LONDON.- Christie’s announced the selling exhibition Expanding Horizons, 34 works chosen to represent the dialogue between East and West in Decorative Art & Contemporary Art. The traditions and aesthetics of Asian works of art were greatly admired in Europe from the early 16th century and resonates among today’s established and young artists in much the same way as it did in Europe many centuries ago. In a series of pairings, this exchange across the centuries is being explored and brought to life using virtual reality technology, from 21 June – 10 August at Christies.com.
The expansion of maritime trade in luxury products such as porcelain, lacquer, wallpaper, silk and other finely-worked artefacts began being imported from east Asia into Europe during this period, where they were acquired and cherished by a number of royal courts and the aristocracy. As the demand for these treasures grew, so did the incentive to adapt and imitate them which resulted in the reproduction of works in the Asian style, a practice referred to as ‘Chinoiserie’. Derived from the word 'chinois' - the French word for Chinese - this style did not distinguish between the geographical origin whether Chinese, Japanese or Indian. Asian works of art and European decorative arts conceived in their image and spirit, have long been celebrated for their elegant designs as well as for their luxurious and costly finishes in the most avant-garde techniques.
Interiors: Within the imagery of Rococo and Chinoiserie works of art, naturalistic themes invariably play an important role. A 28-light monumental Russian ormolu and Japanese porcelain chandelier, almost certainly by Félix Chopin, circa 1850, is shown alongside Genieve Figgis’, The Séance, 2018, the interior depicts a chandelier is the centre of an opulent ballroom, rendered in pastel shades of pink, blue and yellow. Figgis’ technique of painting wet on wet creates a delicate and elaborate intermixing of pigments, the effect reminiscent of Florentine marbled paper.
Polychrome: Cloisonné wares in polychrome enamel were among the most intricate and finely-worked wares imported from China to the west. The technique was practised in China from 13th/14th centuries with the most elaborate and highly prized pieces dating from the 17th century predominantly in an intense turquoise blue (Jingtai) as in this Cloisonné enamel scroll-form table. From the Ming Dynasty, 17th century it mimics a partly opened scroll and decorated with a cartouche of five bats to one side and lotus flowers on the reverse. A similar tone of turquoise blue is used by the French-German abstract painter Hans Hartung, in his monumental painting T1971-R23, 1971 complemented with tones in vivid yellow, rust orange and deep cerulean, set against a deep black background. Over the course of his career, Hartung refined the use of unconventional tools, including spray nozzles and branches, to create gestural marks, whose immediacy was inspired by and reminiscent of the minimalism of calligraphy.
Red: In Asian culture the colour red is associated with life, vitality and light. A Queen Anne scarlet and giltjappaned bachelor’s writing table, London, early 18th Century, is decorated with a mountain landscape which English lacquerers would have developed by copying imported lacquerware. Mingjung Kim’s, Red Mountain, 2021 demonstrates the use of a spectrum of tones of red, suggesting smoky mountain ranges fading in to the distance. South Korean born Minjung trained in traditional Korean watercolour techniques, spending years honing the craft of observing and reproducing nature; with an acute familiarity of her chosen pigments and Hanji paper, she is able to re interpret these traditions and materials to create hypnotically beautiful compositions.
Comic origins: Standing regally on a gilt tasselled base, a Louis XV ormolu-mounted Chinese turquoise-glazed porcelain cat was part of the fabled collection of Louis XV’s mistress, Madame de Pompadour. The collection was arguably the most sophisticated and refined in France at the time and her oriental works of art, porcelain, lacquer and textiles in her collection inspired many followers in society and in the King’s circle. The expression of the cat is fierce, but in today’s eyes almost cartoon-like. More than 250 years later, a similarly comical note is struck by Untitled, 2015, Takashi Murakami, who has elevated the overly-cute manga cartoon style to the levels of high art. Manga, in turn, derives its origins from traditional Japanese woodblock prints, defining a style of strong outlines, multi-figure compositions and a flattening of foreground and background. With its meticulous painterly execution, Murakami’s canvas is packed with bright colour and cute characters, their grinning faces recalling the caricatured expressions of traditional woodblock prints.
Lacquerware; Works of art in oriental lacquer ware featured prominently in some of the greatest royal and princely collections formed in Europe in the 17th and 18th centuries admired for their precious and glowing surfaces. Amongst the most celebrated collections of lacquerware were those of King William & Queen Mary, Empress Maria Theresia and her daughter Queen Marie-Antoinette. The finest pieces commanded astronomical prices in contemporary auctions, especially those with notable calligraphy as in this large ‘Daoist Paradise’ twelve-leaf Coromandel screen, Kangxi period (1662 – 1722). The French abstract artist Georges Mathieu visited Japan in 1957, a formative trip on which he witnessed the work of master calligraphers first hand. Inspired by the sureness and speed of their hand, Mathieu sought to bring the same to his style of lyrical abstraction – where the gesture, liberated from representation, would reflect directly the emotion of the painter. In Reflets Impatients, 1990 Mathieu shows the mastery of this technique: sharp, attenuated strokes contrast with the drips and splashes of paint manipulated with speed and confidence.
