Sherman Lee at the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1965. Courtesy of The Cleveland Museum of Art Archives

Sherman Lee: Master of Art, Asia Week New York
Online webinar, Tuesday, September 13, 2022, 5pm EDT

Sherman Lee, the renowned Asian art expert, had an enormous impact on the field of Asian art. His most significant role was as director of the Cleveland Museum of Art, where he was instrumental in assembling one of the foremost Asian art collections in the US and turned the museum into a major destination. In addition, his legendary connoisseurship and brilliant eye made him a sought-after adviser to collectors, among them John D. Rockefeller 3rd for his collection of Asian art, bequeathed to Asia Society.

Four panelists will discuss and give presentations about different facets of Lee’s life and career. These include his approach to collecting Asian art, a personal perspective from his daughter, further insights on his influence in the field from a fellow Asian art scholar and friend of many years, and his role as advisor and benefactor to the Ackland Museum.

Separating Sheep from Goats: Sherman E. Lee and Collecting Asian Art
Noelle Giuffrida
Curator of Asian Art, David Owsley Museum of Art and Professor of Art History,
Ball State University
Noelle Giuffrida is the author of Separating Sheep from Goats: Sherman E. Lee’s Collecting of Chinese Art in Postwar America, published by the University of California Press in 2018. In addition to her work at Ball State University, where she recently completed reinstalling and reinterpreting the Japanese collection at the David Owsley Museum of Art, Giuffrida also serves as a research associate with the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Kansas. Giuffrida’s research focuses on Chinese art, particularly the history of collecting and exhibiting premodern works in American museums after World War II and the visual culture of Daoism in late imperial China. Her teaching and curatorial experience extend broadly both temporally—from Neolithic to contemporary—and cross-culturally to China, Korea, and Japan, as well as to South and Southeast Asia.

Sherman Lee: Reflections of a Daughter
Katharine Lee Reid
Retired Director, Cleveland Museum of Art
Katharine Lee Reid is the daughter of Sherman Lee, who sparked her interest in art while still a child. Reid served as director of the Cleveland Museum of Art from 2000-2005, a post her father held from 1958 to 1983. During her tenure, work began on the museum's extensive expansion and renovation. Reid was director of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts from 1991-2000, when she also initiated a large renovation project and significantly expanded the museum's programs and community outreach. Prior to her time at the VMFA, Reid held the posts of assistant and deputy director at the Art Institute of Chicago and curatorial positions at the Ackland Art Museum, the Smart Museum of Art, and the Toledo Museum of Art. During her career, Reid has shared her rich experience on numerous boards and advisory committees. She was awarded the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. Reid holds degrees in art history from Vassar College and Harvard University and studied at the Sorbonne; she holds an honorary degree of Doctor of Fine Arts from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Sherman Lee: A Man for All Seasons
Mary Ann Rogers
Co-founder & Director, Kaikodo
Mary Ann Rogers received an MPhil in Chinese Art and Archaeology from the School of Oriental and African Studies, the University of London, and worked toward a PhD in Chinese painting at UC Berkeley. She has balanced a life in the art business with an academic life, contributing to journals and catalogues in Asian art and culture, teaching in the states and Japan, where she was also affiliated with the Tokyo-based Idemitsu Museum of Arts. Mary Ann and her husband established and operated Kaikodo, from their home in Kita-Kamakura in Japan for well over a decade and then for 25 years in New York City, where their gallery served as a vibrant meeting place for collectors and scholars of Asian Art worldwide. In the wake of the global health crisis, the Rogers relocated all Kaikodo business operations to the Big Island in Hawai’i, which has long been the center of Kaikodo Journal production and a destination for friends and associates in their field, all making Mary Ann eminently qualified to discuss the lasting legacy of Sherman Lee in A Man for All Seasons.

