(Also posted at DailyKos and MyLeftWing)
Skilled Chinese artists are producing large quantities of work including copies of familiar works by well known western artists.
SHENZHEN, China – Zhang Libing has painted more van Goghs than van Gogh ever did. At 26, Mr. Zhang estimates that he has painted up to 20,000 copies of van Gogh’s works in a paint-spattered third-floor garret here where freshly washed socks and freshly painted canvases dry side-by-side on the balcony.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/07/15/business/worldbusiness/15paint.html?pagewanted=1&8hpib
It seems that Chinese Art is following the same path of other industries. Low prices and large output have found a ready market in the west. (Having a passing interest in Art, I found this story interesting.)
China’s low wages and hunger for exports have already changed many industries, from furniture to underwear. The art world, at least art for the masses, seems to be next, and is emerging as a miniature case study of China’s successful expansion in a long list of small and obscure industries that when taken together represent a sizable chunk of economic activity.
China is rapidly expanding art colleges, turning out tens of thousands of skilled artists each year willing to work cheaply. The Internet is allowing these assembly-line paintings to be sold all over the world; the same technology allows families across America to arrange for their portraits to be painted in coastal China.
The market is becoming increasingly significant.
United States customs data show that imports of Chinese paintings nearly tripled from 1996 to 2004, with bulk shipments reaching $30.5 million last year. Retail sales are several times that, as the customs data are based on the price that entrepreneurs pay for bulk purchases.
While many of these works are sold over the internet, some large chains retail these items in their stores. It is surprising then that Walmart, that great outsourcer of merchandise and breaker of unions, now seeks to do what may be the right thing. <gasp!>
Artist groups in the United States are starting to express concern, questioning the originality of some Chinese paintings and whether they comply with American copyright laws. Wal-Mart, according to Bill Wertz, a company spokesman, has opted not to stock any Chinese paintings for this reason. But retailers from Pier 1 to Bed, Bath & Beyond say they are importing Chinese oil paintings, as are Internet sites like Oilpaintings.com.
This apparently has a basis, at least as far as some 20th century art is concerned.
Exporters of Chinese paintings say that even though the paintings often imitate well-known works of art, the copies are inherently different because they are handmade, and so do not violate
copyrights.Robert Panzer, the executive director of the Visual Artists and Galleries Association, a trade group based in New York, disagreed. He said that the vast majority of paintings produced before the 20th
century were in the public domain and could be freely copied and sold. But it is not legal to sell a painting that appears to a reasonable person like a copy of a more recent, copyrighted work, he said.
A very interesting aricle, I recommend reading the entire text.
