L-R: Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), South Wind, Clear Dawn (Gaifu kaisei), circa 1831-33, color woodblock print, Sebastian Izzard LLC; Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Waterwheel at Onden (Onden no suisha), from the series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (Fugaku sanjûrokkei), 1830-31, The Art of Japan; Yamamura Koka (Toyonari) (1885-1942), Dancing at the New Carlton Cafe in Shanghai, 1924, woodblock print, Scholten Japanese Art; and Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), Yoshitsune and Benkei on Gojo Bridge, circa 1839-1840, color woodblock diptych, Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints

Four renowned Japanese art galleries will exhibit exceptional examples of woodblock prints in March.

The Art of Japan
Fine Japanese Prints: 300 Years of Japanese Prints, Ukiyo-e—Modern
March 16-19
The Mark Hotel
25 E. 77th Street, Suite 215
New York, NY
The Art of Japan will bring to New York and make available for in-person viewing an exceptional array of fine Japanese woodblock prints, including several notable new acquisitions.

Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints
Prints and Drawings by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1798-1861), Master of Graphic Storytelling
March 17-18 and online
Conrad New York Midtown (Private Suite)
151 West 54th Street
New York, NY
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, best known for his warrior prints, was a creative wellspring who designed works of graphic impact in every ukiyo-e genre. Egenolf Gallery will presents his works both in person in New York and online.

Sebastian Izzard LLC
Japanese Paintings and Prints: 1800-1860
March 17-24
17 E. 76th Street, 3rd floor
New York, NY
Celebrating their 25th anniversary, Sebastian Izzard will show exceptional Japanese paintings and prints from the 19th century, including maps, landscapes, dramatic historical tableaux, and studies of the natural world.

Scholten Japanese Art
MULTIPLE MASTERS: Modern Prints and Paintings
Ukiyo-e Woodblock Prints from the Shin Collection
March 16-25
145 W. 58th Street, Suite 6D
New York, NY
Scholten presents two (!) exhibitions this season: prints and paintings by early modern masters and “golden age” figure prints of the late 18th century with magnificent 19th century landscapes from the collection of gallerist Hong Gyu Shin.

Ito Jakuchu, Giant Daruma, late 18th century, hanging scroll, ink on paper, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, the Gitter-Yelen Collection, gift of Dr. Kurt Gitter and Alice Yelen Gitter

None Whatsoever: Zen Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection,
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Open through May 14

Often playful, sometimes comical, and always profound, Zen paintings represent one of the world’s most fascinating religious and artistic traditions. None Whatsoever features masterworks of Zen Buddhist Japanese paintings from the renowned Gitter-Yelen Collection spanning more than four centuries. Selections from the MFAH collection of modern and contemporary art complement the presentation.

New Orleans–based collectors Kurt Gitter and Alice Yelen Gitter have been deeply engaged in the collecting, understanding, and appreciation of the art of Japan for decades. Many of the works from the Gitter-Yelen Collection were recently acquired by the MFAH.

None Whatsoever explores the origins of Zen Buddhism in Japanese painting through ink paintings and calligraphies by painter-monks, such as 18th-century Buddhist master Hakuin Ekaku, who expressed Zen Buddhist teachings through their art. A related selection of modern and contemporary art influenced by Zen Buddhism features work by Franz Kline, Takahiro Kondo, Robert Motherwell, Ad Reinhardt, and Hiroshi Sugimoto, among others.

Asia Week New York is delighted to welcome the MFAH to our community as a new member.

Read more, including the online catalogue, click here.

Celestial Colors. The Cadle Family Collection of Chinese Monochromes,
Sotheby's New York
Live auction March 21, 2023, 9am

Sotheby’s is delighted to present Celestial Colors. The Cadle Family Collection of Chinese Monochromes. A testament to the collector’s discerning eye and exacting attention paid to quality, condition and provenance, the sale comprises an exceptional spectrum of monochromatic porcelains commissioned for the emperors of China's three greatest dynasties-the Northern Song, Ming and Qing-and includes representative examples of the most iconic Chinese glazes. Amassed mostly in the 1980s and advised closely by J.J. Lally & Co., the collection includes pieces from some of the greatest private collections of Chinese works of art, including the collections of Edward T. Chow, T.Y. Chao and Henry Knight. Highlights of the sale include a superb and extremely rare Xuande mark and period ‘sacrificial red’ bowl, an exceptional Yongzheng mark and period robin’s-egg glazed censer and a large Yongzheng mark and period blue-glazed garlic-neck vase.