Sage in the Bamboo Grove: Sherman E. Lee and the Ackland Art Museum
Peter Nisbet
Deputy Director for Curatorial Affairs, Ackland Art Museum
Peter Nisbet is the deputy director for curatorial affairs at the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he oversees the exhibition program and the permanent collection of over 20,000 objects, including some 1,600 Asian works of art. He has published widely on the Russian and Soviet avant-garde, on German modern and contemporary art, on postwar Japanese art, and on issues of museum history, theory, and practice. His most recent book is Look Close, Think Far: Art at the Ackland, which was published by Paul Holberton Publishing this summer. Before joining the Ackland in 2009, Nisbet held posts at the Busch-Reisinger Museum/Harvard Art Museums, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Yale University Art Gallery. He holds a BA and MA from Cambridge University and a PhD in the History of Art from Yale University.

Moderator:
Dessa Goddard
Vice President, US Head, Asian Art Group, Senior Specialist, Chinese Art, Senior Specialist, Japanese Art, Head of Business Strategy, Global Chinese Paintings, Senior Management Team, Bonhams
Chairman, Asia Week New York

To register, click here.

Asia Week New York is pleased to announce that Autumn 2022 will run from September 14 to 23 with online and in-person exhibitions–including works from twenty-one international Asian art galleries and six auction houses–Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle, Heritage, iGavel, and Sotheby’s. Thirteen of the galleries are simultaneously opening their doors to the public in New York, and the sales at the auction houses will be live and online.

Organized by category, here is a round-up of the highlights at the galleries:

Ancient and/or Contemporary Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asia

Taking center stage at Kapoor Galleries is this schist figure of Buddha Shakyamuni, Gandhara, 2nd/3rd Century (Kushan Period). Sculpted from gray schist, the present sculpture is a fine example of traditional Gandharan art. Schist was widely used as a material in Gandharan sculptures as it allowed detailed carving. It depicts Buddha as the enlightened spiritual teacher alleviating humankind from worldly despair. 34 East 67th Street

The showstopper at Thomas Murray is an exceptionally rare and important 19th/early 20th century Lukkus-Pintoan Headhunter Costume. Robes of this type are the most important of all Taiwan Aboriginal costumes and were exclusively worn by successful headhunters of the Atayal people. The red color represents the Blood of Life, with the linear geometry of the beading, representing the Rainbow Path of the Ancestors. Profoundly labor intensive to create, the hand pierced shell beads represent thousands of hours of stored value.  Online only

Among the paintings featured at Akar Prakar is Wounds (Trial Proof B4) by Somnath Hore, who is remembered as an artist and printmaker who experimented with and invented his own techniques for printmaking. Born in 1921 in a pre-independent India, he witnessed the tragedies that plagued the nation and the world at the time. His works, like this etching, are visual storytelling of the trauma he witnessed all his life. Online only

Ancient and/or Contemporary Chinese Art 

Ralph M. Chait Galleries is offering The Happiness Twins, who are depicted holding a gourd and lotus flower for long life, and a box. They are associated with happiness and good fortune and are often shown with a Three-Legged Toad which was symbolic of wealth. Carved from a single section of bamboo (the tip), this sculpture symbolizes good fortune in all its manifestations. 16 East 52nd Street, 10th floor, for gallery hours, phone 212-397-2818

Beijing-based INKstudio presents landscape paintings from Bingyi’s recent field research in the Taihang Mountains in Northern China and will feature Mountain Spirit. Her Taihang series will debut at the exhibition Oneness: Nature and Connectivity in Chinese Art at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and runs concurrently with the gallery’s exhibition in New York. Online only

By all indications, the shape and surprisingly large size, distinctive palette, and florid style of this large sancai-decorated Cizhou Pillow at Kaikodo LLC indicates that it was produced at the kiln in Henan province during the Jin dynasty (12th/13th century). This pillow is not only a useful household accessory, but a powerful aesthetic and decorative statement as well. Online only

