Nakamura Hochu (d. 1819), Cherry Blossoms and a Hut, 18th-19th century, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk, (w) 34.5 x (h) 97cm

During this Spring season when cherry blossoms are in bloom, Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art is pleased to present their latest available work, Cherry Blossoms and a Hut, an ink and color hanging scroll celebrating the beauty of nature.

Painted by Japanese artist Nakamura Hochu, who is best known for his colorful paintings of flowers and plants, this scenic depiction of cherry blossom in full bloom is accompanied by the poem:

朝戸出に (I walked out the door in the morning)
霞む (be dimly seen)
山路のさくら哉 (Cherry blossoms in the mountains)

To learn more about this elegant scroll, click here.

Hamada Shōji (1894-1978), Very large shallow bowl with nuka (rice-husk) white glaze ground with ladle-poured iron-glazed black trailing design, ca 1950-1960, glazed stoneware, 19 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.; Photo by Richard Goodbody; Courtesy Joan B Mirviss LTD

ZOOM Gallery Talk
Art of the People: Exploring the Mingei Film Archive
Thursday, April 18, 2024 at 5pm EDT

Mark your calendar next Thursday, the 18th for this upcoming ZOOM Gallery Talk hosted by Joan B Mirviss LTD.

Perhaps one of the best-known aspects of Japanese ceramics in the West remains the Mingei folk art movement and its leading proponents, Hamada Shōji and Bernard Leach. Because of their advocacy and publicly facing roles, aided greatly by the medium of film, the timeless qualities of Mingei have figured prominently in the perception of Japanese art in the West throughout the twentieth century. For this unique ZOOM Gallery Talk, filmmaker Marty Gross shares with us his extraordinary mission to restore, record, preserve, and archive the films of and about Mingei from the early twentieth century in his project, The Mingei Film Archive. He will share with us rare footage of prewar Japan and of pottery production in centers such as Tamba and Mashiko. As a potter himself, Marty Gross shares with us how the Mingei Film Archive developed and how his personal journey merged his two great artistic interests to create this remarkable and irreplaceable resource for ceramics and for Japanese art lovers.

Panelist:
Marty Gross, filmmaker and founder of The Mingei Film Archive, based in Toronto, Canada
Moderated by Joan Mirviss

To register for this free event, click here.

Installation view, Joo Myung Duck: Sensory Space in Photography, courtesy Miyako Yoshinaga

Joo Myung Duck: Sensory Space in Photography
Closing Saturday, April 13 2024

Be sure to view Joo Myung Duck: Sensory Space in Photography, an exhibition showcasing the artist’s transition from social realism to abstract photography at Miyako Yoshinaga before it closes this Saturday, the 13th.

Born in 1940 in the village of Anak (in North Korea today), Joo Myung Duck (b. 1940, Korea) came to prominence in the 1970s as a leading social-realism photographer, documenting lives deeply affected by Japanese colonialism and the aftermaths of WWII and the Korean War. In the 1980s, Joo shifted his focus to the terrain around him. This exhibition features Joo’s work created between 1988 and 2011 when he was experimenting with abstraction in photography.

In 2011, at age 71, Joo explored color photography, primarily focusing on the urban locality intertwined with colors, patterns, and textures. In the series, Joo employs close-looking and erases reality through the practice of abstract art to create sensory space. The exhibition also strives to shed light on this master photographer’s relationship with Korean abstract art, particularly, the Dansaekhwa movement and its artists, investigating their shared aesthetic, methodology, and philosophy.

To learn more, click here.

Paul Binnie (Scottish, b. 1967), Travels with the Master: Pittsburgh Night (Meishou to no tabi: Pittsubagu no Yuro), chuban yoko-e 8 5/8 by 12 in (22 by 30.4 cm), signed in silver kanji, Bin-ni, followed by red circular artist’s seal, BINNIE, with series title in upper left margin, Meishou to no tabi, followed by print title, Pittsubagu no Yoru, with Binnie embossed at center bottom margin, and titled, numbered, and signed in pencil, Pittsburgh Night, 6/100, Paul Binnie, 2024

Scholten Japanese Art is happy to announce the eighth design from Paul Binnie’s ongoing Travels with the Master series which pays homage to the shin-hanga landscape artist, Hiroshi Yoshida (1876-1950).

Inspired by Yoshida’s 1929 small format print, Evening in Pittsburgh (Pittsubaagu no yu), Binnie visited the Pittsburgh in 2013 while en route to Ohio for the opening of the landmark Fresh Impressions shin-hanga exhibition at the Toledo Museum of Art, where he gave a lecture and print demonstration, and his own work was on view in a related installation on contemporary Japanese prints.

