四级复习资料大全阅读(30)_大学英语阅读

四级复习资料大全阅读(30)

　　Interest was not confined to Chinese contemporary art. The weekend auction set records for 29 Japanese artists, 10 Indian artists and 10 Korean ones.

　　Interest in Japanese contemporary art was very strong, Chang said. In general, pieces sold for between three to 10 times their estimates.

　　The market for Japanese contemporary art, which has embraced subcultures like manga, anime, fantasy and technology, has seen an incredible explosion in interest in recent months, helping to feed an increase of nearly threefold in total sales receipts at Christies Hong Kong auctions to 36.1 million dollars this past autumn from 12.5 million dollars in the spring of 2007.

　　Japanese prices have been driven up by interest from Asian buyers, said Zhang Xiaoming, head of Chinese contemporary art at Sothebys in New York. In fact, they are outperforming Chinese artists, but because theyre starting from a lower base, prices are still lagging behind those of Chinese.

　　Korean contemporary artists have also started to make some waves, although they still have to develop the salesroom buzz that surrounds the Japanese.

　　In contrast to all the exuberance in the contemporary market, however, interest in Chinese 20th century art is showing signs of fatigue.

　　In the second evening sale Saturday, featuring Chinese 20th century work, only 73 percent of the 26 lots were sold, raising 151.4 million dollars within the estimate of 130.7 million to 168.3 million dollars but lacking in excitement. The next day went a little better, when 83 percent of the lots were sold, raising another 91.1 million dollars.