Ancient and/or Contemporary Japanese Art

The Art of Japan features Fireworks at Ryogoku, one of Utagawa Hiroshige’s most iconic designs, from the 100 Views of Edo series. A highlight of the hot Edo summers was the Noryou (enjoying the cool of the evening), with fireworks on the Sumida River. On days when the river was open to pleasure boats, spectators turned out in droves to admire the displays of the rival pyrotechnicians, Yamaya and Kagiya. The scene depicted here is in the autumn section of the series, which explains the smaller crowd than if it were in summer. Online only

Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd., presents Tsubo: The Art of Vessels which explores the sublime interpretations of the Tsubo form by Japan's modern and contemporary ceramic masters including the work of Minegishi Seiko, who specializes in a unique type of celadon beige glaze which originated in China. 18 East 64th Street, by appointment

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints is presenting an exhibition of exceptionally early and beautiful prints from Tsukioka Yoshitoshi’s series, 100 Aspects of the Moon, which will include Jade Rabbit–Sun Wukong. Songoku, hero of the epic Chinese novel “Journey to the West” is shown holding his magic staff and playfully frolicking with the moon-dwelling Jade Rabbit in front of an enormous full moon. One of Yoshitoshi’s earliest print series (1864), Monkey and his Journey to the West–considered one of the top designs in this series–is beautifully printed, with strong woodgrain in the lower sky and strong pink hues of the moon. Online only

This exquisite example of Hisao Hanafusa’s enigmatic series “Fifth Dimension,” Byōbu II, the single artist show at Fu Qiumeng Fine Art, combines the traditional Japanese art of gilded screens with a post-minimalist interest in the idea of process. The three vertical shapes in dark grays, which are made of chemically treated aluminum paints, call to mind the shadow of a figure. When folded, the chemicals slowly oxidize the silver leaves on the adjacent panel, changing their complexions, and in doing so, create an indexical print of the former. 65 East 80th Street, for gallery hours, phone 646-838-9395

Ippodo Gallery presents Innovation in Form: Lacquerware by Jihei Murase III, the second exhibition at the gallery by the artist, featuring 35 lacquer works.  The craft of Jihei Murase III is the culmination of generations of expertise and innovative genius. Since his last show, Murase has continued to gain recognition in the United States and Europe for his scrupulous attention to beauty and innovation of form. The artist reveres the beauty of functional things, expertly joining aesthetics with utility in everyday life as exemplified by this elegant hourglass-shaped flower vase. 32 East 67th Street

Sebastian Izzard LLC Asian Art presents Japanese Prints and Paintings from the Late Eighteenth Century. This was the decade of the ōkubi-e—defined as head and shoulder portraits—of both men and women, usually actors or courtesans and famous beauties of the day. One of the exhibition highlights is this color woodblock print of Ichikawa Danjūrō VI, one of the most popular Kabuki actors of all time, by Utagawa Kunimasa. 17 East 76th Street, 3rd Floor, by appointment

RED EARTH, the exhibition­ at Joan B Mirviss LTD will showcase the work of Ogawa Machiko, who has moved from sculptural forms to richly colored red vessels that resemble archaeological finds, retaining her signature quality of timeless discovery. Her desired deep red color is achieved by rubbing the glaze with a cloth over the surfaces. This hand-applied method creates subtle variations in the resulting matte red effect after firing. Tall standing conical red vessels reveal, through torn mouths and sliced edges, a contrasting white porcelain vessel nestled inside. Through such layering of forms, Ogawa calls into question the very idea of utsuwa (container) and its function. 39 East 78th Street, 4th floor.

This stunning silver vase, presented by Onishi Gallery titled Yunagi (Evening Calm)– by Oshiyama Motoko, one of Japan’s leading female metalwork artists, illuminates the playful sense of a peaceful evening, the stars shining like diamonds in the quiet night sky. A combination of colorful metal alloy sheets is used to create a geometric pattern with fine gradations. She draws inspiration from natural phenomena, welding, and soldering metals together to produce refined objects with swirling patterns and abstract designs. Her work can be seen in the Arts of Japan Galleries at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  521 West 26th Street, by appointment

