One of a pair of book covers for a Dharani Samgraha (detail), Nepal, 1650-1700, opaque watercolor and gold on wood; courtesy National Museum of Asian Art
In July, there are some great museum exhibitions in New York and elsewhere with a few listed below to check out.
The Art Institute Chicago
Ghosts and Demons in Japanese Art
July 15–Oct 15, 2023
The prints on view in this exhibition, all from our celebrated Clarence Buckingham collection, capture common Japanese folk tales as well as their Kabuki adaptations from the early 18th-century to the last years of the 19th century, offering distinct insight into the nature of these beloved stories and characters.
For more information, click here
Asia Society
Buddha, Sage of the Shakya Clan: Masterworks from the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection
On view through August 27, 2023
While the actual life events of Shakyamuni Buddha are not well documented, there are several legendary stories that contain significant moments of his life. In this exhibition, the sculptures and paintings on display capture the mythology of Buddha's life and the “Eight Great Events” that transformed it.
For more information, click here
Asian Art Museum
Hell: Arts of Asian Underworlds
On view through September 18, 2023
This exhibition is a rollicking romp through the many ways that Asian visual cultures have imagined the afterlife of the condemned over time. Paintings, sculptures, maps, puppets, and religious objects from India, Tibet, China, Korea, Japan, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, and the Philippines offer a colorful variety of visions of the underworld, ranging from the serious to the light-hearted.
and
Chinese Paintings: A Selection of Modern Masters
On view through September 9, 2023
This exhibition presents highlights from the Chinese modern painting collection with a focus on ink masters from renowned regional schools in the second half of the 20th century, when artists’ trajectories became increasingly cross-cultural.
For more information, click here
The Korea Society:
Koreatown LA/NY Photo Series by Emanuel Hahn/Janice Chung
On view through August 17, 2023
Photographers Emanuel Hahn and Janice Chung present poignant portraits from two “Koreatowns,” one in Los Angeles and one in New York. It is a celebration of the Korean immigrants and their experiences, and the artists ask the viewer to reconsider the common notions of what it means to be from “here.”
For more information, click here
Minneapolis Institute of Art
Fukuda Kodōjin: Japan's Great Poet and Landscape Artist
Closing soon on July 23, 2023
Fukuda Kodōjin was one of a handful of scholar-artists who continued the tradition of Japanese literati painting after 1900. Not only a painter, Kodōjin was also an accomplished poet and calligrapher patronized by influential industrialists and politicians of the era. This is the first-ever exhibition of Kodōjin outside Japan.
and
The Art of Literacy in Early Modern Japan
On view through August 6, 2023
From the 1600s to the 1800s, the printing industry developed rapidly, making printed materials available to readers in urban and rural areas alike. This exhibition considers two forms of literacy, textual and visual, that enabled people to participate in a burgeoning public life.
For more information, click here
National Museum of Asian Art
The Art of Knowing in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas
Ongoing view
Bringing together highlights from our collections, this exhibition explores religious and practical knowledge across time, space, and cultures. Featuring stone sculptures, gilt bronzes, and painted manuscripts from India, Nepal, Tibet, Bangladesh, Myanmar (Burma), Thailand, Cambodia, and Indonesia, the show illuminates the critical role of visual culture in conveying Buddhist and Hindu teachings from the ninth to the twentieth centuries.
and
Afterlife: Ancient Chinese Jades
Ongoing view
The jades in this show represent the earliest epochs of Chinese civilization, the late Neolithic and early Bronze Age. Many came from the prehistoric burials of the Liangzhu culture (circa 3300–2250 BCE) and provide insight into the dynamic character of ancient Chinese civilization during life and after death.
For more information, click here
Rubin Museum of Art
Death is Not the End
On view through January 14, 2024
This exhibition explores notions of death and afterlife through the art of Tibetan Buddhism and Christianity. During a time of great global turmoil, loss, and uncertainty, it invites contemplation of the universal human condition of impermanence and the desire to continue to exist.
For more information, click here
Yale University Art Gallery
Selections from the Asian Art Collection
On view through November 19, 2023
This new installation in the Asian Art Galleries includes a Daoist priest’s robe from 17th-century China, another robe from 19th-century Kashmir, and two 17th-century Iranian tapestries. In addition, Femininity and Its Forms features Iranian and Indian paintings depicting idealized, elegantly dressed, and bejeweled women, whether in intimate or public spaces, while Omnipresent: Tradition in Chinese Painting explores the endless allusions to earlier compositions and styles of brushwork in Chinese painting.
For more information, click here