Apprisal of Chinese Painting

HOW TO APPRAISE CHINESE PAINTING

Step 1: Learn More About Chinese Art

Wei Yang’s Guide to Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 2 vols. (2022) is the only reference book you need if you wish to develop a new expertise in Chinese painting and calligraphy. It teaches you how to appreciate Chinese visual culture, understand artistic traditions and aesthetics in their historical context. It discusses essential topics on the evaluation of Chinese fine art, such as the biographies of important Chinese master painters, their artistic lineage & personal styles, the basics of Chinese art criticism, different scripts for signatures and seals, esthetic standards, the appraisal methodologies, qualitative ranking criteria and art market. If you wish to brush up your knowledge of Chinese painting and calligraphy, this is the one essential book you need.

Step 2: Become a "Qualified Art Appraiser"

The appraisal profession desperately needs qualified specialists in Chinese painting and calligraphy. However, only competent art appraiser will join the elite class.Wei Yang’s Guide to Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 2 vols. (2022) will be an indispensable, comprehensive reference work for your appraisal career. The book provides guidance and crucial information about how to become a competent, objective and credible art appraiser. Written by an accredited senior appraiser (ASA) with 20 years of experience and unrivalled credentials, the book offers the essential methods you need to learn, the basic skills and information you need to know if you wish to become an elite art appraiser specializing in Chinese art. You will benefit from the author’s hands-on experience and professional training, including a M.A, in Asian Art (Smith College), a Ph.D. in Chinese Art History (Northwestern University) and two designations as accredited senior appraiser (ASA) in Asian art and Appraisal Review and Management (ARM) from American Society of Appraisers.

Step 3: Earn Credentials and Professional Designations

Clients place their trust in appraisers with formal training who have earned professional designations. Wei Yang’s Guide to Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 2 vols. (2022) helps anyone who wants to build their credentials in the appraisal of Chinese art. Your compliance with the highest professional standards in practice is essential and appealing to potential clients, including knowledge of Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice (USPAP) and related ethical codes. Professional designations and courses of appraisal study are provided by American Society of Appraisers (ASA), American Association of Appraisers (AAA) and International Society of Appraisers (ISA).

Step 4: Master the Basic Appraisal Skills

Following a model in training yourself is a short-cut to becoming the best art appraiser.Wei Yang’s Guide to Chinese Painting and Calligraphy, 2 vols. (2022) is designed for you whether you are a novice excited about Chinese art or a professional who wants a comprehensive reference book. It shows a mind map to achieve great professional success. I wish there had been such a source when I began my career as an appraiser. I combed through many books in Asian and Western languages for clues to identify Chinese paintings. I studied how to assess the authenticity of inscriptions, signatures and seals. I conducted my own research to understand the biographies of famous painters, their artistic lineages, their personal styles and signature features. After amassing and editing my notes, I filled in the gaps in order to make this a comprehensive guide to Chinese painting and calligraphy prior to the twentieth century.

The Essential Book on Chinese Painting

-Based on My Own Training and Experience

I wrote Wei Yang’s Guide to Chinese Painting and Calligraphy (2022) to light a candle for those who wish to appraise Chinese art. It grew out of those years of research and decades of professional experience serving a wide range of clients in the Chinese art field. After my college degree (B.A. in art history, Smith College) and graduate education (M.A. in Asian art, Smith College, and Ph.D. in Chinese Art History, Northwestern University), I undertook training in the appraisal profession by earning a certificate of Fine Art and Decorative Art Appraisal from Pratt Institute in New York. Eventually, I earned two designations as Accredited Senior Appraiser (in Asian Art and in Appraisal Review and Management) from the American Society of Appraisers. Even after that, however, to study and appraise Chinese painting and calligraphy required still more research.

Wei Yang's Guide to Chinese Painting and Calligraphy (2022) outlines the strategies that lead to competence and success. As an Asian art appraiser, art consultant, expert witness and appraisal reviewer for litigation since 2005, I still consult my own book for information or leads in order to work efficiently and produce "qualified appraisals."