Inspired by the kimono exhibition from the John C. Weber collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Scholten Japanese Art presents Fashion Forward: Edo Beauties of the Floating World, which explores the swagger and finesse of kimono styles as presented by Edo Period artists, who were the fashion editors of their time. Among the highlights is A Pocket Mirror of Beauties- Six Immortal Poets of the Era: Ariwara no Narihira. 145 West 58th Street, Suite 6D, appointment appreciated

Among the highlights at TAI Modern is a highly geometric intertwined bamboo work of art by the emerging young artist Nakatomi Hajime, who approaches his work like an engineer. In his world of numbers, he finds the beauty of geometry and symmetry and sees the elegance of simple circles, triangles, squares, ellipses, and figure-eights. Repeated many times, pure geometry can also take on organic form, comparable to a macroscopic view of microscopic structures inherent in nature. Nakatomi produces mysteriously intertwined objects, weightless and repetitive with a masterful delicate and dynamic visual effect as evidenced in Auspicious 8. Online only

Thomsen Gallery will exhibit large works by the internationally renowned lacquer artist Nobuyuki Tanaka, who uses the ancient dry-lacquer technique to create amorphous, curving forms with meticulously finished surfaces that incorporate tactility and translucency. The colors are those used in traditional lacquer ware: high-gloss black or red, or a mélange of both. As exemplified in Imaginary Skin, his sculptural works explore both the horizontal and vertical orientations. 9 East 63rd Street 2nd floor

Among the animal-themed works of art that Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art will feature in their exhibition called Peluche, which means “plush toy” in French, is The Lion and The Guardian Dog, a pair of wooden figures from the Kamakura period,13th century. Online only

Miyako Yoshinaga presents two contemporary Japanese artists: Manika Nagari and Hitoshi Fugo, a painter and a photographer, respectively. In this vigorously stroked painting with bold colors, Nagara was inspired by her recent episode of disorientation and fear caused by the sudden deafness in one of her ears. Always interested in exploring the rich narratives with which different individuals and cultures express their own experiences, she painted Your Ears while imagining the different meanings and representations of hearing. 24 East 64th Street

An exhibition of Japanese and Korean ceramics will be on view at Zetterquist Galleries. One of the standouts is a beautiful Nabeshima porcelain plate with baskets and flowers. Nabeshima-ware was originally produced in Hizen Province (now Saga Prefecture) as a tribute from the Feudal Lord Nabeshima to the Shogun in Edo. They represented the highest level of technical and artistic achievement in Japanese porcelain of the time. 3 East 66th Street, #2B. By appointment

Ancient and Contemporary Korean Art

The exhibition, Cho Yong-Ik: Jumhwa and Wave Paintings, at HK Art & Antiques Ltd. will showcase over 10 paintings from the last decade by Cho Yong-Ik (b. 1934), a major Korean painter. After a period of inactivity, Cho has returned to the themes that occupied him during the 1970s and 1980s. These Jumhwa–dot paintings, and wave paintings–are examples of the trends that preoccupied the Dansaekhwa, or Korean monochrome painting movement, during the early period of Korean modern art. In the case of the Jumhwa, these marks are dots or wedges scraped from the monochromatic surface with either a finger or a painter’s knife, then overpainted and defaced again. The motifs in the wave paintings continue the theme of repetition and erasure but are often continuous across the monochrome surface and bear the clear signs of brushwork. 49 East 78th Street, by appointment

Image Captions:

Ancient and/or Contemporary Indian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian Art

A schist figure of Buddha Shakyamuni, Gandhara, 2nd/3rd Century (Kushan Period) Gray Schist
38 1⁄4 in. (97.2 cm). high Credit: Kapoor Galleries

Lukkus-Pintoan Headhunter Costume
Atayal People, Taiwan
Ramie, raveled trade wool, shell disk beads
19th/early 20th Century, Ex Collection Valerie Hector
48 x 96.5 /19 cm x 38 inches
Credit: Thomas Murray

