Wither a venerable art center?
Print Edition
WHEN Belgian industrialist Baron Guy Ullens and his wife Myrian sold some of their collection of Chinese contemporary art at Sotheby’s spring sale in Hong Kong in 2011, the auction created a stir in the art world.
A 1988 triptych by Zhang Xiaogang, entitled “Forever Lasting Love,” sold for HK$79.1 million (US$10.2 million), a record for a living Chinese artist. Works by Zhang Peili, Geng Jianyi, Yu Youhan, Ding Yi and Liu Wei — all heavyweights in the contemporary Chinese art scene — also set individual auction records for the artists.
The reason behind the sales also stirred a bit of controversy. Were the aristocratic couple simply “cashing out” ahead of a drop in prices? Or were they accruing funds to buy more artworks?
The Ullens have been prominent in contemporary art for 30 years, amassing one of the world’s largest collections and promoting artists long before they were “discovered” by mainstream collectors.
Their influence endured through the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, a nonprofit center founded by them in 2007 in the fashionable 798 Art District of Beijing. Exhibitions there have always drawn widespread attention from both at home and abroad, attracting works by famous and not-so-famous Chinese artists.
But now the Ullens legacy in China is under scrutiny again. The Ullens Center for Contemporary Art is up for sale, and some reports said the Ullens couple plans to sell more of their collection later this year in auctions and through private sales.
What’s going on?
A statement from the center and from the Ullens Foundation said that Ullens, now 81, wants to step aside and make way for a new patron for Chinese contemporary art.
The center is housed in an old 1950s factory complex, redesigned in Bauhaus style by French architect Jean-Michel Wilmotte, in collaboration with Ma Qingyuan. The ceilings in the center’s three spacious galleries are 31 feet high. Some million visitors a year visit the site.
In addition to Chinese artists, the center has served as a venue to introduce into China the contemporary works of artists such as Olafur Eliasson, Tino Sehgal and Tatsuo Miyajima.
Despite the “for sale” sign, the museum is still operating daily. Currently, an exhibition of the works Robert Rauschenberg is on display, to be followed in September by an exhibition by Chinese artist Zeng Fanzhi.
The decision by the Ullens couple to sell the center caught many by surprise.
Is the museum in serious financial difficulties?
“Frankly speaking, I was even wrong back when to think that Mr. Ullens was selling his collection to financially support this center,” said a local artist, who declined to be identified but noted the benefactor’s great wealth.
But figures show that the center has been trimming its budget every year and looking for more outside sponsorship. Rumors have swirled in the art world about staff cuts and unpaid back wages.
Fei Dawei, a world famous art critic and curator who helped the Ullens purchase some masterpieces from the “1985 New Wave Art Movement,” said many of the pieces the couple bought were cheap at the time.
“He told me the purchases were meant to advance Chinese contemporary art and would be donated to the Chinese government in the future,” Fei said.
That didn’t prove to be the case. There has been no mention of a donation to state museums, leading some detractors to dismiss Ullens as a connoisseur who has succumbed to the profit motive.
“Those who are attacking Ullens, in my view, are inferior to him,” said Lin Mingjie, a local art critic. “At least, Ullens is professional and patient. For example, he dared to choose the works of artists who were outside the mainstream in the 1980s. It took him 20 to 30 years to cash in on those artworks. Look at today’s Chinese art dealers. Which of them would have that kind of patience?”
Lin also credits Ullens with putting Chinese contemporary art on the map.
“Just think of the exhibitions around the world, the art fairs and the efforts to promote artists and convince museums to collect these works,” he said. “It’s all very impressive.”
The big question is: who will take over the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art? Speculation centers on some wealthy Chinese patrons.
Money to support the center at present comes from donations, an annual fund-raising gala and sales in the art shop. Operating costs for the center last year are estimated to have been about 40.9 million yuan (US$6.13 million).
Xue Mei, chief executive of the center, said the income from sales in the art shop covers about 40 percent of operating costs. The fund-raising gala last year brought in 10.86 million yuan, she said.
For a Chinese art patron with deep pockets, purchasing such a renowned site may be more about prestige than price tag.
“Chinese art patrons love to have their names attached to private museums or organizations,” said Zhang Qin, a Beijing art critic.
“That could be a big obstacle in this sale. I heard that the Minsheng Art Museum was in talks with the Ullens center several years ago, but negotiations broke down over the name issue.”
Indeed, a stipulation of the sale is the retention of the Ullens name.
That was also reportedly a sticking point when Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei, owners of the Long Museum West Bund, Long Museum Pudong and Long Museum Chongqing, were looking at the Ullens center.
“If Chinese patrons have financial ability and an aggressive position in the art world, they would want an art center to bear their names, not the name of a foreigner,” Zhang said.
Uli Sigg, the former Swiss ambassador in China in the 1980s, who is also a big collector of Chinese contemporary art, has donated 1,400 art pieces and sold another five of his artworks to the M+ Museum, which is under construction in the West Kowloon Cultural District of Hong Kong.
It is scheduled to open in 2019. The donation is interesting because Sigg, as principal donator, didn’t insist that the new museum in any way bear his name.
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