Chinese Fine Arts

Do you know why the rich are getting richer?

Apart from business dealings, they invest in fine arts. The value of some Chinese Fine Arts has rocketed sky high over the years. I can still remember the times when I frequented the art galleries on Orchard Road, some fine Chinese paintings were selling at prices around a couple of thousands in the 1980s. There were big names like Wu Guanchong, Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, Huang Binhong, Fu Baosi, Fan Zheng, Tang Yun, Chen Yifei, Li Keran, Wu Zuoren, Pan Tianshou, Huangzhou, Lu Yansao, Lin Fengmien, etc. In the 1990s, these similar paintings were in the region of tens of thousands of dollars. In 2012, some of these fine arts were auctioned off at phenomenal prices of tens and hundreds of millions of dollars. Unbelievable, isn't it?

Just imagine if you were to put your money in Chinese Fine Arts in the 80s, let's say the price of a private property is around two to three hundred thousands. If you invested in fine arts, how many pieces of fine arts you would have collected? At today's prices, you can easily tell how much they are worth now. Then again, you need hard cash for this type of investment, not like properties where you can get a bank loan to finance your purchase (not much cash needed upfront). I can vividly remember that I had just started work  in the early 1980s, earning an average engineer's pay. Even tough I liked fine arts, especially fine Chinese paintings, spending a couple of thousand dollars for a painting was out of my reach. Those days, it was more important for one to bring home food on the table, than to bring back something to hang on the wall for enjoyment purposes. Then, one had to think of his mortgage loan, car loan, etc to finance. As a result, I might have frequented the art galleries and admired quite a lot of good pieces of fine arts, I was not able acquire any of those works. As I aid before investment in fine arts requires a lot of hard cash. Hence, only the rich have spare cash for investing in fine arts. That is the reason why they will get richer over the years as people (especially people in China) become more and more affluent and able to appreciate fine things in life and begin to buy up fine arts. Having pieces of fine arts in one's collction can serve as some form of insurance against financial difficulties. For example, if someone's business is not doing well, he can still have some fine arts to auction off for hard cash to rescue his business. This type of stories are not uncommon.


Brochure of art exhibition in late 80s

Here are some instances of fine arts sold over the years.



Wu Guanchong 's oil sold for $150,000 in 1989

 


Wu's another oil at $140,000



Qi Baishi's work at $42,000

Chen Yifei's oil at $781,587

Xu Beihong's oil at $260,000

Having said so much about the value of fine arts, investing in fine arts can have its risks. As these paintings command high prices in auction markets around the world, undoubtedly they will be fakes in the market. One renowned Chinese artist once commented in the press that most of his works in the market (around 99%) are fakes. So be careful, do not fall prey to unscrupulous art dealers.