Curator finds new life in China's art

L'Asie en Vogue is held in the former Paris home of legendary art and antiques dealer Loo Ching-tsai, which is built in the style of a pagoda. Photos provided to China Daily

China-based art curator Tiffany Beres has recently completed the most challenging project of her career - organizing a major show at a prestigious new exhibition center in Paris.

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The exhibition, L'Asie en Vogue, featured six Asian artists, including two from China, whose works depict how fashion features in modern life.

What made it particularly special was the venue: It was held in the former Paris home of legendary art and antiques dealer Loo Ching-tsai, which is built in the style of a Chinese pagoda.

The complex, in an up-market area of Paris, close to the Champs-Elysee, has been turned into a private museum that will be used for major exhibitions, and sales of Asian art, beginning with L'Asie en Vogue.

"We wanted the exhibition to build on C.T. Loo's legacy and take this tradition of art exchange into the West and present it in a really elegant way," says Beres, 29.

"They will be shown in the home where he lived, a real architectural marvel in itself."

Loo emigrated from China to Paris in the early 20th century and built up a business that obtained works for private collectors and museum curators in Europe and the United States.

Beres, who lives in Beijing and runs her own business, Lotus Art Consulting, was hired to curate the exhibition. The assignment allowed her to utilize a vast network of art and auction-world contacts built up during six years of living and working in China.

The American, whose mother is from Hong Kong, grew up in San Francisco, later attending Brown University before being awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to study in China. After completing her studies in the lakeside city of Hangzhou, she moved north to Beijing, working for China Guardian auction house.