Read more, click here

L-R: Buddha on the Cosmic Mountain, Kashmir, circa 715, bronze with silver and copper inlay, The Norton Simon Foundation, Pasadena, CA, F.1972.48.2.S. Photograph courtesy The Norton Simon Foundation; Achala, Tangut Xixia, possibly produced/woven in Dingzhou (Baoding, Hebei Province), early to mid-13th century, kesi silk tapestry with seed pearl, Potala Palace Collection; and Ritual Dance Mask of Guru Dorje Drolo, Bhutan or southern Tibet, circa 19th century, papier-mâché, polychrome, fabric, Bruce Lee Miller Collection. Photo by John Bigelow Taylor

Project Himalayan Art, The Rubin Museum of Art

This monumental initiative, which is now live, is the first project of its kind to offer comprehensive, introductory resources for learning about Himalayan art, with a focus on the cross-cultural exchange of Tibetan, Himalayan, and Inner Asian art and cultures. It features an expansive digital platform, traveling exhibition to university museums, and a cross-disciplinary publication featuring essays from 72 international scholars. The new digital platform is a hub to dive into the world of Himalayan art, including for students, teachers, scholars, or visitors looking to expand their understanding of Himalayan art and cultures. It features materials from the traveling exhibition, which opened this month at its first venue, Lehigh University Art Galleries, 108 object essays from the publication (available to pre-order today), videos, 360-degree object views, an interactive map, a glossary of hundreds of definitions, over 1,000 object images, and much more!

Read more, click here

Asia Week Reception to Launch Project Himalayan Art
March 16, 2023, 6-8pm
Celebrate Asia Week New York and the launch of the Rubin Museum’s largest institutional project to date, Project Himalayan Art, with an evening filled with delicious cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, conversation, and a presentation from Rubin Museum Executive Director Jorrit Britschgi and curators Karl Debreczeny and Elena Pakhoutova. This event is by invitation only.

Read more, click here

36th Annual Benefit Concert Tibet House US
Live event, March 1, 2023, 7:30pm

One of the longest-running and most renowned live cultural events in New York City, the Annual Tibet House US Benefit Concert will take place at Carnegie Hall on March 1, 2023 at 7:30pm. The benefit concert, now in its 36th year, is guaranteed to bring a much-needed evening full of amazing music, camaraderie, and one-night-only collaborations. Joining esteemed composer and artistic director Philip Glass, who once again curated this year’s line-up, will be: Allison Russell, Arooj Aftab, Bernard Sumner and Tom Chapman of New Order, Gogol Bordello, Laurie Anderson, Marc Anthony Thompson of Chocolate Genius, Inc. & Zsela, Tenzin Choegyal, The Philip Glass Ensemble, and Martha Mooke & The Scorchio Quartet.

Read more and purchase tickets, click here

Wang Yuanqi (1642–1715), Streams and Mountains without End (detail), Qing dynasty (1644–1911), undated, handscroll, ink on paper, 7 1/8 in. x 70 ft. (43.5 x 2133.6 cm), Partial and Promised Gift of the Family of Lo Chia-Lun, 2022 (2022.128)

Learning to Paint in Premodern China,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
February 18, 2023-January 7, 2024
This exhibition will consider the underexplored question of how painters learned their craft in premodern China. Some painters learned at home, from fathers, mothers, or other relatives among whom painting was a shared language of familial communication. Others learned from friends who shared their passion. Still others turned to painting manuals, treatises that expanded knowledge of painting to anyone who could buy a woodblock-printed book. Paintings from The Met collection, along with a choice selection of important works from local private collectors, will illuminate these and other pathways to becoming a painter in premodern China. The exhibition will be presented in two rotations.

Rotation 1: February 18–July 16, 2023
Rotation 2: August 12, 2023–January 7, 2024

The exhibition will also see the public debut of Wang Yuanqi’s (1642–1715) Streams and Mountains without End, an important monumental handscroll that is a partial and promised gift to the Museum from the family of Lo Chia-lun.

