How to evaluate a good painting

Most countries promote art to enrich their people's lives and arouse spiritual awareness. Art galleries are springing up everywhere and auction houses are doing great businesses.

Although stock markets fluctuate daily, the market for art has moved steadily upward. For example, in 1979, Chang Da-Chien and I took part in the auction at Sotheby's in New York City and my painting Duckings fetched US$4,800. Da-Chien's Scholar sold at $4,200 and Xu Bei-Hung's Horse sold for "only" $1,600. Today, Wu Tsuo-Jen and Lee Ko-jen's works, after more than a decade, are worth more than 10 times the original prices.

Most Westerners acquire artwork as an investment. I think people in the Far East and Southeast Asia are slowly following this trend.

To evaluate art, I suggest the following:

A. Chen (authenticity): First find out if a painting is genuine and not a clever imitation. In 1988, I wrote an article for the Kwang Ming Daily News in Beijing called "Chinese art enters the world." I first pointed out that it is difficult to judge the authentic quality in Chinese art because there are many factories producing imitations of art works by old masters. Some of them can really fool even the experts.

For example, during the early Ching Dynasty, there was a group of artists in Yang Chow known as the "Eight Eccentric Immortals". The leader of this group was Cheng Ban-Qiao. Many artists at that time imitated his works for money. Now, even if Cheng's painting is tested with a scientific C-14 test, the paper may prove to be 300 years old, but it is still not certain the painting is genuine. Trust one's own eyes, not one's ears -- do not listen to others.

If you want a Qi Bai-Shi painting, first read about him and then study as many of his originals as possible until confident enough to make a judgment. The imitations of Qi's work can easily be found in both Hong Kong and Taiwan. Who the imitators are is usually easy to ascertain.

B. Zing (masterpieces):

Every work of a famous artist cannot be a masterpiece. Each work therefore has its own value (not solely dependent on size). Xu Being-Hung is famous for his horse paintings, but he sometimes also painted cats. The illustration I used in this article is a cat painted by Xu. This is a good painting which I bought 10 years ago in Singapore from Tan Zi-Chor, a well known art collector.

C. Sin (good condition): The condition and the upkeep of an artwork is important. The cat painting by Xu is in perfect condition, with no mold or mildew and no worm holes. Remember that no matter how marvelous a painting is, if it is damaged -- whether by water marks or torn paper -- the price will be considerably lower.

Until next time.

-- Kwo Da-Wei