Hosokawa Shiko, Tea Caddy with Maple Leaves, 1998, maki-e gold and red lacquer on wood with gold foil inlays, 3 x 3 x 3 in. (7.5 x 7.3 x 7.3 cm); Courtesy Thomsen Gallery

Golden Treasures: Japanese Gold Lacquer Boxes
November 9 – December 20, 2023

Thomsen Gallery is delighted to open their annual autumn exhibition of Japanese lacquers dating from the early 20th century to the present. This year they are focusing on lacquer works from the modern period, 1920s—50s, including published items that were exhibited in Tokyo at the annual art exhibitions of 1933, 1952 and 1953.

Be sure to visit their gallery to view the beautiful designs and fine details of these unique works for yourself.

To learn more, click here.

Group of hookah bases, lidded bowl, and brass stem cup from Indian Decorative Arts and Paintings from Private Collections online catalog

Francesca Galloway is pleased to release their newest online catalog, Indian Decorative Arts and Paintings from Private Collections.

With forty years of experience and expertise, today Francesca Galloway is known as one of the foremost galleries dealing in Indian painting and courtly arts. Combining a personal approach with a global outlook, they regularly exhibit internationally. Collaborating with the leading scholars in this field, their catalogs and publications are reference works in their own right, helping to advance the research and visibility of this fascinating and important subject.

To view their newest catalog, click here

Bingyi (b.1975, Beijing), Taihang Rhapsody 太行赋, 2022-2023, ink on paper 纸本水墨, 370 x 1200 cm; Courtesy INKstudio

Bingyi: The Eyes of Chaos
November 18, 2023 – February 25, 2024
Opening: Saturday, Nov 18 from 4:00 – 6:00 pm

INKstudio is proud to announce the opening of Bingyi’s third solo exhibition with the gallery entitled Bingyi: The Eyes of Chaos. As an artist, architectural designer, curator, cultural critic, and social activist, Bingyi has developed a multi-faceted practice that encompasses land-and-environmental art, site-specific architectural installation, musical and literary composition, ink painting, performance art, and filmmaking.

In The Eyes of Chaos, INKstudio will debut Bingyi’s latest grand, speculative narrative about Art and its relationship to Nature, Literature, History and Politics as retold or reimagined from a woman’s point of view.

To learn more, click here.

Persimmons (detail), 13th century, attributed to Muqi (Chinese, active mid to late 13th century). China; Southern Song Dynasty. Ink on paper. Lent by Ryokoin Temple. Photo by Okada Ai, courtesy of the Kyoto National Museum.

The Heart of Zen
November 17, 2023 – December 31, 2023

The Heart of Zen features two extraordinary ink paintings, Persimmons (popularly known as Six Persimmons) and Chestnuts, on view in the United States for the first time. Attributed to the 13th-century monk Muqi, these exquisitely subtle compositions were painted in China and then crossed the ocean to Japan, where they have been designated Important Cultural Properties and treasured for centuries at Daitokuji Ryokoin Zen temple in Kyoto.

Please note that Six Persimmons and Chestnuts will be displayed individually, one at a time, for only three weeks each. Six Persimmons will be displayed Nov. 17–Dec. 10, while Chestnuts will be displayed Dec. 8–Dec. 31. Both works will be briefly on view together Dec. 8–Dec. 10. Space is limited, and entry into this special exhibition is on a first come, first serve basis.

To learn more, click here.

Ruth Asawa, (1926–2013), Untitled  (S.272, Hanging Seven-Lobed Continuous Interlocking Form with Spheres in Two Lobes) (detail), approx. 1954, copper and iron wire; © 2023 Ruth Asawa Lanier, Inc./Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Photograph by Dan Bradica, courtesy David Zwirner.

Ruth Asawa: Untitled (S.272)
November 17, 2023 – February 24, 2025

An iconic work by a beloved and influential Bay Area artist, Untitled (S.272) is a nine-foot-tall hanging sculpture composed of looped copper and iron wire, created in the mid-1950s by Ruth Asawa. This second installation in the Fang Family Launchpad is a masterful example of the suspended, abstract works of looped wire for which Asawa is best known. Its airy interior and exterior spaces flow seamlessly into one another, using organic lines that evoke shapes found in nature — including the human body — while also suggesting a gently undulating movement.

To learn more, click here.

Konno Tomoko (b. 1967), Creature, 2010, stoneware with nerikomi, h. 21 5/8 x w. 20 1/2 x d. 10 5/8 in. (55 x 52 x 27 cm)

Contemporary Japanese Ceramics as Statement
November 15 – December 6, 2023
By appointment only
Opening Reception: Tuesday, December 5, 6–8pm

Onishi Gallery is pleased to be presenting Contemporary Japanese Ceramics as Statement, featuring Konno Tomoko, Suzuki Miki and Ohi Toshio Chozaemon XI whose works are treated as artfully designed sculptures that make a statement and engage in meaningful dialogue with the interior of a home. The work of Konno Tomoko will be part of Radical Clay: Contemporary Women Artists from Japan, which will be held at the Art Institute of Chicago opening on December 16, 2023. The works in the museum exhibition come from the Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz Collection.

To learn more, click here.

Qian Du, Resting on a Rock and Gazing Clouds 憩石望雲, ink and color on paper, fan leaf, framed

Whispers of Elegance 轻闻风雅
Closes on November 18, 2023

Fu Qiumeng Fine Art’s Fall exhibition, Whispers of Elegance, shines a spotlight on the art of Chinese fans. Curated by Xian Fang, the former Head of Sales and Vice President at Sotheby’s New York Classical Chinese Paintings department, this enchanting group of folding fans showcases the art’s evolution with a discerning selection that spans from the Qing Dynasty luminaries such as Wang Yuanqi (1642-1715) and Huang Yi (1744-1802), progressing to modern masters like Qi Baishi (1864-1957) and Xiao Xun (1883-1944), and onto contemporaries like Ding Yanyong (1902-1978) and Wang Jiqian (C. C. Wang, 1907-2003).

