Japanese Animation in a Global Era, Japan Society
Online program, January 31, 7pm

In an era of ubiquitous streaming services, anime has found its way into nearly every corner of the globe. At this webinar, Mike Toole, editor at large at Anime News Network, and Thomas Lamarre, author of The Anime Ecology: A Genealogy of Television, Animation, and Game Media join us to examine this uniquely Japanese visual media. Exploring topics ranging from fan culture to marketing strategies in Japan vs. North America, our speakers will illuminate the historical framework behind the anime industry as well as its role within an increasingly complex and interconnected world. The fourth event in our multi-part Living Traditions webinar series this season.

Speakers:
Mike Toole, editor at large at Anime News Network
Thomas Lamarre, Professor, Department of Cinema and Media Studies, East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago

Moderator:
Julia Mechler, manga creator

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L-R: Anjolie Ela Menon (born 1940), Yatra, 2004, oil and glitter on masonite, Gift of Gallery ArtsIndia, New York, 2005.98; The Bodhisattva Avalokiteshvara (Guanyin), Song dynasty (960–1279), 1100-1200, wood (paulownia) with pigments, B60S24+; and Pair of Earrings, ca. 500–600, gold, Museum purchase, City Arts Trust Fund, 1991.214.1-.2. All items Asian Art Museum, Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

Takeout Tuesdays: Lunchtime Conversations About Art,
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
Online programs, each Tuesday, 12pm (PST)

“Take out” a taste of art! Join museum docents and fellow art lovers for interactive lunchtime (PST) encounters with selected artworks from the collection. We’ll gather on Zoom to look closely at compelling works using high-resolution images and uncover fun facts. Each weekly session explores a different topic; unmute to join the conversation.

Join for any or all of the upcoming scheduled online gatherings:
Weekly online programs, every Tuesday at 12pm (PST):
January 31: Yatra by Anjolie Ela Menon with docent Lydia Zane
February 7: The Elegance of Korean Silla Earrings with docent Myoung-ja Kwon
February 14: Compassion and Mercy with docent Mary Mead
February 21: The Terrible and Seductive Bhairava with docent Kathleen Meagher

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L-R: Kajiwara Aya (born 1941), Wave Song, 2010, madake bamboo and rattan, TAI Modern; Li Jin (born 1958), The Heart Sutra, 2020, ink and color on xuan paper, INKstudio; Manika Nagare (born 1975), My Eyes Sparkled, 2022, oil on canvas, MIYAKO YOSHINAGA; and Fung Ming Chip (born 1951), 220705, 2022, ink on paper, Fu Qiumeng Fine Art

Looking ahead to Asia Week New York this March 2023, these terrific exhibitions are among those that will be available to visitors.

Fu Qiumeng Fine Art
Fung Ming Chip: Traces of Time
March 17-May 20
65 E. 80th St.
Fu Qiumeng Fine Art will mount a special presentation of Chinese artist Fung Ming Chip’s latest series, Number Series, while also showcasing the artist’s unique approach to shufa (the art of writing) through a selection of works taken from across his long career.

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INKstudio
Many Splendored Spring
March 15-19
Ukranian Institute of America
2 E. 79th St.
This exhibition of floral landscapes by Peng Kanglong and figure portraits by Li Jin present vibrant new works by two of the great masters of brush and ink painting.

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TAI Modern
TAI Modern at Asia Week New York 2023
March 16-24
23 E. 67th St., 4th Floor @Colnaghi
TAI Modern returns to exhibit key contemporary and historic works of Japanese bamboo art, with education and guidance to both established collectors and first-time viewers.

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MIYAKO YOSHINAGA
Manika Nagare: Spectrum of Vivid Moments
March 17-April 22
24 E 64th St.
Tokyo-based Manika Nagare returns to AWNY with powerfully sophisticated color abstract painting eliciting vivid moments of all human life. The exhibition also introduces her new project on the marginalized Japanese female artists in the past.

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Ippodo Gallery Director Shoko Aono met Shion Tabata (born 1947) over the summer of 2022 at her home in Karuizawa, Nagano Prefecture, for a trip to choose new artworks, now on display at Ippodo Gallery in New York. A refreshing refuge from the heat of the capital metropolis, Karuizawa is a mountainside retreat with a rich cultural and literary history. Here, Tabata warps time, creating fine ceramics that harken back to the styles of old Edo (1603–1868).

