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The Ultimate in Conspicuous Consumption
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18223 |
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THE ARTS
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10 / 1990 |
2,189 Words |
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Elbrich Fennema
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Few people in Tokyo knew that the warehouse of Dainippon Ink and Printing Company housed over eight hundred pieces of art. Word got out only last May, when the Kawamura Museum opened its doors next to the ink factory in Sakura, one of Tokyo's smaller suburbs. The museum showcases paintings collected over a century by three generations of Kawamuras, all presidents of the Dainippon Ink Company. The paintings on display include Rembrandts, Monets, Renoirs, Picassos, Chagalls, Pollocks, and Stellas not even known to be in Japan. As most Japanese are buyers do, the Kawamuras operated most discretely while acquiring their collection.
Because of the Japanese preference for secrecy, solid figures about art in Japan are hard to get. But beyond doubt the speed with which Japanese art buyers snap up art works has increased dramatically over the past few years. This "art boom" began in 1985, the year the yen started its rapid climb against the dollar to almost double its value in two years.
It is estimated that Japanese buyers now command roughly one third of the world's art market, spending $6 billion on art in the past year, half of which was spent abroad. That makes Japan the second biggest buyer of art in the world, after the United States.
It is difficult to keep track of artworks that fall into the hands of Japanese buyers. Because art is often bought for investment, most prefer to hide these assets for tax reasons. It is highly unusual for Japanese to donate pieces of art to a museum, or even to lend them for that matter. Even auctions are not public, again for tax reasons. They are more like a gathering of special guests at an exclusive party. What is sold to whom, for how much, remains shrouded in secrecy.
The most spectacular art purchases by Japanese are exceptional in this regard. Ryoei Saito jumps to mind. He enjoyed being in the limelight after paying record prices for two canvases within one week last May. He spent more than $160 million for what are at present the two most expensive paintings in the world, the Portrait of Dr. Gachet by Van Gogh and Au Moulin de la Galette by Renoir. Both paintings will be exhibited in the Prefectural Museum of Shizuoka, Saito's birthplace.
Three years ago Japan was definitely put on the map as a major art buyer when Yasuda Kasai, an insurance company, paid a then record $39 million for one of van Gogh's sunflower paintings. It was a birthday present of a kind celebrating Yasuda Kasai's 100th anniversary. Van Gogh painted his Sunflowers the same year that the company was founded.
The painting is now on view in the Yasuda Kasai Museum on the 42th floor of Yasuda Kasai's headquarters in Shinjuku, Tokyo's modern business center. At first it hung all by itself in a specially dedicated room, but recently it got some company. Now it is flanked by a still-life by Cezanne on the left and a street scene by Gauguin on the right. Apart from this "Impressionist wing," the museum features work of Grandma Moses and an immense number of paintings and sketches by the Japanese artist Seiji Togo, mainly portraits of women that would not seem out of place on the cover of a popular romance paperback.
These record-breaking, headline-making purchases form only the tip of the iceberg.
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