect segue from my previous story of the whale ship Essex. I knew from that tale that Americans had ventured into the Pacific seeking oil-rich sperm whales. To run into how that drew our bold entrepreneurs on to take reward of these new routes to China was enlightening and entertaining. Information technology's a neat look at the development of our U.Due south.-Sino relationship. Information technology as well makes me chuckle when USG officials talk nigh "the pivot to Asia." We pivoted there in 1785! Yes, I recommend it for anyone interested in the history of art or of Cathay. I disagree with a previous review that the authors endorse the looting of antiquities as a way to save them. On the contrary, they report the argument as having occurred, but don't take sides. They note that today it's referred to every bit "Elginism." ...more
Meticulously researched, compelling and sometimes shocking, this wonderful volume is for anyone interested in Chinese art, or indeed Chinese history and culture in general. Packed with fascinating information, it is as well thought-provoking about the ethics of collecting – or sometimes more pertinently, stealing – art from other countries and how thinly the line is drawn between "acquiring" and "pillaging". Concentrating primarily on the corking American museums and those who nerveless for them, it's Meticulously researched, compelling and sometimes shocking, this wonderful volume is for anyone interested in Chinese fine art, or indeed Chinese history and culture in general. Packed with fascinating information, it is besides thought-provoking most the ethics of collecting – or sometimes more than pertinently, stealing – art from other countries and how thinly the line is drawn betwixt "acquiring" and "pillaging". Concentrating primarily on the great American museums and those who nerveless for them, it'south a story of passion and greed and obsession. I will never be able to view Chinese art in Western museums in quite the aforementioned way again. Engaging, well-written and fifty-fifty-handed, the book has something for everyone interested in art and culture and much to say about how we respond to other nations when nosotros want something from them. Excellent. ...more
Historians Meyer and Brysac rail the provenance of the Chinese collections housed in U.South. museums-- including the Metropolitan-- in this impressively researched survey of the adventurers who acquired these treasures. The duo amassed a wealth of data during a joint teaching stint at Oxford in 2012 where they had access to superlative scholars.
Focusing on the 'catlike herd' of colorful collectors, they open with the Bostonians who blazed a trail to Prc at the turn of the 20th century such every bit th Historians Meyer and Brysac track the provenance of the Chinese collections housed in U.S. museums-- including the Metropolitan-- in this impressively researched survey of the adventurers who acquired these treasures. The duo clustered a wealth of information during a joint teaching stint at Oxford in 2012 where they had access to top scholars.
Focusing on the 'catlike herd' of colorful collectors, they open up with the Bostonians who blazed a trail to Communist china at the plough of the 20th century such as the eccentric heiress Isabella Gardner and her eponymous museum with its China rooms. The question remains: Is the United states of america entitled to keep these treasures or render them to their original owner? ...more
Obtained the ARC from NetGalley in exchange of my honest review.A very interesting read on the lost of Chinese artifacts during the Mao's Cultural Revolution period. Now, the Chinese authorities intends to retrieve their lost historical treasures. At that place are a lot of heating debates going on regarding this issue and as a Chinese descendant, of grade I would hope that these antiques to be returned to their original homeland.
A must-read if you're a great fan of Chinese antiques and history.
Obtained the ARC from NetGalley in exchange of my honest review.A very interesting read on the lost of Chinese artifacts during the Mao's Cultural Revolution flow. Now, the Chinese government intends to call up their lost historical treasures. There are a lot of heating debates going on regarding this outcome and equally a Chinese descendant, of grade I would hope that these antiques to exist returned to their original homeland.
A must-read if you're a corking fan of Chinese antiques and history.
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Four stars considering this volume has the best account I've read and then far of Laurence Sickman's action in China, where he began his lifelong association with Kansas Urban center's Nelson-Atkins Museum.
(Only information technology'southward as well brief!) He'southward one of a parade of collectors and scholars in this enjoyable book, which does an fifty-fifty-handed job of presenting the historical context for the movement of so much Chinese art from China to the US. Iv stars because this book has the all-time account I've read so far of Laurence Sickman'southward action in China, where he began his lifelong association with Kansas City's Nelson-Atkins Museum.
(Only it'southward too brief!) He's one of a parade of collectors and scholars in this enjoyable volume, which does an even-handed job of presenting the historical context for the move of and so much Chinese art from Mainland china to the U.s.a.. ...more than
I won this Advance Reader's Copy through a GoodReads give-away. This book is about the neat Chinese Art drove in the US and how it was collected from the Opium Wars through the Mao period. This volume asks the questions on how these items were actually acquired (i.due east.annexation or salvage)and also discusses Cathay'south attempt to recover their lost treasures. Interesting read.
I won this Advance Reader's Copy through a GoodReads give-away. This book is about the bang-up Chinese Fine art collection in the US and how it was collected from the Opium Wars through the Mao menses. This volume asks the questions on how these items were actually acquired (i.east.annexation or save)and also discusses China's attempt to recover their lost treasures. Interesting read.
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I won this novel in the First Read'south giveaway! I dear the rich civilization discussed in this novel as well as the history of collecting it. I found some of the observations to be more objective than factual just also found myself in agreeance with the author, Karl Meyer. I honey learning about cultures and art so this was the perfect melody for my calendar week. I won this novel in the First Read's giveaway! I dearest the rich civilisation discussed in this novel every bit well as the history of collecting information technology. I found some of the observations to be more objective than factual merely also found myself in agreeance with the author, Karl Meyer. I love learning about cultures and art so this was the perfect melody for my week. ...more
I am not into art history, simply this was a fascinating book. It is a slow read - packed with details well-nigh the dealers and collectors. The descriptions make the people come up to life. It includes interesting facts well-nigh the times and the countries involved.
This one was a scrap dry for me, however I tin't argue that information technology was well-written and contained a lot of interesting bits of history. Someone with an involvement in art or Chinese history would love information technology, but it's probably not ane for a casual reader. This i was a flake dry for me, however I can't argue that it was well-written and independent a lot of interesting bits of history. Someone with an interest in art or Chinese history would love it, only it's probably not one for a casual reader. ...more
I won this book in a goodreads giveaway. OMG I survived I thought I was never going to finish this. This book is very informative but really dry. I don't think I'm going to call up anything about this book by tomorrow. I won this book in a goodreads giveaway. OMG I survived I thought I was never going to cease this. This book is very informative simply actually dry out. I don't retrieve I'm going to remember anything about this book by tomorrow. ...more
Highly recommended for lovers of Asian Art as it traces the history about the beginnings of all the major Asian art collections in major United states art institutions. Fascinating history of how pieces and collections were acquired and insight into the eccentricities of individual collectors.
This work covers the quest by Americans to learn Chinese art objects and the lost of Chinese artifacts during Moa's Cultural Revolution. The reaquistion attempts to recover these objects is also documented. A decent work on Chinese fine art history. This work covers the quest past Americans to learn Chinese art objects and the lost of Chinese artifacts during Moa's Cultural Revolution. The reaquistion attempts to recover these objects is as well documented. A decent piece of work on Chinese art history. ...more
Long book, not really my style only liked a few chapters and I volition not retain anything from this volume....too dense
This book was OK a little hard for me to wade through, but interesting and I learned a lot about Prc and its art. I won a copy of the book from Goodreads
Interesting story of Americans and Chinese art. Beautiful color illustrations, b/w in text, maps, chronology.
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