What's Happening in Asian Art...
December 7, 2021
Three lots from Christie's NY's current online sale of Art of China and Japan, available through December 14, 2021.
Christie's New York, Art of China and Japan Online Auction
December 1-14, 2021
Viewing in person available by appointment: Wednesday-Friday December 8-10 and Monday, December 13
Christie’s New York is now presenting their December online sale, Art of China and Japan. The sale features a fine selection of works from private and institutional American collections in a wide range of collecting categories, including porcelain, jades, snuff bottles, textiles, and prints. Highlights include prints by Katsushika Hokusai and Toshusai Sharaku, a Daoguang period famille rose and faux bois ‘olive’-shaped vase from the Strong Museum of Play, a large famille noire `phoenix-tail’ vase from Yale University Art Gallery collection, and an inside-painted snuff bottle signed Zhou Leyuan.
For more information, click here
December 3, 2021
Anonymous, Quail, Sparrows, and Millet, early 16th century, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk,
32 5/16×13 5/8 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Japan: A History of Style, 3rd Rotation, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Closing this weekend, last day Sunday, December 5, 2021
This exhibition celebrates how gifts and acquisitions of the last decade have transformed The Met’s ability to narrate the story of Japanese art by both expanding and deepening the range of remarkable artworks that can meaningfully elucidate the past. Each of the ten rooms that make up the Arts of Japan Galleries features a distinct genre, school, or style, representing an array of works in nearly every medium, from ancient times to the present. Highlights include the debut of a spectacular group of contemporary metalwork by Living National Treasures and emerging artists.
Read more, click here
While at the Met, be sure to see as part of this rotation and before it closes, too, the works from artist and collector Paul Binnie's completed series, A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo. The prints, which the Met acquired from Scholten Japanese Art in 2017, are brilliantly displayed side-by-side with stunning examples of ukiyo-e masterpieces that inspired Binnie's compositions—in a way that very few museums would have the ability to do.
Read more, click here
December 2, 2021
Masatoshi (sign.), Recumbent Hare with Raised Forepaw, c. 1880, ivory and buffalo horn, de Waal Family Collection
The Hare with Amber Eyes Exhibition at the Jewish Museum
November 19, 2021-May 15, 2022
The Hare with Amber Eyes tells the story of the Ephrussi family—celebrated in the 2010 memoir and The New York Times bestseller of the same name by Edmund de Waal—and showcases the breadth and depth of their illustrious collection. The exhibition explores the family’s rise to prominence and splendor in the first half of the nineteenth century, followed by a focus on the prolific collector and historian of art, Charles Ephrussi, to the inter-war years, and finally World War II, when the family lost its fortune and collection to Nazi looting.
The exhibition’s centerpiece is the extraordinary collection of Japanese netsuke, miniature carved sculptures of the Edo Period (17th-19th centuries), hidden by a maid from German officials in her mattress during World War II, and later returned to the family after the war. Also on display are items from the Ephrussi’s collections, including artworks by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Gustave Moreau, and Auguste Renoir, among others; decorative objects; and family photos and ephemera from their lives across four continents. The most recent member of the family to inherit the netsuke collection, author and ceramicist Edmund de Waal, drew from them the inspiration for his memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes, continuing the family’s storied legacy of artistic and cultural pursuits.
Read more, click here
November 30, 2021
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Dragon head Kannon (The Great Picture Book of Everything), 1820s-40s, ink on paper. Purchase funded by the Theresia Gerda Buch Bequest, in memory of her parents, Rudolf and Julie Buch, with support from Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation). © The Trustees of the British Museum
Hokusai: A Curatorial Perspective
Zoom Webinar, Wednesday, December 1, 5pm EST
JASA (Japanese Art Society of America) welcomes you to join their exciting and informative series of presentations about this year's several superb exhibitions focusing on the master artist Hokusai. A wonderful show at the National Museum of Asian Art focuses on the collection of Hokusai drawings, paintings and screens collected by its founder, Charles Lang Freer. Across the Atlantic, the British Museum features a much-anticipated exhibition of drawings by Hokusai. Other museum curators have turned their attention to new publications. This webinar offers an opportunity to hear four expert curators and specialists speak about their perspective on connoisseurship of Hokusai drawings, prints and paintings.