Hiroshi Yoshida, Evening in Pittsburgh, 1929

The two versions of Pittsburgh show what a difference a hundred years can make; at the time Yoshida visited, Pittsburg was a major industrial town and his work conveys the smog and pollution that plagued the city during the 1920s. Binnie’s print on the other hand captures a much cleaner and modern city, which no longer counts steel as its major industry. The air is clear, and the purples and blues of the night are vibrant and bold. The print features complex bokashi shadings to capture the transition of light on the illuminated buildings, and the support columns of the bridge are printed in black urushi-e (lacquer printing) to highlight the solid structure and to stand out against the blue keyblock.

To learn more, click here.

Installation view, Literati and Rocks Amidst Verdant Bloom, courtesy Fu Qiumeng Fine Art

Literati and Rocks Amidst Verdant Bloom
Closing Saturday, April 13, 2024

There’s still time to view Literati and Rocks Amidst Verdant Bloom, a meticulously curated selection of classical and contemporary art works that embodies the soul of Asian artistry at Fu Qiumeng Fine Art before it closes this Saturday, the 13th.

The exhibition explores the appreciation of rocks, nature, and calligraphy in Chinese literati paintings, which served as a silent form of communication among the scholars–reflecting aesthetic, cultural, and intellectual pursuits.

Highlights include Ruan Ji’s Poems in Running Script by Dong Qichang (1555-1636) and Scholar Rocks by Sun Kehong (1532-1610), which exemplify the pinnacle of literati taste in Chinese brushwork. Works by Wang Fu’an (1879-1960), C. C. Wang (1907-2003), and Wang Fangyu (1913-1997) further illuminate this rich lineage.

Bridging past and present, the exhibition showcases contemporary artists who carry the torch. Arnold Chang (b. 1954) offers his latest breathtaking boneless landscape, while Michael Cherney (b. 1969) presents his powerful bilingual work that resonates with audiences navigating cultural intersections. Zhang Xiaoli (b. 1989) and Yau Wing Fung (b. 1990) contribute pieces that connect with younger generations, bridging the generational gap.

Additional established artists include Hisao Hanafusa (b. 1937), Fung Ming Chip (b. 1951), Wang Mansheng (b. 1962), and Tai Xiangzhou (b. 1968), ensuring a diverse and enriching experience.

Be sure to experience this engaging exhibition before it closes this weekend!

To learn more, click here.

Negozio Olivetti in-situ images courtesy of Adriano Cisani, Bianca Vannucchi, Massimo Micheluzzi and Ippodo Gallery

Massimo Micheluzzi: New Works
Featuring Works from Negozio Olivetti by Carlo Scarpa
Opening Reception: Thursday, April 11, 6-8pm
April 11 – May 2, 2024

This Spring, Ippodo Gallery is pleased to present two Italian Venetian artists: Massimo Micheluzzi this month, followed by Laura de Santillana in May.

Italy and Japan. Surrounded by seas, and stretching similarly great lengths from the north to the south, the two are both mountainous lands that share characteristics of geographical boundaries and climates. While the two countries differ dramatically in their histories and cultures, there is a shared sympathy between the fine elements of culture and art where craftsmen of both cultures value tradition, innovation, and expertise. There’s great anticipation to see what kinds of dialogue and impressions these exhibitions will induce.

The first will be Massimo Micheluzzi: New Works Featuring Works from Negozio Olivetti by Carlo Scarpa, the artist’s second solo exhibition of Murano glass, in collaboration with legendary dealer Barry Friedman LTD. The exhibit will feature 30 glassworks, including 11 pieces that showed at the architectural marvel Negozio Olivetti, designed by Carlo Scarpa, in Venice, Italy following the show’s conclusion in autumn 2023. The character of Micheluzzi’s sculptural works in relation to the greater architectural and decorative history of Italian craftmanship bears a close resemblance to the aesthetic harmony between people and space emphasized in Japanese culture.

Massimo’s works are mosaics of exciting patterns, uniquely Italian in sense of color, and a gentle size that fits between one’s palms. Though certainly eye-catching, the presence of each mosaic harmonizes with their surroundings, echoing architectural elements: lines, curves, and colors; materials such as cobblestones, tiles, wood; and light and shadow.

To learn more and view his new works, click here.

Online video A Collecting Dynasty: The Rockefeller Family, courtesy The Winter Show and YouTube.com

Asia Week New York in partnership with The Winter Show is pleased to present the online video of our panel discussion, A Collecting Dynasty: The Rockefeller Family, here in the Webinars and Video section of our website.

For those of you who missed this in-person conversation with experts closely associated with the Rockefeller family during the Winter Show a few months ago, here is your chance to view this fascinating discussion on the legacy of the Rockefeller family, their remarkable collections, and lasting contributions to the world of art and antiques.

The video was also just named as a ‘Critic’s Pick’ by the editors of The New Criterion in their culture dispatch published this past Tuesday. Click here to read the article.

As passionate art collectors and philanthropists with an incredible range of interests that spanned the globe, the Rockefeller family in so many ways epitomizes the pinnacle of patronage in the country. Throughout several generations, beginning with Abby and John D Rockefeller, Jr., their unwavering support for the visual arts was critical to the development of many cultural institutions focused on the family members’ individual collecting interests, such as Asia Society, the Cloisters, Colonial Williamsburg and its Folk Art Museum, Japan Society, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Modern Art.

