Meena Kayastha, Goddess Varahi, 2023, traditional Nepali door, papier-mache, pliers, nails, coins, keys, jewelry, bell, discarded vehicle metal parts, 58 x 28 x 9 in.; photo courtesy of Meena Kayastha, Bhaktapur, Nepal; Roshan Pradhan, New World, 2021, acrylic on canvas, 183 x 152.5 cm; photo courtesy of Sangeeta Thapa, Founder Director Siddhartha Art Gallery, Kathmandu, Nepal; Shushank Shrestha, Male Guardian Lion Dog (one of a pair from Two Guardian Lion Dogs), 2023, ceramic, in glaze lustre; 52 × 27 × 44 in.; photo courtesy of Shuhank Shrestha, Massachusetts, USA

Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now
March 15 – October 6, 2024
Opening Reception: Friday, March 15, 6-10pm (Free)
Opening Weekend: Saturday, March 16 & Sunday March 17, 11am-5pm (Free Admission)

Contemplate and celebrate what Himalayan art means now with a Museum-wide exhibition of artworks by over 30 contemporary artists, many from the Himalayan region and diaspora and others inspired by Himalayan art and cultures, at the Rubin Museum of Art this Friday, March 15th.

On the occasion of the Rubin’s 20th anniversary, Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now transforms the entire Museum with new commissions, some site-specific, and existing works juxtaposed with objects from the Museum’s collection, inviting new ways of encountering traditional Himalayan art.

Through a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, sound, video, installation, performance, and more, the artists explore their personal and collective histories and call attention to themes such as the fluidity of identity, spiritual practices, sense of belonging, grief, memory, and reclamation. The artists also offer critical and thoughtful commentary on issues facing humanity across time.

Also join them for opening weekend celebrations with free admission on Saturday, March 16 and Sunday, March 17!

To learn more, click here.

Kondō Takahiro (b. 1958), Object: Standing rectangular blue-and-white marbleized box form on four legs with gintekisai (“silver mist”) beaded glazing with pâte de verre clear cast glass cover, 2023, Marbleized porcelain, “silver mist” glaze, cast glass, 6 3/4 x 6 3/4 x 3 in.

Eternal Partnership: Japanese Ceramics in Blue & White
March 14 – April 19, 2024
Asia Week Hours: Mar 14-15 & 18-22, 11am-6pm; Mar 16, 11am-5pm; Mar 17, 12-5pm
39 East 78th Street, Suite 401

The most visually striking color combination for centuries, blue and white has been paired effectively in all types of Japanese art, but most prominently and successfully in its ceramics. For Asia Week New York 2024, Joan B Mirviss LTD presents the enduring legacy of this timeless aesthetic, and its dynamic expressions in Japanese contemporary clay, through the lens of the esteemed Kyoto-based Kondō family. Across multiple generations, their mastery of sometsuke (cobalt blue-and-white porcelain) culminates in the work of our celebrated gallery artist, Kondō Takahiro, who broke free of his forefathers’ traditions with his patented gintekisai “silver mist” overglaze on dramatic sculptural work.

Eternal Partnership: Japanese Ceramics in Blue & White includes masterful work by twenty additional Japanese ceramic artists applying blue and/or white across a wide range of innovative forms and styles.

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with Porcelains in the Mist: The Kondō Family of Ceramicists at the Brooklyn Museum. Kyoto-based gallery artist Kondo Takhiro will be in New York for Asia Week events. If interested, please contact the gallery for details.

To learn more, click here.

Nakashima Harumi (b. 1950), Biomorphic bulbous standing sculpture decorated with varied cobalt-blue polka dots; titled, Absurdity, 2018, Glazed porcelain, 22 1/2 x 17 3/4 x 11 3/4 in.

Lai Fong, Women from Amoy, 1870s, albumen silver print

Dragon Women: Early Chinese Photography
March 14 – May 15, 2024
Asia Week Hours: Mar 14-15 & 18-22, 10:30am-5pm; Mar 16-17, 1-5pm (otherwise by appointment)
Opening Reception: Friday, March 15, 6-9pm with Female Lion Dance Performance
10 W. 18th Street, 7th Floor Penthouse

Loewentheil Photography of China Collection is pleased to present Dragon Women: Early Photographs of China during this year’s Asia Week New York, which offers a rare occasion to view some of the earliest photographs of Chinese women, most taken in the 1860s and 1870s. Celebrating the Year of the Dragon, the exhibition explores women’s place in society in the final decades of imperial China, as well as the representation of Chinese women in photography, exposing female attitudes toward the camera in the late Qing dynasty.

