The Wall Street Journal’s Asia Scene blog is fascinated with Western art dealers and their hopes that China’s wealth will start shifting into Impressionist and Modern art. Chinese buyers have been active in the New York sales but few buyers have paid serious money for Western masters in country though someone did at Seoul Auction House’s recent Hong Kong sale:

Gallery owner Ben Brown says that while the market for Picassos in Asia is small right now, he is optimistic that it is set to grow. The Hong Kong branch of Mr. Brown’s eponymous London-based gallery will hold a Picasso sale and show from the middle of November to Chinese New Year.

“I’d be pleasantly surprised if I sold anything from my show to an Asian buyer, though it’s an opportunity to educate people about Picasso, to see his paintings in person,” said Mr. Brown. He plans to offer about 15 Picasso paintings for sale in Hong Kong, priced from US$2 million to US$15 million. They will mostly be works from the 1960s and 1970s.

“The type of people who can afford a Picasso, (many) of them come through Hong Kong at least once a year, so Hong Kong is a good catchment (area),” Mr. Brown said. […]

Hong Kong’s run of Picasso-themed events is rounded out by Sotheby’s. The auction house has announced a late November exhibition and sale of works by Impressionist and Modern painters, ranging in price from US$2 million to US$25 million. The sale will include pieces by Renoir, Chagall, Degas and Monet, though seven works by Picasso are expected to steal the spotlight. The sale showcases works from across much of Picasso’s life, including his early Blue Period, Cubism from the 1920s, and his post-1960 Expressionist paintings. The star of the exhibition is “Jeune Fille aux Cheveux Noirs (Dora Maar),” a 1939 portrait of the artist’s lover, Dora Maar. […]

The sale takes place in Hong Kong between Nov. 26 and 28, and the exhibition will be previewed in Beijing from Oct. 22 to 25.

Picasso, Picasso and Picasso (Asia Scene/Wall Street Journal)