Fashion design by Kim Young-Jin, photo by Kim Jung-han, The New York Times, October 19, 2020

As reported this weekend in The New York Times, Korea's traditional clothing style, the hanbok, is currently influencing popular fashion designers and au courant celebrities and performers. Hanbok are trending!

Recently, Korea Society hosted informative online lectures that trace the history of hanbok, explain its multiple components and manner of wearing, and describe its contemporary impact and variations. The two talks were presented by Dr. Minjee Kim, the preeminent scholar of Korean textile and fashion in the U.S., and focused on men's and women's wear. Recordings of these programs are available on Korea Society's website, click here for the women's hanbok program and click here for the men's hanbok program.

Last year Asia Society Korea also offered a multi-part illustrated essay on the history of traditional hanbok that is available to read. For Hanbok Park 1: Origin and History, click here and for Hanbok Part 2: Hanbok in Modern Days, click here.

For The New York Times article One Garment's Journey Through History by Aileen Kwun on April 9, 2022, click here.

Blanket from Zhuang Tribal, early 20th century, silk supplementary weft on a fine cotton tabby ground, 45 x 67 in., Collection of Chinalai Tribal Antiques

Auspicious Dreams: Tribal Blankets from Southern China
Charles B. Wang Center Stony Brook University
Exhibition: Ongoing-May 31, 2022

Rescheduled reception and lecture:
Lecture: Tribal Blankets of South China: Power, Protection, & Prestige
Wednesday, April 13, 4pm
Reception: Wednesday, April 13, 5pm

Because of inclement weather, the opening reception and lecture accompanying the current exhibition, Auspicious Dreams: Tribal Blankets from Southern China, has been rescheduled.

The Charles B. Wang Center celebrates precious, rarely seen Chinese textiles, specifically blankets made by South and Southwest Chinese tribes in Auspicious Dreams: Tribal Blankets from Southern China exhibition. Often made with fine materials, exemplary techniques, and unparalleled artistry, these striking textiles convey the unique identities, statuses, and traditions of diverse Chinese tribal groups. Curated by Vichai and Lee Chinalai of Chinalai Tribal Antiques and Jinyoung Jin, director of cultural programs at the Charles B. Wang Center, the treasures in this exhibition take visitors on a remarkable journey across regions and time.

Read more, click here

Osumi Yukie (born 1945), Wave Crests, 2008, silver with gold and lead inlay, Bequest of Shirley Z. Johnson, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

Sneak Peek—Refined Elements: Japanese Metalwork from the Shirley Z. Johnson Collection
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
Presented by Curator Sol Jung
Online lecture, Tuesday, April 12, 12-12:40pm

The history of Japanese metalworking evolved over two millennia through cultural exchange and internal innovation. Techniques unique to Japan flourished as metalworkers created armaments, Buddhist ornaments, and vessels used in Japanese tea practice. Traditional metalworking survives into the present in works by Japanese studio artists, who have continued to employ time-honored methods while innovating Japanese metalwork design. In this talk, curator Sol Jung examines modern and contemporary Japanese metalwork from the bequest of Shirley Z. Johnson (1940–2021), a distinguished lawyer, philanthropist, and former board member of the National Museum of Asian Art. This bequest focuses primarily on postwar works that represent the rich tradition of Japanese metalworking techniques (such as casting, hammering, soldering, and inlay) through which artists combine and refine silver, gold, copper, and lead to stunning effect.

Sol Jung is the Shirley Z. Johnson Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the National Museum of Asian Art. She specializes in Japanese art history with a focus on how transnational maritime trade impacted Japan’s visual culture during the premodern period. This talk is part of the monthly lunchtime series Sneak Peek: New Research from the National Museum of Asian Art, where staff members present brief, personal perspectives and ongoing research, followed by discussion. In 2022, the series will focus on collecting practices and the collections of the National Museum of Asian Art.

Read more and register, click here

An Enameled Porcelain Plaque of Fishermen, Republic period (1912-1949), style of Wang Qi,
15 3/8 x 10 in. (39 x 25.3cm), Estimate: $5,000-7,000, Asian Art Online

Asia Art Online, Bonhams
Los Angeles, April 4-14

Conducted out of the Los Angeles office, Bonhams presently has on offer an online auction of Asian Art. Included in the diverse array of fine Chinese ceramics, jades, scholar's objects, and paintings; Japanese works of art and paintings; and a selection of South and Southeast Asian works of art, are two collections being sold to benefit charities. Proceeds from the sales of items from the collection of Dr. Wallace and Alice Smith of San Francisco will benefit The Panda Fund at Guide Dogs for the Blind, San Rafael, an organization supported by the Smiths' daughter Wallis and from the collection of Richard R. Silverman, a devoted and highly experienced collector of Japanese art, for Brandeis University. Many of the lots from these collections are being sold without reserve.

