Courtesy Fu Qiumeng Fine Art

QM Talks | A Review of New York’s Chinese Paintings Market from 1980s
A Conversation with Arnold Chang and Fang Xian
Sunday, June 16, 2024
10:30am
Free In-Person and Online Public Event
65 East 80th St, Ground Fl, NYC

Fu Qiumeng Fine Art is pleased to welcome you to their upcoming discussion on the American market for Chinese paintings and calligraphy with artist and connoisseur Arnold Chang and independent scholar Fang Xian.

Fang Xian previously served as Head of Sales and Vice President at Sotheby’s New York in the Chinese Paintings Department and has worked and studied with Chang for over a decade.

Arnold Chang is renowned not only as a highly accomplished artist but also as a pivotal figure in introducing classical and modern Chinese paintings and calligraphy to the international market. Since his tenure began at Sotheby’s New York in 1979, Chang has been instrumental in establishing regular auctions for Chinese paintings and calligraphy and founded auctions for modern Chinese paintings and calligraphy in Hong Kong in 1980, solidifying the groundwork for regular auctions in both locales. During his nearly 15-year stewardship of the Chinese Paintings Department at Sotheby’s New York, where he also served as vice president, Chang also unveiled and made available to the public previously unknown or little-known works of art, such as Zhang Daqian’s monumental six-panel work Giant Lotus. In 1992, Chang transitioned from Sotheby’s to Kaikodo, where he continued to profoundly influence the market for classical Chinese paintings and calligraphy in New York.

With the reestablishment of Sotheby’s Chinese Paintings Department in New York in 2012, Chang was reappointed as a consultant and collaborated with Fang Xian to secure a series of important artworks and single-owner auctions for the company.

Be sure to join this special conversation where Chang and Fang reflect on their careers, share art market stories, and discuss the future of contemporary Chinese painting.

To RSVP for the in-person event, click here.

To register for the livestream event, click here.

To learn more, click here.

Courtesy Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd.

Earthly Forms: Ceramic Works by Hiruma Kazuyo & Matsutani Fumio
June 13 – 28, 2024

Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd. is delighted to present a two-person exhibition showcasing the intricate ceramic works of Hiruma Kazuyo & Matsutani Fumio.

Hiruma, born in 1948, crafts evocative sculptures inspired by nature’s grandeur. Using thin clay sheets and multiple glazes, she captures the essence of landscapes, erosion, and natural forces. Matsutani, born in 1975, creates vessels that merge movement, color, and surface, reflecting his mastery of traditional techniques and innovative forms. His works are characterized by architectural elegance and a refined, monochromatic palette.

Together, their works create a dynamic dialogue, blending tradition with contemporary artistry, and highlighting their unique journeys and creative processes.

The accompanying digital exhibition catalog, featuring an article by author & curator Joe Earle and new interviews with the artists, is available for viewing here.

To learn more about the exhibit, click here.

An Elephant and Keeper, India, Mughal (detail), ca. 1650–60, opaque color and gold on paper; Howard Hodgkin Collection, Purchase, Florence and Herbert Irving Acquisitions, Harris Brisbane Dick, and 2020 Benefit Funds; Howard S. and Nancy Marks, Lila Acheson Wallace, and Friends of Islamic Art Gifts; Louis V. Bell, Harris Brisbane Dick, Fletcher, and Rogers Funds and Joseph Pulitzer Bequest; and funds from various donors, 2022 (2022.187); Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Indian Skies: The Howard Hodgkin Collection of Indian Court Painting
Closing Sunday, June 9, 2024
The Met Fifth Avenue, Galleries 691–693

This is the last weekend to view the exhibition of remarkable Indian court painting from the former collection of British painter Howard Hodgkin.

Over the course of sixty years, Howard Hodgkin (British, London 1932–2017 London) formed a collection of Indian paintings and drawings that is recognized as one of the finest of its kind. A highly regarded painter and printmaker, Hodgkin collected works from the Mughal, Deccani, Rajput, and Pahari courts dating from the 16th to the 19th centuries that reflect his personal passion for Indian art. This exhibition presents over 120 of these works, many of which The Met recently acquired, alongside loans from The Howard Hodgkin Indian Collection Trust.

The works on view include stunning portraits, beautifully detailed text illustrations, studies of the natural world, and devotional subjects. The exhibition also includes a painting by Hodgkin, Small Indian Sky, which alludes to the subtle relationship between his own work, India, and his collection.

This exhibition is accompanied by an issue of The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin.

To learn more, click here.

Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858), One Hundred Famous Views of Edo: Fukagawa Susaki and Jumantsubo (Meisho Edo hyakkei: Fukagawa Susaki jumantsubo), printed with mica on the feathers; titled at the upper right, Meisho Edo hyakkei: Fukagawa Susaki jumantsubo, signed Hiroshige ga, with censor’s seals, aratame (examined), and date seal, mi uru go (the year of the snake [1857] intercalary 5th month), followed by the publisher’s seal, Shitaya Shinkuro, Uoei (Sakanaya Eikichi), 1857, oban tate-e 14 by 9 3/4 in., 35.7 by 24.7 cm

Our Gallery Spotlight this week falls upon Scholten Japanese Art, another founding AWNY member who opened their doors in 2000 in New York City. Currently located in the old Meurice Hotel in midtown Manhattan, this venerable gallery specializes in Japanese woodblock prints and paintings. They not only offer traditional ukiyo-e from the 18th to 20th centuries, including shin hanga and sosaku hanga, but also present Japanese-style woodblock prints produced by Western artists to expand and celebrate the visual narrative of Japanese artistic expression.

