Gallery News
An Interview with Sebastian Izzard

By Editorial Stuff

Tea bowl Japan, Momoyama/early Edo period, c. 1610-20 Oribe ware Height 12.2 cm, diameter 14 cm `Japanese and Korean Paintings and Works of Art' Sebastian Izzard LLC Asian Art at Dickinson Roundell Inc, New York

Sebastian Izzard is holding his second show of Japanese and Korean paintings and works of art in association with Mitsuru Tajima of London Gallery Ltd, Tokyo from 19 to 24 March. Orientations talked to Izzard about his plans for the show, and trends in the Japanese and Korean art market.

Orientations: Exhibiting in the West is a recent phenomenon for Japanese dealers, and it is even more unusual for one to be associated with a New York dealer. How did this come about?

Sebastian Izzard: Mitsuru Tajima and I feel strongly that in order to attract new buyers it is essential to hold exhibitions of the highest-quality Japanese art in the United States. For example, in March last year we sold an important Koryo bronze to a collector of sculpture, but one who had never bought a Korean bronze before. This would not have happened if we did not have access to the material or if we had tried to sell it privately.

O: Are many of the works you are showing recent acquisitions in Japan?

SI: A number of the pieces were deaccessioned by a Japanese institution and the rest were acquired in Japan with the taste of Western collectors in mind. We have tried to market ourselves to make it a commercial success. The show encompasses some 4,000 years of Japanese art - from the Jomon and Yayoi periods to the end of the Meiji period. This is a broad range but it is essential for maintaining the desired level of high quality.

O: Which areas of Japanese art are currently in vogue in the US?

SI: The Japanese market falls into separate categories. Ceramics and traditional areas of what you might call export art from Japan have been very popular in the US for a long time. However, this exhibition reflects more Japanese taste. This is an undeveloped area, but I believe that it is a growing one, because netsuke, prints and Satsuma ware are getting very thin on the ground. The demand from private collectors and museums for Japanese paintings has increased, with great interest in Edo period painting, Momoyama and early Edo tea ceremony wares and Buddhist sculpture and artworks. This material will become increasingly available in the West as the market develops.

O: Who are the dominant buyers in the Japanese art market?

SI: The field is now dominated by private collectors in America and Europe, with museums and institutions continuing to expand and fill gaps in their collections. The little I sell in Japan is to institutions. I have sold almost nothing to the Japanese trade or private collectors.

O: Have the economic problems in Japan created a Buyer's market and lower prices?

SI: The Japanese have not been very active for some time now but nobody is hurting because those in the trade are financially sound. I believe that prices do not go down in this scenario but more important material becomes available.

O: What about the deaccessioning by some institutions?

SI: It appears that they are doing so quite cleverly by using it as an excuse to get rid of things they do not really want or is of little relevance to the collection. It is being seen as an ideal opportunity to redirect their museums.

O: Does this benefit the market outside Japan?

SI: This material would not otherwise appear in the West and I think it is sound practice to make it available. It has been the trend since the 1960s for goods to move from the West to Japan; this appears to have halted and in isolated cases, the process has reversed. But generally we are in a state of flux now. Prices have not risen in nearly ten years and, in some instances, they have dropped to more normal levels so there are tremendous opportunities for Japanese art collectors.

O: What are your favourite pieces in the show?

SI: There is a painting by Tanomura Chikuden, a black Oribe tea bowl, some very nice Buddhist material and a superb Korean dragon jar. A pair of early 17th century six-panel screens depicts `The Royal Outing' from Tale of Genji and of course, we have an interesting group of 18th and 19th century Noh robes.

O: What about Korean material?

SI: Currently we have two ceramic pieces, one lacquer box and a pair of paintings - each one a winner. We will be adding to this inventory.

O: Is there a growing interest in Korean art?

SI: The Korean art market has been relatively inactive in the West aside from the auction rooms and all of that material has been going back to Korea. Our objective is to sell good-quality Korean art. If we do not promote it, there will never be any interest. A number of museums are building or expanding their collections, particularly those who are responding to changing demographics in areas with growing and affluent Korean immigrant populations.

O: But are they willing to pay the record-breaking prices of the 1980s and 1990s when Korean and Japanese collectors were buying?

SI: The prices have become sensible, but what we think of as high prices here are not necessarily high in Japan. The idea of a million dollars or three-quarters of a million dollars or half a million dollars for a Korean pot is not unusual in Japan. Basically Korean and Japanese tastes in ceramics are the same - they both like Choson period wares, while the rest of the world seems to prefer Koryo celadons.

O: What about the punch'ong pieces?

SI: They have been popular in Japan for a long time. Because they were imported from Korea to Mishima, the Japanese called them `Mishima wares'. There are many pieces but only a few good examples, and one has to distinguish between the varying qualities.

O: Has 11 September affected the Japanese and Korean art market?

SI: Not that much. Things did get quiet but they have been quiet for a long time. My Zeshin show last September did quite well, but selling Zeshin is not that difficult. Committed collectors don't willingly give up the luxury of acquiring art.

O: Do you think the economic slowdown will have an impact on Asia Week in New York this March?

SI: I am hoping for the best but it depends on the stock market. If that takes a dive, then we are going to be in trouble again as we were last spring.

O: What are your thoughts on the cancellation of Sotheby's Japanese works of art auctions and the closure of its Japanese department?

SI: The business with Sotheby's is a typical bean-counter's reaction to bad times, and it is unwise. These guys in the companies now do not understand that the business ebbs and flows and if you do not maintain a presence your market will disappear, and that is what is going to happen. There is, however, resilience in the Japanese art market in New York as more and more dealers are opening galleries.

O: What is the current role of the auction houses?

SI: They are an integral part of the market, but they have severe problems. They used to drive everything as they were wealthier and more powerful than everybody else, but it seems to me that they have stumbled. They have been shown not to be the paragons of probity that the marketing departments would have you believe, so I think that people are less enamoured.

O: Will dealers benefit from this situation?

SI: The problem is that we all need each other. The dealers need the auctions because they attract the crowds and serve as a barometer of the market. The barometer is less effective nowadays since objects which come up at auction differ in quality from those being offered privately. The generally uninteresting material offered at auction should not be compared with what is shown in the galleries. The more sophisticated collectors understand this, but the general public cannot see it.