ASIANART.COM - Key Persons
Jan van Alphen counts as one of the world's most respected experts in the field of Asian Art. His impressive career includes positions as Chief-Curator of the Antwerp Ethnographic Museum and the Rubin Museum of Fine Arts, in New York. For years he was the Chairman of the Scientific Committee at "Bozar" The Center for Fine Arts in Brussels. The large number of exhibitions and publications by Jan van Alphen have made a significant contribution to the understanding and appreciation of Asian Art. Today he is a major consultant for numerous museums, art fairs, auctions, and art institutions. I am delighted and honoured that after writing the catalogue: Divine Presence, master sculpture from Asia, in 2018, he has, once again, been committed to direct and write the entries in the present catalogue: Avatar, Resurrection of the Gods.
Marcel Nies has specialised in Oriental Art since 1972. Composed of a diversity of art, his collection includes sculptures, paintings, and ritual objects from India, the Himalayan mountains, and South-eastern Asia. The gallery displays this collection, as well as new acquisitions and special 'theme' exhibitions which take place every year.
Thomas Murray is an independent researcher, collector and private dealer of Asian and Tribal Art with an emphasis on Indonesian sculpture and textiles, as well as animistic art from other varied cultures. He also features Indian printed trade cloths from the 14th-18th Centuries.
Thomas Murray recently served a three-year term as a member of President Obama's Cultural Property Advisory Committee at the State Department. President Obama said, "This dedicated individual brings a wealth of experience and talent to his new role and I am proud to have him serve in the months and years to come."
A HALI magazine contributing editor for the last 25 years, he serves as their "in-house" expert on all ethnographic textiles, with more than 45 publications. He has lectured widely, including "Ottoman Influences on Islamic Calligraphic Batik from Indonesia", "Li Textiles of Hainan, Seeking the Source of Lost Austronesian Iconography", "Lampung Imagery: Textile Iconography of South Sumatra", "Revealing Austronesian Aesthetics" and most recently "A Personal Perspective on the Collecting of Non-Western Art".
Thomas Murray is Past President of ATADA, The Antique Tribal Art Dealers Association.