Yongle Moon Flask, Ming dynasty, Yongle period (1403-1424), porcelain,
11 3/8 × 9 3/8 × 5 3/8 in. (28.9 × 23.8 × 14 cm.), 2021.30

Lecture:Embracing the Moon—Chinese Ceramic Art, Old and New,
Art Institute of Chicago
In person event, February 23, 2pm (CST)

Join the Art Institute’s Pritzker Chair of Arts of Asia and curator of Chinese art Tao Wang for an in person discussion of two newly acquired Chinese moon flasks.

Though created centuries apart, the Ming Dynasty Yongle Moon Flask (early 15th century) and Fu Yiyao’s The Essence of Light and the Cadence of Rhythm (2010) share striking similarities. Wang provides a closer look at both in this lecture, delving into the history and cultural significance of the moon flask.

L-R: An assembly of Mughal Emperors and Rajput rulers visiting two holy men, Mewar, circa 1695-1705, Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch; Ganesh Haloi, Untitled 3, 2021, gouache on handmade paper laid on board, Akar Prakar; Hamza and His Men Attacked by a Sea Creature, Mughal style at Bikaner, India, circa 1680, opaque watercolor and gold on paper; and Chakrasamvara and Vajrayogini, Nepal, 15th-16th century, gilt copper, Kapoor Galleries

Four dealers from near and far will present memorable exhibitions of classical and contemporary South Asian, Himalayan, and Southeast Asian art.

Akar Prakar
Ganesh Haloi: A space left behind
March 16-24
Online exhibition
The art of Ganesh Haloi (born 1936), a Kolkata-based artist, exhibits an innate lyricism coupled with a sense of nostalgia for a lost world.

Art Passages
The Fabled Lands: Persian & Indian Paintings
March 16-24
Online and in-person (by appointment)
Art Passages will exhibit exceptional Indian and Persian paintings, in which they specialize.

Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch LTD
Court Painting from India
March 16-24
Opening reception: Thursday, March 16, 5-8pm
Victoria Munroe
67 East 80 Street, Suite 2
For their thirteenth annual Asia Week exhibition, Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch are offering 44 paintings reflecting the court traditions, both Hindu and Muslim, of India.

Kapoor Galleries
Divine Gestures: Channels of Enlightenment
March 16-24
Opening reception, March 16, 6-8pm
34 East 67th Street, Floor 3
Bringing together some of the most rare and exquisite pieces of sculpture and paintings from India, Nepal, Tibet and ancient Gandhara, Divine Gestures: Channels of Enlightenment lies at the intersection of religious iconography and fine-craftsmanship.

Ōtani Shirō, Shigaraki senmonki (Shigaraki vessel with banded patterning), 2010, 17 3/4 x 12 5/8 x 11 7/8 in. On view in “Clay as Soft Power,” University of Michigan Museum of Art.

Shigaraki: Contemporary Artists on an Ancient Tradition,
Joan B Mirviss LTD
Zoom program, February 23, 5pm EST

Known for its distinctive clay and beautiful natural ash glazes, Shigaraki ware is one of Japan’s celebrated ceramic traditions. As one of Japan’s Six Ancient Kiln sites, Shigaraki has long produced functional vessels with a characteristic rustic appearance in warm, earthy tones. This enormously appealing tradition found a new audience with American artists and collectors in the past few decades, thereby expanding our idea of Shigaraki-yaki’s possibilities. Curator Natsu Oyobe shares this remarkable crossover story, which is the subject of her current exhibition, Clay as Soft Power. She will be joined by two featured artists who will offer key insights into their process of working in this fascinating medium: Shiga-based Ōtani Shiro, a leader in wood-fired ceramics and designated an Intangible Cultural Asset, and American artist Peter Callas, whose originality has pushed the field in new directions and has been twice awarded the Pollock-Krasner Fellowship. Together, they provide an extraordinarily modern view of Shigaraki ware in the 21st century.

PANELISTS:
Peter Callas, artist
Ōtani Shiro, artist
Natsu Oyobe, Curator of Asian Art, University of Michigan Museum of Art, MI
Moderated by Joan Mirviss

To register for this free event, click here. A link will be automatically emailed to you when you sign up.