From the International Herald Tribune:
China’s spectacular economic rise over the past quarter-century has started to create enormous wealth, and prices for Chinese art have risen steeply, especially in the last three years. But Chinese art collectors have barely begun to show interest in Western masterpieces.
Japanese banks, insurers and individuals shook the art world with their purchases of van Goghs, Renoirs, Modiglianis and Picassos when the Japanese economy seemed unstoppable in the late 1980s. Oligarchs from Russia have made their presence known in the art market. But wealthy Chinese have been leery of investing their sudden gains in Western art.