The presentations are:
Frank Feltens, Japan Foundation Associate Curator of Japanese Art, National Gallery of Asian Art, Visualizing Thunder: Hokusai’s Thunder God
Alfred Haft, JTI Project Curator for Japanese Collection, British Museum, Hokusai’s Illustrations for The Great Picture Book of Everything
Andreas Marks, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, To Wave or not to Wave: Variations in Hokusai's Fuji Prints
Sarah Thompson, Curator of Japanese Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Drawings by Hokusai and His Pupils at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
To register for this program, click here
Read more, click here
November 30, 2021
Iizuka Rokansai (1890-1958), Flower Basket Named "Bundle", 1930s, bamboo, 10x10x11 1/4in.
Japanese Bamboo Baskets and Contemporary Art
Design Miami, Booth G/17
December 1-5, 2021
Wednesday, December 1, 1–8pm
Thursday, December 2, 11am–8pm
Friday, December 3, 12–8pm
Saturday, December 4, 12–8pm
Sunday, December 5, 12–6pm
Thomsen Gallery is participating in the current Design Miami exhibition and will present newly-acquired masterpieces of Japanese bamboo art by the greatest bamboo artists of the 20th century. The baskets will be complemented by Japanese gold lacquer boxes, porcelain vessels by the Japanese porcelain sculptor Sueharu Fukami, and folding screens by the paper artist Kyoko Ibe.
The exhibition takes place in the Design Miami Pavilion at Convention Center Drive/19th Street, across from Art Basel Miami.
For more information, click here
November 30, 2021
Kenji Wakasugi, Sanctuary (detail), 2021, photograph of washi mounted screen, 23 5/8 x 33 1/2 in.
Synthesis II Exhibition: "Adore" Madonna and Fusuma
Photography by Kenji Wakasugi
December 3, 2021-January 11, 2022
Opening Reception: Friday, December 3, 5-8pm
Book Signing: Saturday, December 4, 3-5pm
Ippodo Gallery, 32 E. 67th St., 3rd Floor, New York
Tuesday-Friday, 10am-6pm and Saturday, 11am-5:30pm
A sequel to Synthesis, Wakasugi’s inaugural exhibition at Ippodo Gallery in 2016, Synthesis II highlights the artist’s exploration of photography inspired by traditional ink-painting. The show will also feature individual prints and a limited second edition publication of the photo book ADORE from his 1985 photoshoot with Madonna, published by Nick Groarke, NJG Studio in London.
Juxtaposed to works emphasizing traditional styles and architecture are Wakasugi’s images of Madonna, demonstrating a vivid sense of modernity and nostalgia for the late 20th century. Taken during a 45-minute photoshoot, Wakasugi captures the then 27-year old Madonna promoting her album Like A Virgin wearing clothes by Jean Paul Gaultier, as well as numerous crucifixes and rosaries. Transcending typical fashion photography, Wakasugi’s portraiture focuses on Madonna’s facial expressions and gestures to reveal the superstar’s stunning sincerity.
Wakasugi uses an array of modern and traditional techniques, such as digital manipulation and the application of gold leaf and his ink-wash painting or calligraphy, to further alter his photography. Emphasizing his range of styles and influences, Wakasugi mounts his paintings using Western-style framing and hanging scrolls or fusuma sliding doors.
For more information, click here
Kenji Wakasugi, Madonna_14, 2021, Photography, Small (Edition 15), 22 x 17 in.
November 29, 2021
Songtsam is Asia Week New York's 2021 Presenting Sponsor. Learn more about another one of their stunning properties below!
Every year Tibetans and travelers from all over the world make their journey to worship at Mount Kawagebo, the major peak of the Meili Snow Mountain range and one of the holiest mountains in the larger Tibetan region. Songtsam Lodge Meili was built in this spectacular area. A highlight is waking up and experiencing the morning sunrise. First golden sunlight shines over Mount Kawagebo and then spreads quickly over the 13 peaks. Against the backdrop of the dark-blue sky, the sunrise is considered very holy and only lasts for a few minutes. Rooms are furnished with large comfortable beds, sofas, and timber flooring, providing a warm atmosphere that combines rustic charm with modern comforts. Most rooms also feature a cozy fireplace.