Read more, click here

Portrait of Yun Dongseom (1710–1795), ca. 1790–1805, image courtesy of The Metropolitan
Museum of Art

Hanbok: A New Lexicon of World Fashion—Men’s Hanbok
The Korea Society
Online program, Thursday, April 7 at 6pm

Riding the Korean Wave sweeping the world, the traditional Korean costumes have become increasingly visible in global media. In 2021, hanbok-the generic term referring to traditional style Korean clothing-was registered in the Oxford English Dictionary. In this comprehensive series of lectures, Dr. Minjee Kim, the preeminent scholar in the U.S. of Korean textile and fashion, illustrates and elucidates hanbok in sartorial, socio-cultural, and historical contexts.

In the second lecture of the series, Dr. Kim discusses some distinctive qualities of men's hanbok in comparison with other dress traditions; terminologies of the components and their structural parts; colors, materials, and embellishments; and symbols and ideas behind design principles and ways of dress.

To register, click here

The first lecture on Women's Hanbok aired on February 17th and can be watched on YouTube, click here

David Orr, Moon Mandala (No. 20)

RADIANCE + REFLECTION: Mandalas and Moon, solo exhibition by David Orr
Tibet House US
April 7-July 9
Opening reception: Thursday, April 7 from 6–8pm ET
Artist Talk: Mapping the Universe: The Mandala in Sacred, Scientific, and Artistic Practice, April 9, 5-6:30pm with David Orr, Robert Thurman, and David Kittay, Columbia University Department of Religion, in-person and live-streamed

Tibet House US presents a new solo exhibition of work by Los Angeles-based visual artist David Orr, whose work explores symmetry, themes of interconnection and impermanence, and ways we apply order. The exhibition is organized around two bodies of work emerging from Orr’s interests where philosophy and science align: ILLUMINED, wherein photographs of sacred manuscripts, texts, and sūtras are digitally recombined into abstract forms, and Mandala Lunae, moon photography which Orr arranges into complex geometries — a series begun and developed when he had to stay-in-place during the pandemic.

Read more, click here

For those who missed some of the informative lectures and panel discussions that took place during March 2022's Asia Week, many were recorded and can now be watched.

LAUNCH, Asia Week New York
Aired on March 15th, AWNY Planning Committee Chair Dessa Goddard emceed the presentations of gallery-exhibition highlights and auction previews by members of AWNY's Planning Committee. Mike Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chairman of the Department of Asian Art at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, surveyed the variety of Asian art exhibitions currently on view in this institution.

Watch the video, click here

Bingyi: Land of Immortals, INKstudio and Joan B Mirviss LTD
This Zoom event took place on February 24th and accompanied the exhibition of Bingyi's work organized by INKstudio during Asia Week. The artist was joined by distinguished curators Susan L. Beningson, Susanna Ferrell, and David Ake Sensabaugh to discuss the role in today’s global contemporary art world for China’s long-standing practice of brush-and-ink based arts—specifically, its tradition of landscape painting–in light of Bingyi’s ink painting practice.

Watch the video, click here

Elaine Ildan Choi, Here and Now
Korean Culture Center New York
The Korean Cultural Center New York sheds light on the life and art of artist Elaine Ildan Choi (b. 1936), in a special documentary and online exhibition that features not only her selected artworks, but the story of her turbulent life and fierce spirit that has remained a constant thread throughout. The video was unveiled on March 8th, 2022 to commemorate International Women’s Day and also as a part of Asia Week New York 2022 and can still be enjoyed online.

Watch the video, click here

MAKING WAVES: with artist Kondō Takahiro
Joan B Mirviss LTD
This panel discussion on March 17th via Zoom accompanied the exhibition of this artist's work at Joan B Mirviss LTD. Speaking together with Kondō Takahiro, who participated from Kyoto, and moderated by Joan Mirviss was Glenn Adamson, independent curator based in New York and formerly Director at the Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Joe Earle, Senior Consultant, Japanese Art, Bonhams; and Carol Horvitz, art collector and museum patron. They discussed Kondō's creative process, the challenges posed by his sculptures, and his fascinating legacy.