Somnath Hore
Wounds (Trial Proof B4)
Etching
Size: 8 x 9.25 in. (20.3 cm x 23.4 cm)
1978
Credit: Akar Prakar

Ancient and/or Contemporary Chinese Art

Fine Chinese bamboo carving of the hehe erxian happiness twins riding upon a three-legged toad
18th/ early-19th century
Finely carved in the full round in great detail to the Boys, and the Toad has a wonderful comical expression.
The wood has a beautiful and warm brown tone.
12 ¼ inches (31.5 cm.) high
Credit: Ralph M. Chait Galleries

Bingyi
Mountain Spirit, 2022
Ink on xuan paper, 178 x 96 cm
Credit: INKstudio

A Large Sancai-decorated Cizhou Pillow
Jin dynasty
Late 12th-13th century
Length: 48.5 cm. (19 1/8 in.)
Width: 23.0 cm. (9 in.)
Height: 14.9 cm. (5 7/8 in.)
Credit: Kaikodo LLC

Nabeshima Plate with Baskets and Flowers
1690-1740’s
Hizen Ware, Japan
20.5cm diameter
Credit: Zetterquist Galleries

Ancient and/or Contemporary Japanese Art

Utagawa Hiroshige
Ryogoku Hanabi – Fireworks at Ryogoku
100 Views of Edo
1858
1st state Deluxe edition
Credit: The Art of Japan

Minegishi Seiko 峯岸 勢晃 (b. 1952)
Large Jar with Crackled Celadon Glaze
H19″ x Diameter 13.5″ x Lip Diameter 4.0″
H48.2 x Diameter 34.2 x Lip Diameter 10.1 cm
Stoneware with Beige Colored Celadon Glaze
With Signed Wood Box
Credit: Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892)
Jade Rabbit–Sun Wukong
Series: One Hundred Aspects of the Moon 月百姿
1889
Credit: Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Hisao Hanafusa
Fifth Dimension Byōbu II, 2021
Six-panel folding screen, silver aluminum paint, silver leaves on paper
26.5 x 57.5 in. per panel
Credit: Fu Qiumeng Fine Art

Jihei Murase III
Negoro Flower Vase, 2022, Lacquer
Credit: Ippodo Gallery

Utagawa Kunimasa (1773–1810)
Ichikawa Danjūrō VI as Kanshaku no Jū
Color woodblock print: ōban tate-e, 14¼ x 10⅛ in. (36.2 x 25.7 cm); 1/1796
Signed: Kunimasa ga
Censor’s seal: kiwame (approved)
Publisher: Uemura Yohei
Credit: Sebastian Izzard LLC Asian Art

Akai utsuwa, “Red Vessel”
2021
Unglazed porcelain and stoneware with iron-oxide glaze
16 x 13 3/4 in. (40.6 x 34.9 cm.)
Credit: Joan B Mirviss LTD

Oshiyama Motoko (b. 1957)
Kakuhanmon Vase “Yunagi” (Evening Calm), 2021
Silver, brass, shakudo and copper
h. 9 7/8 x w. 6 x d. 2 3/8 in. (25 x 15 x 6 cm)
Credit: Onishi Gallery

Keisai Eisen (1790-1848)
A Pocket Mirror of Beauties- Six Immortal Poets of the Era: Ariwara no Narihira, ca. 1826-28
Woodblock print
14 7/8 x 10 in., 37.8 x 25.4 cm.
Credit: Scholten Japanese Art

Nakatomi Hajime
Auspicious 8, 2020
madake bamboo, rattan
13.5 x 18 x 5 in.
Credit: TAI Modern

Nobuyuki Tanaka (b. 1959)
Imaginary Skin, 2015, Japan
Dry lacquer
H 39¼ in. (99.6 cm)
Credit: Thomsen Gallery

The Lion and The Guardian Dog
A pair of wooden figures
Right; 15.3 in. high (39 cm) Left: 16.1 in. high (41 cm)
Kamakura period, 13th century
Credit: Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art

Manika Nagare
Your Ears
2022, Oil on canvas
28 5/8″x 28 5/8″in. (75.2 x 75.2 cm.)
© Manika Nagare, Courtesy MIYAKO YOSHINAGA

Korean Ancient and/or Contemporary Art

Sooyeon Hong (B. 1967)
“Tonal Dialogue #10,”2019
Acrylic on canvas
20.9 x 17.9 in. (53 x 45.5cm.)
Credit: HK Art & Antiques Ltd.

