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Celebrating Asian Art   

ASIA WEEK

NEW YORK

Yearly Archives: 2021

Happy New Year!

December 31, 2021

Katsushika Hokusai (1760 – 1849), Two Cranes Standing on a Snowy Pine Tree, ca. 1833, color woodcut, kakemono-e, 19 7/8 x 9 1/16 in., Philadelphia Museum of Art

Felicitous wishes for long life are common in New Year’s greetings in East Asia. Especially popular are cranes, that enjoy particularly long lives, and pine trees, as they remain evergreen throughout the year. This striking woodblock print by Hokusai, which is in the collection of the Philadelphia Museum, expresses our wish to you for a very happy, healthy, rewarding, and art-filled New Year.

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Songtsam Tacheng Lodge

December 30, 2021

Tacheng Lodge is elegantly designed to showcase fine Chinese art and style; while big windows and balconies enable guests to take in the stunning rural scenery.

Located in a village beside the Yangtze River, where both Tibetan and Naxi minority people live together, Songtsam Tacheng Lodge enjoys a comfortable climate and boasts the region’s most fertile land. The 20 spacious and cozy guestrooms in the main building face beautiful terraced rice fields and mountains in the distance. The year-round climate yields an abundance of fruits and nuts, growing alongside terraced fields of rice, wheat and grapes. Meals in Tacheng benefit from a rich supply of locally grown organic vegetables all year round, as well as wild honey, fish, and ham that might just be the best in China.

Songtsam Tacheng Lodge is located in northwestern Yunnan province in an area that is richly endowed by nature and famous as a land of plenty. Natural conditions supply Tacheng with natural and seasonal foods. Local chefs cook these fresh ingredients, which are grown in the lodge’s vegetable garden and surrounding villages, to make meals that are healthy and maximize the original flavor of the ingredients.

Songtsam Tacheng Lodge is located between the Yangtze and Mekong Rivers and is only a 3-4 hour drive from Shangri-La. The journey along the Mekong River from Meili to Cizhong, and finally to Tacheng, is simply incredible. The road winds through vastly different landscapes that descend from high to low altitudes and takes one through cooler to warmer climates.

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Artist’s Talk at Ippodo

December 29, 2021

Ippodo Gallery is hosting a special Artist's Talk on December 30th.

Artist's Talk with Kenji Wakasugi and Curator Emerita Felice Fisher,
Ippodo Gallery
Thursday, December 30, 2021, 5pm (EST)

Ippodo Gallery will host a special online Artist's Talk with Kenji Wakasugi, whose work is featured in their current exhibition Synthesis II, and Felice Fischer, curator emerita of Japanese and East Asian art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. They will discuss the present show in-depth, and Wakasugi will share his artistic process and influences. Time will be set aside at the end for audience Q&A.

For more information, click here

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TAI Modern Last Call!

Honma Hideaki (b. 1959), Sign of Wind-Stream, 2012, madake and nemagari bamboo, rattan,
38.75 x 15.5 x 13 in.

Mountains & Sky, TAI Modern
Concludes Friday, December 31st

It is impossible to live in Santa Fe without falling a little bit in love with the mountains and sky. This winter, TAI Modern, which is based in this special place, pays homage to these pillars of the high desert landscape with an exhibition of works from Japan and America that evoke or are inspired by the natural world.

Mountains & Sky brings together a selection of vessel makers, painters, and sculptors. The references to nature can be straightforward, as in Black Mesa, Linda Whitaker’s powerful oil-pastel of a local landscape, or more difficult to pinpoint, as in Hatakeyama Seido’s Mountain Range, a jar-shaped bamboo basket with a decorative knotted motif reminiscent of the titular forms. Be sure to catch this engaging exhibition, in person or online.

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Thomsen Gallery Extends Exhibition

December 28, 2021

Gold Lacquer Box with Pine Cones, 1929, makie-e gold lacquer with shell and pewter inlays on wood,
5 x 11 x 9 in.

Golden Treasures: Japanese Gold Lacquer Boxes, Thomsen Gallery
Now on view-January 31, 2022

Thomsen Gallery at 9 E. 63rd St in New York has extended its current exhibition through the end of January, which gives visitors extra time to see these elegant works of art. The masterworks in the exhibition are all examples of maki-e, which literally means “sprinkled pictures” and refers to the technique of sprinkling powders of gold and silver onto wet lacquer, a distinctly Japanese tradition that developed in the Heian Period (794 – 1185).