Highlights include a rare photographs by the first known Chinese female photographer, Mae Linda Talbot, and works by Hedda Morrison, and Isabella Bird, as well as masterworks by Chinese and international photographers such as Sze Yuan Ming Studio, Pun Lun Studio, A Chan Studio, Lai Fong, and John Thomson, whose Portrait of Three Women in Beijing, circa 1868, is on view.

John Thomson, Portrait of Three Women, c. 1868, albumen silver print

To learn more, click here.

Top L-R: Yamada Hikaru 山田光, Juts in a Clay Plane 陶面の中の凸面, 1976, glazed ceramic, 17 1/4 x 13 3/4 x 3 7/8 in., Dai Ichi Arts Ltd.; Kintsugi Teabowl, Karatsu ware, Momoyama period, H: 1 ¾ in., D: 5 ½ in., BachmannEckenstein Japanese Art; Kondō Takahiro, Cobalt and green-glazed large conical bowl with small flat base and “silver mist” overglaze, 2020, glazed porcelain with gintekisai “silver mist” overglaze, 13 x 22 in., Joan B Mirvis LTD; Kajiwara Koho, Peony Basket, Japan, late 20th c., madake bamboo and rattan, TAI Modern. Bottom L-R: Nakagawa Mamoru, Living National Treasure, Yubae (Sunset’s Glow), 2013, cast alloy of copper, silver, and tin with inlays of copper, silver, and gold, H: 7 1/2 x W: 12 5/8 x D: 5 1/2 in., Onishi Gallery; Blue-and-white Ceramic Jar with Dragon Design, Yi Dynasty, 18th c., 30.8 x 36 cm, Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art; Tiered Accessory Box with Cormorant and Fish, 1933, Japan, maki-e lacquer on wood with silver rims, 8¾ x 11¼ x 8¾ in., Thomsen Gallery

With Asia Week New York just around the corner, this is the last roundup of exceptional works of art that will be exhibited next week.  From ceramics and lacquered boxes to intricate bamboo baskets, prepare to be dazzled by these Japanese objects from seven of our acclaimed dealers.

BachmannEckenstein Japanese Art
Japanese Art | Pre-modern and beyond
March 15–19, 2024
Leslie Feely 1044 Madison Avenue, Suite #4F

BachmammEckenstein Japanese Art is pleased to present Japanese Art | Pre-modern and beyond featuring outstanding artists’ letters, trending Kintsugi pieces and paintings by Fukuda Kodojin which recently were exhibited in the artist’s monumental retrospective at the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd. 
Ceramic Frontiers: Sodeisha & Shikokai in Post-war Japanese Art
March 12–28, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 14, 5:30-7:30pm
18 East 64th Street, Suite 1F

In the landscape of mid-20th century Japan, two significant sculptural ceramic movements, Sodeisha and Shikokai, emerged concurrently during the post-war period. Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd. is thrilled to present a landmark exhibition this March that illuminates the richness of these historical movements, offering a distinctive lens through which to explore “Post-war” ceramics from Japan.

Joan B Mirviss LTD
Eternal Partnership: Japanese Ceramics in Blue & White
March 14–April 19, 2024
39 East 78th Street, Suite 401

The most visually striking color combination for centuries, blue and white has been paired effectively in all types of Japanese art, but most prominently and successfully in its ceramics. For Asia Week New York this year, Joan B Mirviss LTD presents the enduring legacy of this timeless aesthetic, and its dynamic expressions in Japanese contemporary clay, through the lens of the esteemed Kyoto-based Kondō family.

Onishi Gallery
KOGEI and Art
Inoue Manji / David Stanley Hewett
March 14–22, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 14, 5-8pm
521 West 26th Street

Onish Gallery is pleased to be presenting two exhibitions during Asia Week – KOGEI and Art, marking the inauguration of KOGEI USA, a non-profit dedicated to the revitalization of Japan’s world-famous KOGEI (art crafts) and Inoue Manji / David Stanley Hewett celebrating Living National Treasure Inoue Manji and Japan based artist David Stanley Hewett.