A particularly wonderful group of folding fans from the Republic era showcases joint creations by literati artists, such as Zhang Daqian (Chang Dai-Chien, 1899-1983), Pu Ru (1896-1963), Tao Lengyue (1895-1985), and Wang Fu’an (1879-1960), among many others. This selection offers profound insights into the transformative interpretations, dialogues, and collaborations of traditional Chinese visual culture, deeply influenced by the vibrant intellectual and artistic movements of early 20th-century China.

To learn more, click here.

The Thousand Buddha Hall and the Pagoda of the “Cloudy Cliff” Monastery, from Twelve Views of Tiger Hill, Suzhou, after 1490. Shen Zhou (Chinese, 1427–1509). Album leaf; ink on paper or ink and slight color on paper; image: 31.1 x 41 cm (12 1/4 x 16 1/8 in.); overall: 36.5 x 49.9 cm (14 3/8 x 19 5/8 in.). Courtesy The Cleveland Museum of Art, Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1964.371.7

From a Land of Pestilential Vapors to Paradise on Earth: An introduction to Treasures from the Yangzi Delta at the Cleveland Museum of Art
Tuesday, November 14 at 5pm EST
Zoom Webinar

Join AWNY, in collaboration with The Cleveland Museum of Art, for the fascinating webinar, From a Land of Pestilential Vapors to Paradise on Earth, featuring guest speaker Dr. Clarissa Von Spee, the James and Donna Reid Curator of Chinese Art and Interim Curator of Islamic Art, Chair of Asian Art. Dr. von Spee will discuss her exhibition, China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta currently on view at the museum through January 7, 2024.

Curated by Dr. von Spee, this is the first exhibition in the West to focus on the artistic production and cultural impact of a region called Jiangnan, located in the coastal area south of the Yangzi River. Dr. von Spee will explore how this region gained a leading role in China’s artistic production and how it succeeded in setting cultural standards and will present works of art from private and public collections and museums in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan. Jiangnan has throughout large parts of its history been one of the wealthiest, most populous, and most fertile lands. For millennia, it has been an area of rich agriculture, extensive trade, and influential artistic production. Art from Jiangnan—home to such great cities as Hangzhou, Suzhou, and Nanjing, as well as to hilly picturesque landscapes interspersed with rivers and lakes—has defined the image of traditional China for the world.

SPEAKER: Dr. Clarissa von Spee, the James and Donna Reid Curator of Chinese Art and Interim Curator of Islamic Art, Chair of Asian Art, Cleveland Museum of Art

MODERATOR: Dessa Goddard, Vice-President, US Head of the Asian Art Group at Bonhams and former Chairman of Asia Week New York.

To register, click here.

Participant’s Biographies:

Dr. Clarissa von Spee brings more than a decade of museum experience to the Cleveland Museum of Art. From 2008 until 2016, von Spee served as curator of the Chinese and Central Asian Collections, Department of Asia, at the British Museum in London. She organized exhibitions including The Printed Image in China from the 8th to the 21st Centuries (2010); Modern Chinese Ink Paintings (2012); and Gems of Chinese Painting: A Voyage along the Yangzi River (2014).

Dessa Goddard is the Vice-President, US Head of the Asian Art Group at Bonhams and former Chairman of Asia Week New York. She oversees all company specialists and consultants in the fields of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Himalayan, Indian and Southeast Asian Art in North America at Bonhams and is the Senior North American Chinese Specialist in charge of acquiring consignments for the company’s auctions in New York, Los Angeles, and Hong Kong.

Gourd-shaped ewer decorated with waterfowl and reeds, early 12th century, stoneware with carved and incised design under celadon glaze, h. 10 1/2 in.(26.7 cm); w. 7 7/8 in. (20 cm), Fletcher Fund, 1927; Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Check out the events happening this week at The Met and Charles B. Wang Center.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Lineages: Korean Art at The Met
November 7, 2023 – October 20, 2024

In celebration of the twenty-fifth anniversary of The Met’s Arts of Korea gallery, their new exhibition, Lineages: Korean Art at The Met, opens today highlighting the Museum’s collection paired with important international loans of Korean modern and contemporary art. This juxtaposition of historic and contemporary artworks—from twelfth- and thirteenth-century celadons to futuristic cyborg sculptures made in the 2000s—displays the history of Korean art in broad strokes through four intertwined themes—lines, people, places, and things. Featuring thirty objects, this exhibition fosters a dialogue of ideas that have resonated across time and bound artists together.

To learn more, click here.

Charles B. Wang Center Events This Week

Guided Gallery Tour by Sungsook Hong Setton
Wednesday, November 8, 2023 from 12:00–12:30pm
Learn more about the world of contemporary ink painting in this free guided gallery tour of their featured exhibition, Park Dae Sung: Ink Reimagined, hosted by acclaimed local ink painter Sungsook Hong Setton.

Lecture and Book Signing: Photography and Korea
Thursday, November 9, 2023 from 1:00–2:00pm
Dr. Jeehey Kim, a historian of photography, will present an enthralling lecture on her newly published book Photography and Korea and recount the historical development of Korean photography, its milestones, and its key figures.

The Art of Ink: Line Drawing Workshop
Friday, November 10, 2023 from 2:00–4:00pm
Limited to 30 people; Advance reservation is required
Join in this immersive, hands-on experience and explore the versatility of line-drawing techniques using the timeless medium of ink with New York–based calligrapher Aram Yoo Sung Lee. All skill levels welcome.

To learn more and sign up, click here.