Searching for Pablo

IT BEGAN AS the sort of gig any arts writer would jump at: a large collection of paintings and sketches by Pablo Picasso had come to China, and were beginning a multi-city tour in Shenzhen. The pieces had never been seen in Asia, and, naturally, were priceless. A Xinhua report, although lacking details, was tantalising. The general gist was that 265 Picasso originals - plates, prints and watercolour paintings - were being displayed in Shenzhen. The invaluable collection was on loan from France's Picasso Foundation.

That all parties involved would be eager to promote the event seemed a given. But in China, things are rarely so simple, and in tracking down what should have been basic facts, I found myself on a path that led not so much through the world of art but of real estate.

Locating the art proved difficult. The sudden appearance of 265 Picasso originals in any city is a big deal, so it stood to reason that the curator of Shenzhen's He Xiangning Art Museum would know of their whereabouts. But Liu Yingjiu was able to confirm only that, although the Picassos were on display somewhere in Shenzhen, he was out of the loop. Rather than being kept at the museum or at some tightly guarded government location, the work was being displayed privately in a new real estate development called Mangrove West Coast - although they would eventually be moved to Liu's museum for public display.

With nothing more to go on than the Xinhua report and vague rumours, I headed to Shenzhen's He Xiangning Museum, figuring that visiting the place where the art was due to finish up later in the month was my best lead.

'We were approached to host the Picasso exhibit,' says Liu. 'But our contact was with an advertising company in Beijing.' This company, it seems, had obtained the right to show the paintings in Shenzhen. 'As the Mangrove sponsored the trip, they are first using the art to impress their customers. The pieces will come to our museum on December 26, before moving on to Shanghai.

'There's a tendency to see art appropriated by the new elite. While this makes Shenzhen a fertile ground for art consumption, I don't know if it makes us more appreciative of art,' Liu says. 'As for art appreciation in Shenzhen, certainly art consumption is flourishing here.'