MoMA Acquires 23 Chinese Photographs

NEW YORK—The Museum of Modern Art has acquired 23 photographs by eight Chinese artists, including Rong Rong, Huang Yan, and Ai Weiwei, reports Bloomberg.

The acquisition has "ruffled some art-world feathers because the seller was not the usual dealer but Larry Warsh," the former owner of Museums magazine (now owned by ARTINFO parent company Louise Blouin Media), according to Bloomberg. Warsh began collecting Chinese art with the help of Beijing-based art historian and curator Karen Smith in 2002, often buying in bulk, snatching up studio contents for bargain-basement prices. He now owns "500-plus" photographs, he says, plus a valuable collection of paintings and sculptures.

Warsh invited MoMA's curators to sift through images stored at his New York warehouse, and says he sold them the works at 30 to 40 percent below market value and donated images by Weng Fen, Zhang Dali, and Zheng Guogu. MoMA declined to comment on the price.