TAI Modern
A Pause in Time, An Emptiness in Space: Ma in Japanese Bamboo Art
March 14–22, 2024
Opening Reception: Thursday, March 14, 5-9 pm
Colnaghi 23 East 67th Street, Fourth Floor

TAI Modern returns to Asia Week New York this spring with A Pause in Time, An Emptiness in Space: Ma in Japanese Bamboo Art, a special exhibition of extraordinary works by some of bamboo art’s most esteemed artists, both historic and contemporary.

Thomsen Gallery
Japanese Modern Masterpieces 1910-1950
March 14–22, 2024
9 East 63rd Street

Thomsen Gallery is pleased to present a collection of Japanese modern masterpieces from 1910 to 1950 at their Upper East Side gallery during this 15th year of Asia Week New York.

Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art
New Acquisitions: A Selection of Japanese and Korean Art
March 14–19, 2024
Nicholas Hall 17 East 76th Street, 4th Floor

Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art is pleased to feature their newest acquisitions this Spring, including a six-panel gold-leaf folding screen depicting a children’s seasonal festival, a 12th century seated Amida Nyoral and a Yi Dynasty blue-and-white ceramic jar.

A pair of carved, silvered and painted wood figures of Rampant Horses, 19th century, India, wood, silver, paint, H: 33 1/2 in. (85.1 cm)

Time is a Construct
March 14 – 22, 2024
Asia Week Hours: Mar 14-22, 11am-5pm (otherwise by appointment)
Opening Reception: Wednesday, March 13, 6-8 pm
34 East 67th Street, Floor 3

Kapoor Galleries is pleased to present Time is a Construct during this 15th year of Asia Week New York. Art serves as a compass for our conscience, guiding us across the vast dimensions of time and space. More than a visual representation, art embodies the very essence of culture, punctuating the canvas of existence with strokes of meaning.

This exhibition serves as a pivotal moment in contemporary times, prompting a reevaluation of the relationship between art, culture, and their collective influence across time and space. The examination of Indian miniature paintings is a focal point of this introspection; the deliberate repetition of characters and spatial elements over centuries emerge as a nuanced artistic strategy. This repetition is hardly monotonous. Instead, the repetition reveals a profound symbolic depth in the continuity of timeless themes.

Art doesn’t merely depict the passage of time; it assumes the role of a conductor, steering the passage of time itself. Across diverse cultures, every artistic stroke, form, and creation contributes to a narrative that resonates across epochs. In immersive encounters with art the boundaries of time blur, leaving us suspended in the timelessness of artistic expression and human imagination.

An Illustration from the Bharany Ramayana Series: The Monkey Army intruding Upon a Demon’s Cave, First Generation after Nainsukh or Manaku, India, Guler, 1775-1780, opaque Watercolor with gold on paper, Folio: 9 7⁄8 x 14 in. (25.1 x 35.6 cm); Image: 7 5⁄8 x 11 5⁄8 in (19.4 x 29.5 cm)

Highlights of the exhibition include a finely rendered painting from the Bharany Ramayana series, a pair of carved and silvered horses, and a splendid folio from the Gita Govinda. The gallery exhibition will also showcase many fine Indian miniature paintings and arms as well as a carefully curated selection of sculptures from India, Nepal, and Tibet.

To learn more, click here.

Joo Myung Duck (b. 1940), Seoul, 2011, archival pigment print, 20 x 30 inches, Edition 1 of 15, Signature in Certificate © Joo Myung Duck / Datz Museum of Art & Miyako Yoshinaga Gallery

Joo Myung Duck: Sensory Space in Photography and its Conversation with Korean Abstract Painting
March 8 – April 13, 2024
Asia Week Hours: Mar 14-23, 11am-6pm (otherwise by appointment)
Opening Reception: Friday, March 15, 6-8pm
Talk by Dr. Yuri Doolan: Tuesday, March 19, 6:30pm
24 East 64th Street, 3rd Floor

MIYAKO YOSHINAGA is pleased to open Joo Myung Duck: Sensory Space in Photography and its Conversation with Korean Abstract Painting on Friday, March 8th during this season of Asia Week New York.  Originally known for social documentaries in his black-and-white photographs, Korean artist Joo Myung Duck (b. 1940) developed a series of densely “black” landscapes in the 1980s and the 1990s. 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.

