The China Collectors: America's Century-Long Hunt for Asian Art Treasures

by Karl E. Meyer, Shareen Blair Brysac

**One of The Washington Post 's Notable Nonfiction Books of 2015** Thanks to Salem sea captains, Gilded Age millionaires, curators on horseback and missionaries gone native, North American museums now possess the greatest collections of Chinese art outside of East Asia itself. How did it happen? The China Collectors is the first full account of a century-long treasure hunt in China from the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion to Mao Zedong's 1949 ascent. The principal gatherers are mostly little known and defy invention. They included "foreign devils" who braved desert sandstorms, bandits and local warlords in acquiring significant works. Adventurous curators like Langdon Warner, a forebear of Indiana Jones, argued that the caves of Dunhuang were already threatened by vandals, thereby justifying the removal of frescoes and sculptures. Other Americans include George Kates, an alumnus of Harvard, Oxford and Hollywood, who fell in love with Ming furniture. The Chinese were divided between dealers who profited from the artworks' removal, and scholars who sought to protect their country's patrimony. Duanfang, the greatest Chinese collector of his era, was beheaded in a coup and his splendid bronzes now adorn major museums. Others in this rich tapestry include Charles Lang Freer, an enlightened Detroit entrepreneur, two generations of Rockefellers, and Avery Brundage, the imperious Olympian, and Arthur Sackler, the grand acquisitor. No less important are two museum directors, Cleveland's Sherman Lee and Kansas City's Laurence Sickman, who challenged the East Coast's hegemony. Shareen Blair Brysac and Karl E. Meyer even-handedly consider whether ancient treasures were looted or salvaged, and whether it was morally acceptable to spirit hitherto inaccessible objects westward, where they could be studied and preserved by trained museum personnel. And how should the US and Canada and their museums respond now that China has the means and will to reclaim its missing patrimony?

Genres: History, China, Art, Asia, Nonfiction, Museums, Audiobook

432 pages, Hardcover

First published March 10, 2015

Reviews

[Jennifer Nelson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Received from Firstreads...
This was a wonderful book, I really enjoyed it. I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Asian art. Also great if you like to read about China/Chinese history. Filled with lots of interesting facts, mini-bios of lots of eccentric characters, all without being gossipy. Very objective. I would give it 4 1/2 stars if possible.

[Betty · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are fascinated by Chinese art, you must read this book. North American museums actually house an amazing array of Chinese art, due to numerous expeditions by sea captains, missionaries, and museum curators over the years. Reading of the 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 easy to read but it is fascinating.

[TT · Rating 5 out of 5]

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。

[Red · Rating 4 out of 5]

Chapters 8, 19, and 20, the biographical chapters of Freer, Brundage, and Sackler, are the best written and most interesting. The rest 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 remainder catalog and got it from the library.

[Alarie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book because 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 club with museum guides from that museum. We 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 art stolen by the Nazis in WWII. He later became the Director of our museum.

This book should have been riveting. The other collectors featured were also eccentric, brilliant, and brave. They often put their lives at risk. They were passionate about the art and culture of China. Of course, some had ulterior motives, too. Parts of the book, especially the photos and direct correspondence from the collectors, were fascinating, but the book was too weighted down by fact upon dry fact until it was impossible to retain much of it.

[Allen]

A good introduction to major American, European and Canadian collectors of Chinese art. It raises interesting ethical issues about whether the collection of art by foreign individuals and museums preserves heritage or steals it from the country the at originated the works. If you read about art, architecture and literature destroyed intentionally during the Cultural Revolution, it's hard not to wonder how much of what the collectors gathered would have been lost.

[Liz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Abandoned at page 62. I could not bring myself to care about rich white men stealing art and justifying it as preservation.

[Kodiaksm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This art book is like many others which describe how looted art objects are brought to American institutions from China-and other parts of the earth.

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!

[Juha · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 United States. We read about the adventurers, diplomats, curators and others who entered China a century ago and discovered Chinese art that was not recognized in the West. Famous collectors, like J.P. Morgan, Charles Lang Freer and the Rockefellers play important roles, as do Chinese counterparts and suppliers of art like C.T. Loo. We learn about how major museums in Boston, New York, Kansas City, Washington, DC, and elsewhere -- developed what now constitute 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 greatly influenced the collecting of Chinese art by Westerners and the commercial and cultural exchanges more broadly.

I took a long time reading this book. Partly, it was because I didn't always find the appropriate time to focus on the book (instead, I found myself reading a number of novels in between). Partly it was because I often felt the need to look up particular 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 it was also that some of the book was a bit tedious. In particular, I found the early parts of the book on the Boston Brahmins and Harvard in the late-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, Baron Eduard von der Heydt and the former president of the Olympic Committee Avery Brundage. The book ends with current events in China, which has experienced an enormous art boom in recent years and the construction of more than 3,800 museums in the 2010s alone. Chinese art auction houses have also become equal to the Sotheby's and Christie's. In China's new Gilded Age, nouveau riche collectors pay millions of dollars for art, while forgery thrives. The China Poly Group Corporation, owned by the People's Liberation Army, is the largest of the auction houses and aims to become number one in the world. The book ends with a cautiously optimistic note about fruitful exchanges between China and the US, and the development of art in China (including through such mega stars as Ai Weiwei and Zhang Xiaogang), while noting that the Communist Party in China still wants to control how history is written and understood.

[Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this book for free through s Goodreads First Reader giveaway.

The subject itself is a little 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 enjoy the book more. It was very full of information about the various prominent early collectors and dealers in Chinese art, and the various museums that house 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, then an equally random return to past. Words were missing. Sentences ran on for so long I had to go back to the beginning to remind myself what was happening. People were introduced in very non linear and jumbled ways.

Hopefully, most of these mistakes will be fixed in the final copy of the book, and lovers of Chinese art will have a much easier time following the epic scope of a century of collecting China.

[Danielle T · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 art, which is sort of a niche thing to write about except it spans centuries from the early 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 now to preserve, no one will see it in the future!' as an excuse to take priceless cave paintings and bas reliefs from walls of the Dunhuang caves. The modern new age trend towards the east as exotic mysticism is really only a historical rhyme of previous trends towards an Asian aesthetic. Bookending historical record are cases of how modern China is now a player in the art collecting world, full of both the newly rich looking to collect and a nationalist group looking to repatriate stolen goods.

I'm a tad bit torn because some of the looting is about as bad as the theft of the Elgin Marbles from Greece, but on the other hand having collections stateside means they're much more accessible to me in the future.

[Jean Bonilla · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a comprehensive look at the engagement with China of American collectors of art. 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 advantage of these new routes to China was enlightening and entertaining. It's a great look at the evolution of our U.S.-Sino relationship. It also makes me chuckle when USG officials talk about "the pivot to Asia." We pivoted there in 1785! Yes, I recommend it for anyone interested in the history of art or of China. 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 as "Elginism."

[Mandy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meticulously researched, compelling and sometimes shocking, this wonderful book is for anyone interested in Chinese art, or indeed Chinese history and culture in general. Packed with fascinating information, it is also 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 great American museums and those who collected for them, it’s a story of passion and greed and obsession. I will never be able to view Chinese art in Western museums in quite the same way again. Engaging, well-written and even-handed, the book has something for everyone interested in art and culture and much to say about how we respond to other nations when we want something from them. Excellent.

[Azabu · Rating 4 out of 5]

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 amassed 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 with the Bostonians who blazed a trail to China at the turn of the 20th century such as the eccentric heiress Isabella Gardner and her eponymous museum with its China rooms. The question remains: Is the US entitled to keep these treasures or return them to their original owner?

[Regina Foo · Rating 3 out of 5]

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 government intends to retrieve their lost historical treasures. There are a lot of heating debates going on regarding this issue and as a Chinese descendant, of course 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.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars because this book has the best account I've read so far of Laurence Sickman's activity in China, where he began his lifelong association with Kansas City's Nelson-Atkins Museum.
(But it's too brief!) He's one of a parade of collectors and scholars in this enjoyable book, which does an even-handed job of presenting the historical context for the movement of so much Chinese art from China to the US.

[Cathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I won this Advance Reader's Copy through a GoodReads give-away. This book is about the great Chinese Art collection in the US and how it was collected from the Opium Wars through the Mao period. This book asks the questions on how these items were actually acquired (i.e.looting or salvage)and also discusses China's attempt to recover their lost treasures. Interesting read.

[Darcee Kraus · Rating 5 out of 5]

I won this novel in the First Read's giveaway! I love the rich culture discussed in this novel as well as the history of collecting it. I found some of the observations to be more objective than factual but 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.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This work covers the quest by Americans to acquire 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 art history.

[Elizabeth · Rating 2 out of 5]

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 remember anything about this book by tomorrow.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one was a bit dry for me, however I can't argue that it was well-written and contained a lot of interesting bits of history. Someone with an interest in art or Chinese history would love it, but it's probably not one for a casual reader.

[Marisa Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am not into art history, but this was a fascinating book. It is a slow read - packed with details about the dealers and collectors. The descriptions make the people come to life. It includes interesting facts about the times and the countries involved.

[Maureen Hetzel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended for lovers of Asian Art as it traces the history about the beginnings of all the major Asian art collections in major US art institutions. Fascinating history of how pieces and collections were acquired and insight into the eccentricities of individual collectors.

[Rose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting story of Americans and Chinese art. Beautiful color illustrations, b/w in text, maps, chronology.

[Ashley · Rating 2 out of 5]

Long book, not really my style only liked a few chapters and I will not retain anything from this book....too dense

[Carla · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was OK a little hard for me to wade through, but interesting and I learned a lot about China and its art. I won a copy of the book from Goodreads