A Conversation With Yuan Fang

After growing up in Hangzhou and the United Kingdom, and then moving to the United States for University, how did your interest in Old Masters begin?

For most of my university experience, I lived a double life: in the daytime I was a chemist and at night I was an art historian in training. It was unclear where I was heading until I took a course led by my art history advisor – a Ghent native who specialised in Early Netherlandish art and markets – which brought me to the Low Countries. For around two months we were based in Amsterdam and Ghent, and took daytrips to places like Antwerp and Leiden, as well as Ypres and Mechlin to see works of art in museums and churches. To this day I remember being haunted by the skinned man in Gerard David’s Judgement of Cambyses at the Groeningemuseum in Bruges; equally transformative was my experience of seeing the monumental triptychs by Rubens in the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp, where many works by Quinten Metsijs were summoned from the KMSKA.

In my childhood I rarely saw original Old European paintings despite having lived in England – which I have fond memories of mostly nature and ruins: the heathered moors of Northumberland and Bamburgh Castle being my two favourites. I did, however, get to know many Western artists as a teenager through drawing and painting – like most Chinese students of art, I routinely studied plaster casts of Michelangelo and Rodin, and paintings after Rubens and Titian (via printed reproductions). In retrospect there was something cathartic about seeing art on the aforementioned journey. I never looked back since.

Both in your previous role at Christie’s New York and since the founding of Nicholas Hall in 2016, you have been dedicated to making the world of Old Masters more approachable. You invite scholars to contribute to your website and your publications, present new exhibitions in your gallery, and produce very high quality catalogues. Aside from furthering the education of enthusiasts, why do you think that these initiatives are important?

We are part of an ecosystem formed by museum curators, collectors, conservators, scholars, and other dealers; we want to chime in and feel connected to others in our community but that is purely a matter of preference.

As an international design studio, Designed by Woulfe is exposed to many tastes and interests. How do you advise clients who are new to buying Old Masters, but want to incorporate the artworks into contemporary spaces?

It depends a lot on how the client approaches art collecting. From time to time we do see collectors of contemporary art venture into Old Masters, but their tastes can really vary. Some go for a particular look: it could be figurative, action-packed, or eccentric and slightly naïve; others focus on a few big names, or regional schools, or perhaps purely visual qualities (not bothered by attribution). It is important to know that the quality of an artwork does not always equate to the fame of the artist. So, when you are advising clients on Old Masters, there are a few factors that determine the value of an Old Master painting, which could be handy for you to know. It is also worth trying out different arrangements to see if the artworks go well together. We organized an exhibition at David Zwirner’s gallery space in 2018 which included over 130 works created between the 13th and 21st century. And when it came to the hanging, we pretty much decided everything on the spot.

After the exciting sale of the Sandro Botticelli, Young Man Holding a Roundel, at Sotheby’s New York in January 2021, there seems to be a renewed interest in this field. Do you have any artists who are particularly underrated whose pictures you would recommend to clients, both who have bought in this area before or are new to it?

It might be easier to begin with what is not underrated: Caravaggesque paintings, Italian gold grounds in great condition, Mannerism (both Northern and Southern), for instance. As with fashion, there are cycles in the art market. Back in the 90s French Rococo was all the rage but now that market has cooled down. Many artists went out of fashion for hundreds of years before they were ‘rediscovered’: Vermeer, Frans Hals, Chardin, Caravaggio and Botticelli all belong to this category. There are also artists and schools that are ‘underrated’ but have never taken off – the Lombard school (which our previous exhibition was dedicated to), with the exception of Giambattista Moroni, is one such example. I do think there is something to be said for well painted works of art regardless of market or critical recognition. If we all went for the same blue-chip artists, how boring would that be?

Who is your ideal client?

He/she is communicative, decisive, and pays on time.