Panelists included:

Cynthia Bronson Altman, Independent Scholar, Kykuit Curator, 1992-2018
Michele Beiny Harkins, President Michele Beiny Inc.
Vishakha Desai, President Emerita, Asia Society, Senior Advisor for Global Affairs, Columbia University
Moderated by Joan B. Mirviss, President, Joan B Mirviss LTD and art historian

Click here to watch the video.

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi 芳年 (1839-1892), “Looking Delighted: The appearance of a present-day geisha of the Meiji Era,” Series: Thirty-two Types of Women (Fuzoku sanjû-ni sô), 1888, ôban (36.9 x 224 cm)

Capital Art Print Fair
April 5 – 7 2024
Cocktail Party Preview: Friday, 5-8pm
Saturday (10am-5pm) and Sunday (11am-5pm) Free Admission
1135 16th St NW, Washington DC 20036

Egenolf Gallery returns to the Capital Art Print Fair in DC this weekend after five years away with a curated selection of fine 18th-20th century Japanese prints, including a number of works not yet available on the website.

The Capital Art Fair, started more than 40 years ago, is the oldest Fair in America devoted to fine prints and drawings.  Plan a weekend in DC amongst the cherry blossoms and browse original works from fifteen fine print dealers in one beautiful space!

To learn more and reserve your tickets, click here.

Wu Guanzhong (Chinese, 1919-2010),  Rooted Willow on River Bank, ink on paper, ca. 1980, Estimate: US$200,000-US$300,000, Asian Paintings and Works of Art from the Collection of Bruce and Barbara Sullivan, Birmingham, Alabama

iGavel is pleased to present their newest auction, Asian Paintings and Works of Art from the Collection of Bruce and Barbara Sullivan, Birmingham, Alabama, now open for bidding.

There is also time to bid on their other wonderful Asian Art auction, The Collection of Charles A. Coolidge: Commander, American Legation, Peking, Circa 1900 before it closes next week!

Asian Paintings and Works of Art from the Collection of Bruce and Barbara Sullivan, Birmingham, Alabama
Presented by: Lark Mason Associates
Online Auction: April 2–April 18, 2024

Bruce and Barbara Sullivan were patrons of the arts, having established The Sullivan Collection at the Birmingham Museum of Art. Dr. M. Bruce Sullivan served under his father-in-law in the United States Medical Corps, where he met Barbara. Barbara had lived a military life herself. As the daughter of Admiral and Mrs. Clyde Wyndham Brunson, at the age of 14 she witnessed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941. Dr. and Mrs. Sullivan spent their early years of marriage in Japan. Here, Barbara started her interest in and study of Asian Culture that would go on for years, amassing Asian Art across all categories. Highlights include a work by one of the founders of Modern Chinese Paintings, Wu Guanzhong.

To learn more and bid, click here.

Chinese Gilt Bronze Cloisonne Circular Box, Qianlong Mark and Period, Estimate: US$5,000-US$8,000, The Collection of Charles A. Coolidge: Commander, American Legation, Peking, Circa 1900

The Collection of Charles A. Coolidge: Commander, American Legation, Peking, Circa 1900
Accompanied by his personal ledger and inventory of the collection acquired during his Beijing Assignment
Presented by: Lark Mason Associates
Online Auction: Closes April 9, 2024

Charles Austin Coolidge, Jr. was a Brigadier General in the United States Army, serving in the American Civil War and the Spanish-American War, and as the commander of the American Legation in China during the Boxer Uprising. According to Arlington Cemetery records, after being stationed in the Philippine Islands, his regiment was transferred to China in 1900 as part of the China Relief Expedition Campaigns, where he took command of the American Legation quarter in Beijing. The Arlington Cemetery records list Coolidge as the first American to enter Peking during the Boxer Uprising. He kept a personal ledger and inventory of works he collected during this time, and lots are offered with copies of relevant pages. The ledger itself will be featured as an available lot.

To learn more and bid, click here.

Shin Sung Hy (1948-2009), 88050 and 89017, installation view Korean Artists in Paris, HK Art & Antiques

Korean Artists in Paris
Closing Friday, April 5, 2024
Monday-Friday, 11am-5:30pm (by appointment only)

Be sure to catch Korean Artists in Paris at HK Art & Antiques before it closes this Friday, April 5th. Curated by Heakyum Kim and Pierre Cambon, the former curator at the Musée Guimet, this exhibition showcases the work of Chung Sanghwa, Shin Sung Hy, Nam Kwan and Kim Sang-lan, four Korean artists who have lived and worked in Paris. Known in both Korea and France, their successful careers cover a great span of time, from the 1950s to the present. Each artist demonstrates how the two countries impacted their work.

To learn more and make an appointment, click here.