To read the entire story in Ippodo’s online Journal, click here

Nandalal Bose, Akar Prakar, Kolkata
Curated by Debdutta Gupta
January 27-February 28

Nandalal Bose (1882-1966) was perpetually drawing on cards and postcards. However, the pursuit of this activity was not just limited to him. He had instilled, both in his students as well as fellow professors, this practice of postcard drawing. Thus everyone, teachers and students alike, would remain engrossed in this vocation.

Most of Nandalal's cards are executed in monochrome-free from the bindings of colour. This approach set him apart from his Guru, Abanindranath Tagore. According to Abanindranth Tagore, lines are the containers within which colors are held. He was of the view that it was primarily through color that a painting could be brought to life. Nandalal, on the other hand, was extremely inquisitive about the many possibilities of lines. He found validation for his search in his encounter with Arai Kampo-leading him further towards his journey of monochromatic works.

It was his travels to East Asia that eventually paved the way for his huge body of work in brush and ink and strengthened his belief that black and white contain within them the potentialities of all the other colors. The printmaking techniques which became integral to the pedagogic practices of Kala Bhavana were also a result of Nandalal's travels to China and Japan. He had brought back with him various ukiyo-e prints and wood blocks.

In this current exhibition, Akar Prakar attempts to highlight how cards/postcards bring out tangents of Nandalal Bose that have remained unnoticed otherwise. This exhibition brings to light Nandalal’s departure from the earlier influence of Abanindranath Tagore to the influences that Ramakrishna, Rabindranath and Gandhi had on his art practice. It also highlights Nandalal’s search for spirituality within nature and the establishment of the Asian aesthetic mode. The exhibition thus showcases how all these tangents are present throughout his works and some of the best can be found in his cards and postcards.

L-R: Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), First Edition of Spiral Hall, Five Hundred Rakan Temple (Gohyuaku Rakan Sazaidô), 1857, woodblock print, ôban 36.5 x 24.6 cm, Egenolf Gallery and Hokusai (1760-1849), The Falling Mist Waterfall at Mt Kurokami, Shimotsuke Province, 1832, woodblock print, 15 x 10.25 in. (38.10 x 26.04 cm.), Art of Japan

Portland Fine Print Fair
Benefit Preview, Friday, January 27,6-9pm (PST)
Saturday and Sunday, January 28 and 29

Asia Week New York members Art of Japan and Egenolf Gallery will participate in the fair this weekend with displays of fine Japanese woodblock prints at the Portland Art Museum.

The Portland Fine Print Fair, now in its 10th year, features 16 top dealers from across North America & Europe and is the largest and most comprehensive print fair on the West Coast. Prints from the Old Masters to contemporary emerging artists will be on sale.

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Watanabe Seitei (1851–1918), Pigeons at Sensoji, Meiji era, 1877, ink and color on silk, Purchase—Charles Lang Freer Endowment, Freer Gallery of Art, F2000.1a

Two rewarding exhibitions of Japanese art are in their final week at the National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution, and will close on January 29.

Feathered Ink
Concludes January 29, 2023
Across three galleries, Feathered Ink explores how Japanese artists have experimented over several centuries with different brush techniques in their depictions of avian subjects. Drawing from the Freer Gallery of Art’s extensive collection of bird-and-flower paintings, the exhibition includes hanging scroll paintings, folding screens, ceramics, and printed books.

In Japan, paintings on the theme of birds and flowers began to appear during the Heian period (794–1185) as a way of referencing seasonal associations or auspicious homonyms or of replicating the natural world in remarkable detail. Depicting a variety of bird species in naturalistic or paradisiacal environments offers a tantalizing opportunity for an artist to showcase their skills through the use of virtuosic ink brushwork techniques to represent different feather types and the textures of plumage and foliage. Adding colors can provide further layers of symbolic meaning and decorative effect. Birds are also popular motifs found on early modern Japanese ceramics, rendered through inlaid slip designs, molding, and polychrome pigments. Some of the vessels in this exhibition even provide a glimpse into how Japanese potters emulated the painterly effects of ink on clay surfaces.