Watch the video and the gallery's other programs, click here

Buddhist Art of Gandhara and the 'Year 5' Buddha: New Studies in Chronology and Iconography
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
This lecture was the Met's Annual Distinguished Lecture on the Arts of South and Southeast Asia. Juhyung Rhi, Professor of Buddhist Art History at Seoul National University, spoke in person, and was live-streamed, on March 18th about the 'Year 5' Buddha, one of only five dated Gandharan sculptures known to exist. This talk explored the diverse questions raised by this image within the unfolding setting of Buddhist art in Gandhara in the early centuries of the Common Era.

Watch the video, click here

Reflections of a Collector by George Mann
Japanese Art Society of America (JASA)
This event took place in hybrid form at Japan Society on March 20th. JASA hosted this lecture by renowned Chicago print collector George Mann, who shared his perspective on putting together one of the finest Japanese print collections in private hands. This program followed Mann's recently published memoir, Sixty Years with Japanese Prints.

Watch the video and recordings of JASA's other programs, click here

East Meets West at Asian Art Week in NYC & Women's History Month
FPA Arts and Culture Series
VP and Director of DAG New York, Josheen Oberoi, spoke with FPA journalist Sarab Zavaleta about DAG's newest endeavor, an international gallery focused on women artists from 20th century India. This episode, which premiered on March 22nd, was presented by the Foreign Press Association in honor of NYC Asian Art Week and Women's History Month.

Watch the video, click here

J.P. Morgan: A Collector’s Legacy
Asia Week New York in collaboration with The Winter Show
Also now available for viewing is our Zoom program, which took place on January 26th and consisted of illustrated presentations by each panelist, followed by a question-and-answer session. The speakers and their topics included:
Who Was Pierpont Morgan? A Brief Biographical Sketch
Jean Strouse, eminent American biographer and author of Morgan, American Financier
Building the Bookman's Paradise
Colin B. Bailey, Director, The Morgan Library & Museum
Objects of “Pleasure and Instruction:” J. Pierpont Morgan's Legacy in Hartford
Linda H. Roth, Director of Special Curatorial Projects and Charles C. and Eleanor Lamont Cunningham Curator of European Decorative Arts, Wadsworth Atheneum
The J.P. Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains
Steven Chait, President, Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Inc.
Moderator: Charlotte Eyerman, Director and Chief Curator, JPMorgan Chase Art Collection

Watch the video, click here

After it was postponed from its original date in January, The Winter Show 2022 opened today, April 1st, at 660 Madison Avenue in the old Barney’s Building. Three AWNY members are participating this year—Ralph M. Chait Galleries Inc., Joan B Mirviss LTD, and Thomsen Gallery. On view through April 10th, Chait Galleries is exhibiting Chinese Export Porcelain and Decorative Arts, Joan B Mirviss is showing KAZARI: Beyond Decoration, and Thomsen Gallery is displaying Japanese Paintings and Works of Art, Including Antique and Modern Folding Screens, Scroll Paintings, Bamboo Baskets, Ceramics, and Gold Lacquer Boxes.

The Winter Show is the leading art, antiques, and design fair in America, featuring many of the world's top experts in the fine and decorative arts. The Fair was established in the mid-1950s as a benefit for East Side House Settlement and, by the end of that decade, had firmly established itself as the leading event of its kind in the United States. This year is The Winter Show’s 68th anniversary season.

National Cherry Blossom Festival, National Museum of Asian Art

Explore Art and Music Online: Treasures from Our Japanese Art Collections
Discover Japanese art from our collections and enjoy talks and performances. Our experts love these exceptional objects, and we think you will fall in love with them too.
Select a video to watch, click here

Online Interactive Docent Tours: Special Cherry Blossom Sessions
The revered sakura, or cherry blossom, has been celebrated in landscapes, figure paintings, and prints by artists from medieval Japan to Katsushika Hokusai and beyond. You are invited to embrace hanami, the traditional Japanese custom of “flower viewing,” by going cherry blossom viewing in the museum’s Japanese art collections!  All online tours must be scheduled at least four weeks in advance. Cherry Blossom programs are available from March 14-April 29 and reservations must be made by April 1st.
For more information and to register, click here

Art & Me Virtual Preservation Family Workshop: Cherry Blossoms in Bloom
Celebrate spring and DC’s beloved cherry blossoms with a festive virtual family workshop. This hands-on preservation workshop is designed for children ages three to eight and their caretakers.
For more information and to register, click here