Zhang Xiaoli, Klotski II, 2022, Chinese ink and color on silk, Each: 31 1/2 x 33 1/2 in. (80 x 85 cm.)

Summer Group Show: The Rain Freshens, Fu Qiumeng Fine Art
Concludes September 3, 2022

Fu Qiumeng Fine Art’s summer group show The Rain Freshens features the works of four new-generation ink painters who explore and reinterpret classical aesthetic paradigms and practices from both Eastern and Western tradition. The artists include Chen Duxi (born 1983), Yau Wing Fung (born 1990), Zhang Xiaoli (born 1989), and Zhang Yirong (born 1979).

The title of the exhibition, “The Rain Freshens,” is derived from the English translation of 空山新雨后 – “an empty mountain after freshly fallen rain” written by the Tang dynasty poet Wang Wei 王維 (699-751) in Autumn Twilight, Dwelling Among Mountains《山居秋瞑》. This poetic scene is uncannily parallel to the term “petrichor,” with its ancient Greek root, describing the earthy and pleasant scent that permeates the air when rain first falls on dry soil. Although Wang’s writings and the concept of petrichor originate from different cultures and contexts, both use literary synesthesia as a rhetorical device to transcend the boundaries between the visual and olfactory senses and capture the artistic form of the throb of new life in nature. Despite the perceived cultural differences, art strives to explore human life and nature. This exhibition bridges across cultures to represent a new generation of contemporary ink painters who practice and create art in a newly interconnected and globalized world.

Read more, click here

Madhvi Parekh, Sea God, 1971, oil on canvas, 48.0 x 72.2 in.

A Place in the Sun: Women Artists from 20th Century India,
DAG New York
Concludes September 2, 2022

DAG's A Place in The Sun: Women Artists from 20th Century India is an exhibition exploring the remarkable contribution of women artists in the context of Indian modernism, representing a selection of trailblazers, each of whom crafted a unique identity and practice. This exhibition surveys their artistic journeys while fighting prejudice and patriarchy at a time when women were discouraged from pursuing art, and uncovers the wide breadth of their interests, including early abstract painting, the arduous regimen of making sculptures, and printmaking.

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The Other Side of Steel: The Sculpture of John Pai
Korean Cultural Center, New York
Recorded lecture by Professor John Yau, Professor of Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University

The lecture presents a trailblazing sculptor and accomplished professor, John Pai, whose artworks and influence spans disciplines, institutions, and continents. Moved to the US when he was 12 years old and raised by an American family in West Virginia, John Pai is one of the first Korean contemporary artists to make waves in the United States, with his welded mesh-like steel sculptures that garnered attention from the wider contemporary art scene. A graduate of Pratt Institute, he went on to join his alma mater as its youngest faculty member in 1965, where he went on to teach for over 40 years and was a major catalyst behind the growth of the school’s undergraduate sculpture program. Poet, writer, and professor at Rutgers University John Yau explores John Pai’s distinguished career in this lecture, mapping his path and influence on both American and Korean contemporary art over several decades.

John Yau is a poet and critic who has published numerous monographs and books of criticism, including A. R. Penck (1993), In the Realm of Appearances: The Art of Andy Warhol (1993), The Passionate Spectator: Essays on Art and Poetry (2006), A Thing Among Things: The Art of Jasper Johns (2008), Catherine Murphy(2016), Thomas Nozkowski (2017), The Wild Children of William Blake (2017), and Philip Taaffe (2018). His most recent book of poems is Genghis Chan on Drums (2021). Since 2012, he has contributed regularly to the online magazine Hyperallergic. He is a professor at Mason Gross School of the Arts (Rutgers University) and lives in New York.