This book demonstrates my own path for achieving competence in appraising Chinese art. It demonstrates how I have transformed myself from a green Chinese art historian with graduate training, research strength, analystical skills and a set of Asian language skills into a competent, objective and credible art appraiser, exper witness and accredited appraisal reviewer. If you follow the guidance or strategies outlined in the book, learn the lessons I encountered in my practice, my success will be your success.

Wei Yang’s Guide to Chinese Painting and Calligraphy (2022) is the only reference book you need—whether you’re a general reader, a specialist honing your skills or just starting out in the valuation of Chinese fine art. Available at Amazon


CONTACT US

Email : contact@weiyangart.com

Website : chineseartappraisal.com

Phone :  (609) 688-6891

Address :  Princeton, NJ 08540, USA

SUGGESTED READING

CONNOISSEURSHIP & VALUATION

-Most Up-to-Date Guidebook (2022)

Wei Yang’s Guide to Chinese Painting and Calligraphy (Tianjin: Nankai University Press, 2022) provides the most effective guidance on the appreciation and appraisal of Chinese painting and calligraphy prior to 1911. Derived from Dr. Yang’s study notes, this guidebook offers a carefully designed road map for the study of Chinese fine arts. It introduces the fundamental framework for Chinese fine arts and Chinese traditional visual aesthetics, discusses issues concerning identification, dating, ranking criteria, authenticity, and the guidelines for the connoisseurship of classical Chinese painting and calligraphy. The chapter on the Basics focuses on key physical features of a Chinese painting (medium, format, signature, seal and iconography) to help determine its authenticity. Other chapters centering on leading painters, their original works, artistic affiliation signature and seals, and popular fakes, artistic movements, schools of the time, references, and market trends, provide a workable guideline to the assessment of quality and the appraisal of classical Chinese painting and calligraphy. Entries on the biography of leading painters, the stylistic analysis of each’s signature features and key references offer a quick access to the needed background information on the subject artist and advane further investigation.

Overall, this guidebook removes the mystery from understanding and appraising classical Chinese painting and calligraphy and guides the reader through a logical, comprehensive system of professional judgment.

SIGNATURE & SEAL

-Attribution & Authenticity

Cahill, James. An Index of Early Chinese Painters and Paintings: T’ang, Sung and Yuan. (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1983).
Li, Chu-tsing, et al., eds. Artists and Patrons: Some Social and Economic Aspects of Chinese Painting (Kansas City and Seattle: Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, University of Washington Press, 1989).
Lu Fushen. Jinxiandai shuhuajia kuanyin zonghui (Signatures and Seals of Modern and Contemporary Chinese Painters and Calligraphers), 2 vols (Shanghai: Shuhua, 2002).
Murck, Alfreda. Poetry and Painting in Song China: The Subtle Art of Dissent(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Center, 2000).
Ni Wendong. Ershi shiji Zhongguo shuhuajia yinkuan cidian (Signatures and Seals of Artists of the 20th Century), 2 vols (Xi’an: Shenzhen Zhonghua Commercial Press, 2008).
Shanghai bowuguan. Zhongguo shuhuajia yinjian kuanshi (Signatures and Seals of Chinese Painters and Calligraphers), 2 vols. (Beijing: Wenwu, 1987).
Yu Jianhua. Zhongguo meishujia renming cidian (Dictionary of Chinese Painter’s Names) (Shanghai: Renmin meishu, 1981).
Zhong Yinlan. Zhongguo jiancangjia yinjian daquan (A Complete Collection Seals of Chinese Collectors), 2 vols. (Nanchang: Jiangxi meishu, 2008).

PAINTING TECHNIQUES

-Criticism & Craftsmanship

Cai Jinshun. Shanshuihua cunfa (The Shading Techniques in Landscape Painting) (Tianjin: Yangliuqing, 2014).
Dong Zuobin. Zhongguo nianli zongpu (A Complete Index of Chinese Calendar), 2 vols. (Hong Kong: Chinese University Press, 1960).
Fang Shiming. Zhongguo lishi jinian biao (Chronology of Chinese History), rev. ed. (Shanghai: renmin, 2007).
Wu, Hung. The Double-Screen: Medium and Representation in Chinese Painting (Chicago: The Chicago University Press, 1996).
Yu Fei’an. Zhongguohua yanse de yanjiu (A Study of Colors in Chinese Painting) (Beijing: lianhe, 2013).