Joo Myung Duck (b. 1940), Seoul, 2011, archival pigment print, 20 x 30 inches, Edition 1 of 15, Signature in Certificate

In addition to the opening reception during Asia Week, the gallery will host a talk by Dr. Yuri Doolan about his book ‘The First Amerasians,’ which offers a fascinating historical background behind Joo’s Mixed Names series. Dr. Doolan will tell the heartbreaking story of how Americans created and used the concept of the “Amerasian” to remove thousands of mixed-race children from their Korean mothers in US-occupied South Korea to adoptive US homes during the 1950s and 1960s. His talk will explore the Cold War ideologies undergirding this so-called rescue and show how this process of removal and placement via US refugee and adoption laws profoundly shaped the lives of mixed-race Koreans and their mothers. Dr. Doolan is an Assistant Professor of History and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and the inaugural chair of the Asian American and Pacific Islander Studies Program at Brandeis University.

To RSVP for the talk, email: [email protected]

To learn more, click here.

Yamaoka Tesshu (1836–1888), Talismanic Dragon, Edo Period (1615-1867 A.D.), anging scroll(s), ink on paper, 44.5 x 60.3 cm

None Whatsoever: Zen Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection
March 8 – June 16, 2024
Roundtable Discussion: Friday, March 8 at 1pm
Japanese Art Society of America Lecture : Wednesday, March 20 at 5pm 

Japan Society is pleased to present their Spring exhibit, None Whatsoever: Zen Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection. Often playful, sometimes comical, and always profound, Zen paintings represent one of the world’s most fascinating religious and artistic traditions. This exhibition explores the origins of Zen Buddhism through over four centuries of ink paintings and calligraphies by painter-monks, who expressed Zen Buddhist teachings through their art, including the celebrated Buddhist master Hakuin Ekaku (1685–1768). The exhibition advances Japan Society Gallery’s history of presenting important Buddhist artworks and concepts, including from the 2007 exhibition, Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval Japan, and the 2010 exhibition, The Sound of One Hand: Paintings and Calligraphy by Zen Master Hakuin. Visitors will also be invited to engage with Zen Buddhist practices through wide-ranging public programming, from in-gallery meditation sessions to calligraphy workshops and tea ceremony demonstrations.

The exhibition takes its title from a legendary encounter between a Buddhist monk and a Chinese emperor. According to 8th-century Chinese sources, itinerant monk Bodhidharma, patriarch of Zen Buddhism, visited the court of Emperor Wu Liang. When the emperor asked how much goodwill his generous deeds had earned in the eyes of the Buddha, the monk’s curt reply, “None Whatsoever,” shocked the ruler. This exchange—seemingly casual and dismissive, yet also uncompromising, profound, and revolutionary—has come to embody the relationship in Zen Buddhism between student and teacher.

There will also be several related events, the first a roundtable discussion on the day of the opening, March 8th at 1pm titled Zenga: A New History that explores the origins, evolution, and importance of the Gitter-Yelen Collection of Japanese art. Alice Yelen Gitter and Kurt Gitter will their share experiences and aspirations during the decades-long formation of their collection. A circle of expert curators and scholars will discuss the significance of Japanese art in the Gitter-Yelen Collection for museums, universities, and the public. Join their conversation about the stories, memories, and ideas behind the elusive and alluring Zen paintings on view — and other works of Japanese art in the Gitter-Yelen Collection.

To reserve tickets, click here.

The second event is presented by the Japanese Art Society of America during their JASA Member Annual Meeting, a lecture presented by Frank Feltens, Curator of Japanese Art at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art titled When Zen Becomes Political: Zen and Soft/Hard Power on Wednesday, March 20th at 5pm. Zen has been used to foster political agendas, as inspiration for activism, and as a way to go against common norms. This talk highlights distinctive moments and individuals that made Zen and its arts a part of the political discourse of their times. They showcase how Zen has been part of Japan’s hard and soft power for centuries and continued to be in the twentieth century.

To reserve tickets, click here.

None Whatsoever originated at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and was co-organized by Bradley Bailey, The Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Curator of Asian Art, and Yukio Lippit, The Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okamura Professor of History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University. The Japan Society presentation is organized by Tiffany Lambert, Curator and Interim Director, Japan Society.

To learn more, click here.