To watch the recorded lecture, click here

Fukami Sueharu 深見 陶治 (born 1947), Untitled, 1985, with signed wood box, celadon porcelain on wood base, H. 6.2 x W. 18 x D. 2 in. (15.7 x 45.7 x 5.0 cm)

Modern Splendor: Exceptional Contemporary Japanese Ceramics
Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd
Concludes August 31, 2022

Dai Ichi Arts’ summer show features splendid works by Modern Japanese ceramic artists who are masters of their craft in technique and aesthetic sensibilities. This summer show will feature works of art in clay by Fukami Sueharu, Yoshikawa Masamichi, Kawase Shinobu, Imanishi Masaya, Shimizu Keiichi, Mihara Ken, & more.

Read more, click here

Songtsam Hotels, Resorts and Tours, an award-winning boutique luxury hotel chain in the Tibet and Yunnan provinces of China and sponsor of Asia Week New York, recently announced the official opening of The Songtsam Tibetan Art Museum within the Songtsam Linka Retreat Shangri-La.

Mr. Baima Duoji, Founder and Chairman of Songtsam and former Tibetan documentary filmmaker, is strongly committed to sharing the essence of Tibetan culture with the world, especially with guests who stay at the Songtsam properties. Baima has dedicated his life to educating others about the inspirational and life changing practices of Tibetan philosophy through experiencing the local culture firsthand. Baima, who is passionate about works of art and the stories they tell and is a collector himself, decided to establish The Songtsam Tibetan Art Museum, which will include his personal collection of antiquities. The unique museum will be open to the public as well as Songtsam guests.

Mr. Baima explained the vision for the museum: “The vision of Songtsam Group is to hope that guests from afar could learn more about this land through Songtsam. Songtsam Museum is also one of the ways for people to understand this land. Only when people are in close contact with this land can people truly appreciate the power they nurture with their lives when they think about and pursue beauty.”

The Songtsam Tibetan Art Museum, located in Songtsam Linka Retreat Shangri-La, is divided into two sections. The first floor houses Baima’s private collections, which all share a common theme of “craftsmanship and wisdom”. The second floor houses the thangka painting center, which displays a collection of religious scroll paintings with cultural significance to the Tibetan people. The beautiful colors of thangkas have evolved for more than 1,800 years and embody the history and traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Guests will learn how the thangkas are revered as an encyclopedia of Tibetan culture and play an important role in meditation and worship. This exhibit also displays statues, Tibetan furniture, Buddhist decorations, and miscellaneous smaller pieces, totaling about 380 special objects. The most important parts of the collection include exceptionally rare artifacts, such as the thangka of the Panchen Lama Incarnation Lineage, Go Lotsawa of the 18th century and a 16th century statue of Buddha Shakyamuni.

The Zen Garden, Bonhams Los Angeles
Online sale, now available through August 30, 2022

This online auction offers a variety of Scholar's Rocks and Mineral Decor for the Home and Garden. With more than 200 lots overall, The Zen Garden sale features a significant private single-owner collection of self-collected mineral works, primarily from California's Death Valley and Palm Desert, as well as a number of scholar rocks dating back as far as the Qing Dynasty. Many lots in the sale are offered without reserve.

Widely celebrated in East Asia, Scholar’s Rocks are an ancient art form that invoke meditation and peace. These porous or dark stones depict a landscape or object and are highly regarded for their simplicity and closeness to nature, inspiring philosophical thought. For a detailed look at the history of Scholar's Rocks, especially the renowned Taihu Rocks, and highlights of the sale, click here.

Orange Calcite Monolith, 80 x 26 x 13 in. and weighing approximately 1300 lbs, Lot 1000w,
Estimate: $10,000-15,000, without reserve

Another highlight in this sale, which is presented by Bonhams Natural History Department, is this large, free-form orange calcite monolith contemplation stone on a Chinese carved custom-fitted wooden base. Nearly seven feet tall and approximately 1,300 lbs., the colossal monolith is contour polished in order to dramatically contrast the orange hue with its black veining. A second related online sale, Gemstones and Exotic Gemstone Jewelry, is concurrently available for bidding now until August 29th.

