Collectors & their Collections: René Balcer

How did you begin collecting woodblock prints?

René Balcer: ‘I’ve been collecting Kawase Hasui’s work [for years]. The first print I saw of his, 25 or so years ago, was a snow print. There was something about it that pushed a deep button in me. I grew up in Montréal, the land of snow, and Hasui is the master of snow. I decided to focus on one artist and he is arguably one of the best landscape artists of the 20th century. There was something cinematic about the framing and composition that I liked.’

When was your first encounter with Japanese art?

‘As a child. My grandfather had been to Japan in 1921, and spent six months to a year in Asia — he also went to China and Korea. There were photographs of him in Japan in our house that piqued my interest.’

What is the Holy Grail of prints for you?

‘There is one print — a pre-earthquake print. I don’t remember the title off the top of my head, but I can visualise it. When putting together the exhibition [Water and Shadow: Kawase Hasui and Japanese Landscape Prints at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts from 15 November], we were unable to find it in any museum, either here or in Japan. No one has seen this print for a very long time. Obviously there are examples of it in private collections in Japan. Maybe it will surface here as well. There are about five pre-earthquake prints that I don’t have. The goal is to have a complete collection.’

What is the appeal of woodblock printing, and why did you donate your collection to a museum?

‘It’s commonly known that woodblock printing is a medium of the people. The aim was always to give the work to an institution so that firstly, the public would be able to appreciate it, and secondly, it would help to reinforce interest in the medium.’

Where do you display your collection?

‘We don’t show the Hasuis too much — you don’t really want to hang them on your wall for any length of time because of the light. I have some duplicates I put in very dark corners for brief periods. There are 15 Hasui prints at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts — a gift that’s on display in a particular room.

The Chinese works we’ve lent to a number of exhibitions here in New York, in Hong Kong and elsewhere. There will be works by Xu Bing on show at LACMA from December to July next year. There will also be works by Xu Bing, Yun-Fei Ji and others on display at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston [in February]. We have some works hanging in our homes, but we like the idea of exposing the work to a wider public because I think they have something to communicate, both artistically and culturally, about China.’

‘There is a group of artists — the No Name Group — that we certainly helped introduce to the world outside China’

Is there a rule you always follow when it comes to collecting?

‘We prefer depth over width. We are not looking for one work by each artist, one example from every ukiyo-e artist or Chinese contemporary artist. That’s not that interesting to me. It’s like looking at tombstones. Oh, you have one of those! And one of those! It doesn’t really tell you anything. I am really interested in process. We would rather aim for a few works by a selection of artists.’

Is there a piece or a group of works in your collection that you are particularly fond of?

‘There is a group of artists — the No Name Group — that we didn’t discover, but that we certainly helped introduce to the world outside China. They were young artists, unofficial artists, who started painting during the Cultural Revolution in the early 1970s. Because they were unofficial and because of what they painted, their work was forbidden; and they were just landscapes! But that was held to be a bourgeois pursuit; landscape painting did not serve the people, did not help to propagate the message that the party wanted. So they had to work underground, surreptitiously, and were mostly self-taught. They were defying this very totalitarian regime and surviving, and eventually thriving. They were the precursors of contemporary Chinese art. Most of them are still working today. They certainly have my admiration, are enormously talented and just really good people.’

Do you have any advice to offer fledgling collectors, or collectors who are trying to branch out?

‘Focus on one artist, or one group of artists. Try to tell a story, and think about what you want to do with your collection. One of the best things you can do is to give it to a museum. In the US, the tax system actually encourages you to donate works. It is a gift that you can continue to enjoy afterwards — and you are also contributing to the education of young people, and to the preservation of art. Collecting is educational on a personal level, too. I would encourage new or young collectors to find something they like and delve deep.’

Photography by James Mollison