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Thomas Murray Presents “Masks Then and Now”

December 27, 2021

Gonpo Buddhist Mask with Skulls, Tibet or Bhutan, papier mache, pigment and gold gilt, 13 in.

Masks Then and Now: Inspiration and Interpretation, Thomas Murray,
Asiatica-Ethnographica
Now on view

Thomas Murray, Asiatica-Ethnographica is currently offering an exceptional exhibition of masks from numerous tribal groups throughout Asia, ranging from the Himalayas to Japan to Indonesia, as well as several in the West. These striking images are crafted of a variety of materials, including wood, metal, and papier mache. The exhibition may be viewed on the gallery's website or in person by appointment in Mill Valley, California. The display of masks is accompanied by several informative articles online, such as Transformation Masks and Artistic Metamorphosis (in English and French) and Demons and Deities: Masks of the Himalayas. Also available is Thomas Murray's 2009 book Masks of Fabled Lands.

Topeng Wayang Comic Mask, Java, 19th/very early 20th century, wood, pigment, 9 in.

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Happy Holidays!

December 24, 2021

Suzuki Harunobu (ca. 1724-70), Young Beauty Carrying A Child Pulling a Flower Cart, ca. 1770,
chuban tate-e, 10 3/8 x 7 5/8 in.

Wishing the happiest of holidays to all from Asia Week New York!

This cheerful Japanese woodblock print from Scholten Japanese Art echoes the Christmas season with the tenderness of a mother-and-child and the merriment of colorful holiday gifts and décor. The small child focuses intently on the small flower cart containing a basketwork vase with an arrangement of autumnal leaves and grasses, including chrysanthemums and kikyo (bell flowers) that he pulls along with a long cord. Repeated images of clumps of snow-covered bamboo on the woman’s robes also evoke the season.

The poem at the top is by Fujiwara no Michitoshi (1047-1099) from the anthology Kin'yo wakashu (Collection of Golden Leaves).

Sakari naru
magaki no kiku
kesa mire ba
mata sora saenu
yuki zo tsumoreru

I get up early
this morning to find flowers
the chrysanthemums
flowering upon my hedge
as if the snow covered it.

-Poem reading courtesy of Ryoko Matsuba, translation by Matsuo Shukuya

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Ralph M. Chait Galleries’ Winter 2021-2022 Booklet

December 23, 2021

Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Inc. has made available their Winter 2021-2022 catalogue.

Winter 2021-2022 Booklet available, Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Inc.

Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Inc., which was founded in 1910, has recently published their Winter 2021-2022 booklet filled with fine Chinese Porcelains and Works of Art. Many of the works have a holiday theme and celebrate the festive season. The booklet can be downloaded free on the gallery's website, and visitors are welcome to stop by the gallery on East 52nd Street and see the art objects in person.

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Akar Prakar Presents Piyali Sadhukhan’s “Kingdom of Cards”

December 22, 2021

Piyali Sadhukhan (born 1979), Centrifugal, mixed media on canvas, 83 x 117 cm.

Kingdom of Cards by Piyali Sadhukhan, Akar Prakar Gallery
Now on view-January 14, 2022

In their New Delhi gallery, Akar Prakar is currently exhibiting work by the mixed-media artist Piyali Sadhukhan, which can be seen in person and on the gallery's website. Drawing inspiration from literature, history and media, Sadhukhan's images are a visceral portrayal of historical events and our shared lived experiences. Here, the artist embodies the spirit of a storyteller and uses the devices of narrative storytelling, one of the oldest forms of mass media. As the viewer engages with each art work, they enter into a mythical land created by the artist. But as they grow intimate with each work, they are left asking whether what they see is really a myth or fiction. Because fantasy has never seemed more real than this.

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Last Chance–Tai Xiangzhou at Fu Qiumeng Fine Art

December 21, 2021

Tai Xiangzhou, Celestial Chaos – Endless Celestial Motions, ca. 2021, mounted and framed, ink on silk, 39.37 x 79.52 in.

Tai Xiangzhou – Cosmic Matter: From Nothing to Being , Fu Qiumeng Fine Art
Concludes Thursday, December 23, 2021

Don't miss this exhibition of 12 new, dynamic works by Tai Xiangzhou in which he explores the themes of art history, philosophy, mythology, literature, cosmology, and modern science through the traditional Chinese ink-and-brush medium. These large and powerful primordial cosmic “landscapes” are steeped in China's rich artistic tradition, yet are completely new and innovative.

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