C. Douglas, Man with Goat, 1994, mixed media on paper, 11.75 x 7.75 in.

Rose Red Rose Invisible, Visible in My Blood,
Akar Prakar New Delhi
August 23-October 7, 2022

The exhibition Rose Red Rose Invisible, Visible in My Blood, curated by Siddhi Shailendra, takes the viewer on a poetic journey into the creations of artist C. Douglas, while simultaneously asking them to look beyond the narrative of the subject. In Douglas’s works, the real does not always inform his visuals, but his visuals perhaps can be imagined as a reality with the unknown and the fragmented.

The influence of books and literature in Douglas's practice take shape in the form of words and texts as part of his compositions. But paradoxically, the words may never lead to the understanding of the subject matter. As Douglas says “The words are not there to describe the narrative, but to function as image itself. The written words dissolve into calligraphic representations, just as visible lines or geometry”. The Rose Red series and the Blind Poet and Butterflies series are hence inspired by the poetry of William Blake, T. S. Eliot, and Fernando Pessoa. One sees motifs like the Blind Poet and Butterflies and the Man with the Mirror repeatedly present as subjects in more than two decades of his practice.

Taking its name from the inscription in a series of artwork, the exhibition Rose Red Rose Invisible, Visible in My Blood highlights Douglas's practice from 1990 to 2022. The exhibition is a survey of more than three decades of the artist’s practice and his use of poetics as a visual language.

Read more, click here.

100 Years of Somnath Hore, Akar Prakar Kolkata
August 27-October 15, 2022
Reception, August 26, 2022, 6-8pm

A printmaker, painter and sculptor, Somnath Hore’s works are a reflection of his sensitivity and empathy towards his subjects. Beginning his practice during some of the hardest social and political time in the country, such as the Bengal famine and the pre-Independence struggle, Hore’s sketches were the visual representation of his first hand experience. In his life, his association with the Communist Party and his personal political beliefs deeply influenced his imagery.

Experimenting with forms and techniques, specially in his printmaking, he was able to invent his own technique known as the white on white pulp prints and popularly referred to as the Wounds series. In his practice, the swift strokes of his ink & brush work, the minimalist representations of his woodcuts, the hollow core of his bronze sculptures or the striking textures of the wounds series became the signature styles of his artistic language.

Read more, click here.

Honma Hideaki, Enso, 2020, madake, menyadake & nemagari bamboo, rattan, 20.5 x 37 x 13.75 in.

Honma Hideaki, TAI Modern
Concludes August 27, 2022

This solo exhibition of work by Honma Hideaki, his generation's leading bamboo master, celebrates his 35th working as an artist.

Honma Hideaki’s uncle, the pioneering bamboo artist Honma Kazuaki, had no children, so he adopted Hideaki (who loved to draw and work with his hands) as his son, student, and heir to the family’s bamboo business. The family business was booming at the time, so Honma did not go through a traditional apprenticeship but was immediately put to work harvesting bamboo and preparing material for older employees. Honma now considers himself fortunate not to have undergone formal training before he started creating works of his own because it freed him from the traditional thinking process around how bamboo art is “supposed” to be made.

Born in 1959 in Hatano-cho, Sado-gun, Niigata prefecture, Hideaki draws inspiration for his creations from nature on Sado Island, where he lives, and uses men’yadake, a local variety of bamboo that is soft and flexible. Honma’s process involves (1) sketching out ideas; (2) testing out his ideas using maquettes; (3) making an armature out of wood; (4) constructing the basic structure of the sculpture out of bent bamboo; and (5) filling in this frame with woven bamboo to complete the piece. This process may seem logical to the Western audience, but it is rather unique among bamboo artists in Japan.

Read more about the exhibition, click here.