The gallery’s collection is updated regularly with new and exciting works, including this stunning print from the landscape series, One Hundred Famous Views of Edo, by great ukiyo-e master Utagawa Hiroshige. Depicting scenery from in-and-around Edo, today’s Tokyo, during the mid-19th century, these prints feature Edo-ites going about their lives during a rapidly evolving era in Japan, capturing the beauty and bustle of the city throughout the year. It was groundbreaking in its day, and works from the series are among some of the most iconic in Japanese art.

Fukagawa Susaki and Jumantsubo is one of the most famed prints from Hiroshige’s series and depicts the view from Fukagawa Susaki, the very well known peninsula along Edo Bay with the popular Benten Shrine at the very tip. The land offered excellent shellfish-gathering at low tide in the spring. The view also faces northeast towards Jumantsubo, a tract of land named after its approximate size of one hundred thousand tsubo (about eight acres).

Printed with mica on the eagle’s feathers, this striking work is available to view by appointment, Monday through Friday. Be sure come visit for more of Hiroshige’s prints from this series, along with many other fine Japanese prints and paintings at their gallery.

To learn more, click here.

Hitoshi Fugo (b. 1947), KAMI 1, 2001, gelatin silver print, printed in 2022, 21 3/8 x 16 7/8 in (54.3 x 42.9 cm), edition of 10 plus 2 artist’s proofs, KAMI Series, titled, signed, and numbered on verso

Hitoshi Fugo: KAMI
Closing Saturday, June 1, 2024
24 East 64th Street, Third Floor, NYC

These are the last days to view MIYAKO YOSHINAGA’s final exhibition, Hitoshi Fugo: KAMI, before the gallery closes its location on Saturday, June 1st.

Japanese photographer Hitoshi Fugo (b. 1947)’s still-life studies explore a single subject’s nuanced multi-faceted expressions until the subject becomes detached from its category, meaning, or identity. He commits to an ongoing experimentation in dismantling these boundaries. This exhibition features one of his most ambitious yet long-silenced projects entitled KAMI. Paper in Japanese is kami, a homonym of god. The artist gave the title, KAMI, to this body of work, implying the absence of god in today’s destructive world.

In 2023, he attempted to document the end of that life cycle by burning the paper roll again on the shore, imagining its particles flying into the air like feathers peeling away. But this was not possible due to the weather. This series, in which he tried to capture the paper’s transformation by an irresistible external force, was shown only once in Japan in 2001 and has never been shown overseas until now. This exhibition includes 11 images from the series, two of which were photographed in 2023 of the same paper roll.

While the gallery will go nomadic and continue to work with their artists and clients in different capacities, be sure to visit their Upper East Side space and experience this captivating final show!

To learn more and view the works, click here.

Black Oribe Kutsugata Teabowl “Yama no Ha,” Momoyama – Early Edo Period, Early 17th c., Japan, diameter: 14 cm, courtesy Zetterquist Galleries

We are delighted to shine this week’s Gallery Spotlight on one of our AWNY founding members, Zetterquist Galleries. Well regarded for their collection of the finest Asian ceramics throughout the ages, the gallery was established by Eric J. Zetterquist in 1992 in New York City and is currently located next to Central Park on the Upper East Side.

Their clients include major museums and the most discerning collectors of Asian ceramics from around the world. While most Asian antiquities galleries choose one country and show several different media from that country, Zetterquist chose to show one medium, ceramics, but cover all of East Asia. The flow of materials with stylistic and technical influences around the region over the past 2,000 years tells a fascinating story that gets more exciting with time.

Their current Spring Collection of Ceramics is now on view and includes this Momoyama-early Edo Period (17th century) Black Oribe “Kutsugata” (shoe-shaped) Teabowl covered with a rich, unctuous black glaze. The design of seven circles encasing a geometric hourglass formed of two triangles joined at their points is based on “chikiri” or winding the warp on a loom.  Of particular note is an inscription at the bottom of the unglazed bowl in dark red by the 13th generation Omotesenke tea master Mujin Sousa “Sokuchusai” (1901-1979), who also inscribed the accompanying box “Yama no Ha” meaning Mountain’s Edge.

To view this piece along with their other fine ceramics, schedule an appointment by emailing [email protected]

Long cloth, kain panjang (detail), Jambi, Sumatra, 19th-early 20th c., cotton, hand-drawn batik; Private collection; Courtesy Thomas Murray

Ottoman Influences on Islamic Batik from Indonesia
Thursday, May 30th from 1-3pm PT
Virtual Zoom Lecture Sponsored by the Asian Arts Council
Hosted by The San Diego Museum of Art

Join Thomas Murray for this upcoming lecture on the long relationship between Indonesia and Turkey from the 16th century forward. Murray will consider the role of spice trade economics on European colonialism and Islamic local resistance and survey all forms of calligraphic batik, offering a new interpretation of their purpose, which suggests these cloths may have originated earlier than previously identified, and how this tradition continues in an interesting and unexpected ways.

All participants will be sent the Zoom link via confirmation email with instructions once they sign up, so be sure to secure your spot today!

To learn more and sign up, click here.