Utagawa Kunisada, Three Sumo Wrestlers, early 19th century, woodblock print, ink and color on paper. The Pearl and Seymour Moskowitz Collection, S2021.5.539a-c

Underdogs and Antiheroes: Japanese Prints from the Moskowitz Collection
Concludes January 29, 2023
Expect the unexpected. The exhibition Underdogs and Antiheroes: Japanese Prints from the Moskowitz Collection focuses on the captivating stories and urban legends of individuals living on the fringes of society in early modern Japan. Key subjects in theater, literature, and visual arts reveal antiheroes and underdogs whose virtues are often embodied by their rejection of societal norms, making them misfits and moral exemplars at the same time. The exhibition follows virtuous bandits, tattooed firemen who love to fight, rogues from the kabuki theater, and others.

Highlighting the transformative gift of the Pearl and Seymour Moskowitz Collection to the National Museum of Asian Art, Underdogs and Antiheroes features subjects that are not commonly associated with traditional Japanese print culture but were nevertheless central to the interests of an early modern public. The exhibition explores new visual and thematic ground, further strengthening the museum’s trailblazing role in reconsidering presentations of Asian cultures.

Zheng Xie (1693–1765), Orchids and Bamboo (detail), dated 1742, handscroll, ink on paper.
Edward Elliott Family Collection, Purchase, The Dillon Fund Gift, 1981(1981.285.7)

Noble Virtues: Nature as Symbol in Chinese Art,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Concludes January 29, 2023

Flowers, plants, and animals abound in Chinese art. From simple objects for the home to fancy vessels for the imperial court, popular prints to meticulously crafted paintings, manifestations of the natural world are found nearly everywhere.

Sometimes these images are purely decorative, but often they carry meanings drawn from history, poetry, and cultural memory. Bamboo, for instance, which bends in the cold wind without breaking, can be a symbol of the virtuous person withstanding hard times; the plum blossom, which dares to bloom in the chill of early spring, an emblem of righteous bravery. For artists and viewers alike, associations such as these added layers of depth to an artwork. In this way, a vignette of the natural world could become a celebration of life, a wish for good fortune, or even a defiant act of protest.

This exhibition, drawn primarily from The Met collection, introduces some of these themes through over 100 works of painting, calligraphy, and decorative arts.

L-R: The Asian Art Museum on Larkin Street in San Francisco and the Minneapolis Institute of Art on Third Avenue in Minneapolis.

Asia Week New York is delighted to welcome two new museum members to our community: Asian Art Museum, San Francisco and Minneapolis Museum of Art. Both institutions are renowned for their exceptional collections, innovative exhibitions, and enriching programs. Watch AWNY's websites, newsletters, and social media posts for up-to-date information about our members' activities.

Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
Located in the heart of San Francisco, the museum is home to one of the world’s finest collections of Asian art, boasting more than 18,000 awe-inspiring artworks ranging from ancient jades and ceramics to contemporary video installations. Dynamic special exhibitions, cultural celebrations and public programs for all ages provide rich art experiences that unlock the past and spark questions about the future.

The Asian Art Museum was founded more than 50 years ago, when collector Avery Brundage donated nearly 8,000 outstanding Asian artworks to the city of San Francisco. A new wing of the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park was opened in 1966 to showcase the priceless collection. In 2003, the Asian Art Museum moved to the former Main Library building in the Civic Center, which had been transformed to showcase the expanding collection as well as the groundbreaking exhibitions the museum had become known for. Since then, the museum has solidified its position as not only one of the premier art venues in the Bay Area but also as one of the most important centers for Asian art and culture outside Asia.

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Minneapolis Museum of Art
The Minneapolis Institute of Art, abbreviated as Mia, enriches the community by collecting, preserving, and making accessible outstanding works of art from the world’s diverse cultures. Mia’s collection of Asian art is comprised of some 16,800 objects, ranging from ancient pottery and bronzes to works by contemporary artists, with nearly every Asian culture represented. Areas of particular depth include the arts of China, Japan, and Korea.

Specific subsets and highlights of these collections rival the holdings of museums across the globe. For its stylistic diversity and condition, Mia’s collection of ancient Chinese bronze is typically considered one of the nation’s finest. Mia’s Japanese collection has outstanding concentrations of Buddhist sculpture, woodblock prints, paintings, lacquer, works of bamboo, and ceramics, and is particularly rich in works from the Edo period (1610–1868). The museum’s commitment to Asian art is also evident in the sheer volume of space devoted to its display. At present, Asian art occupies an impressive 20 percent (32,200 sq. ft.) of the total display space (161,000 sq. ft.) for art at Mia. The permanent display space for Japanese art is the largest in the Western world, with 15 galleries spanning more than 10,000 square feet.

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