The Meili Snow Mountain range is a sub range of the Hengduan Mountains, which run north to south, marking the boundary between Tibet and Yunnan province. It is remarkable for its impressive chain of glaciated peaks, rising more than 6,000 meters high, and during sunrise and sunset, the soft sunlight illuminates all thirteen peaks. As of today, none of the major peaks have been summited. Standing at 6,740 meters, the main peak, Kawagebo, is the first of the six most sacred mountains and over ten thousand pilgrims make the 240 kilometer trek circumnavigating the mountain each year.
The scenic drive from Shangri-La to Meili winds through lush temperate and alpine forests, crossing the Baima Mountain Pass at 3,292 meters. The Yangtze drainage area lies on one side of the pass and the Mekong on the other. On emerging from the pass onto a steep descending road, the Meili peaks soon appear in the distance. Baima Snow Reserve, a UNESCO designated world heritage sight, is one of the truly wild places left in China. Nearly all of the world’s species of rhododendron originate from this area. There are even a few spots where red pandas and snow leopards roam free.
For more information about Songtsam, visit: www.songtsam.com/en/about
November 26, 2021
Liz Hammer at the Hammond Museum's Japanese Stroll Garden.
As Asia Week NY’s online news and programs expands to year-round coverage and greatly increased activity, Elizabeth Hammer has joined the team to support these new endeavors.
Most of you know Liz from her years in Education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she wrote and taught about Asian art and ran the public lecture program, and in the Chinese Paintings department at Christie’s New York, where she was Senior Specialist and Head of Sale. Most recently, Liz served as Executive Director of the Hammond Museum and Japanese Stroll Garden in North Salem, NY.
Commenting on her plans for AWNY’s future programs, Liz noted, “The dealers, auction houses, and museums that make up AWNY offer the very best Asian art created and provide an incredible resource to collectors, scholars, and aficionados alike. I very much look forward to working together with all of you to expand the variety and number of events and activities related to Asian art to reach as many people as possible. I hope our members will actively send suggestions, ideas, and feedback to achieve the most creative and effective results that we can.”
November 26, 2021
Hai Zhang, American, b. 1976, Wuhan, Hubei Province, 2013, Archival pigment print on fiber paper, 28 x 18 in, 71.1 x 45.7 cm
Hai Zhang: Aged Innocence
September 17-December 11, 2021
The gallery is open Wednesday-Saturday, 11am-6pm, by appointment.
Between 2013 and 2017, Hai Zhang frequently returned to his homeland in China for his job assignment as a photographer. By then, the economic prosperity in the big cities was visibly affecting the lives in small towns and remote areas. The unprecedented changes before his eyes as a cultural insider urged him to capture tens of thousands of black-and-white and color images that exemplify the historically and culturally complex locales and their inhabitants. The exhibition features a selection from this massive photo archive in the format of small prints and large collages.
For more information, click here
November 22, 2021
Lark Mason and Ryan Reynolds on Antiques Roadshow, November 15, 2021
Actor Ryan Reynolds visited Antiques Roadshow with a prop, Cleopatra Egg, from the new Netflix movie Red Notice. A true veteran, Lark Mason offered an expert evaluation and jaw-dropping auction estimate in this whimsical sketch that has been enjoyed, so far, by more than 3 million viewers. Responding to Reynolds's contrived history of the object, Lark Mason played along and opined that the egg was "commissioned by Cleopatra at the end of her life" in 30 BC. Two, he said, can be found in "public collections", but one of them "disappeared" during World War II, pilfered by German soldiers and hidden at a secure location, "up until recently".
Red Notice, which is now available for streaming on Netflix and stars Dwayne Johnson and Gal Gadot, along with Reynolds, is an action-comedy that pairs an FBI profiler and the world's most wanted art thief.
To watch the Antiques Roadshow clip, click here
https://asiaweekny.com/sites/asiaweekny/files/smartphone_2014.jpg
Contact Us
