L-R: Sui-Tang Dynasty White Ware Vase, 6th-7th century, H. 25.6 cm. and Baofeng Junyao Bowl,
Song Dynasty 960-1127, Dia. 19.2 cm., Provenance: ex Hellner Collection, Sweden

The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection of Chinese Ceramics
Zetterquist Galleries
Asia Week New York March 2023

Eric Zetterquist announced that during Asia Week New York this March 2023, his gallery will exhibit and sell the exceptional collection The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection of Chinese Ceramics.

This collection has been quietly and judiciously assembled over the last fifty years, purchased from many of the world’s finest dealers and auctions, with an eye for artistic beauty and excellent quality. The fifty-six pieces offered span one thousand years from the 4th through 14th centuries and include concentrations in white and sancai Tang Dynasty earthen wares, as well as Yue, Yaozhou, Ding, Qingbai, Jun, and Cizhou type wares, with black and brown kilns from Northern and Southern China represented.

This gathering of ceramics has been known to only to a handful of visiting scholars over the years and has rarely been seen in its entirety. This March will offer a rare moment to see this extraordinary collection before it disperses.

Read more, click here

The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection of Classical Chinese Furniture, Ming dynasty huanghuali chair.

Three rare and important Ming dynasty huanghuali chairs are among the star lots of the Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection of Classical Chinese Furniture sale to be offered at Bonhams during Asia Week New York in March 2023. This twenty-lot collection was carefully purchased in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s by the Seattle-based couple known for their recent landmark gift of over 550 Japanese paintings, calligraphy, and ceramics to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, and the Portland Museum of Art.

Mr. Cowles has been collecting Asian Art for over 40 years, since he went to law school in San Francisco, and was encouraged by his aunt, Phoebe McCoy, who was then a docent at the Asian Art Museum. He was inspired to collect Chinese furniture through his trips to the Metropolitan Museum in New York and later the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, where he viewed their fine holdings of classical Chinse furniture. He founded the Crane Gallery in 1975, specializing in Asian Art, which he owned until his retirement in 2016. Over these decades, he and his wife, Mary have enhanced their private collection with superb Japanese paintings, calligraphy and porcelain alongside their passion for Chinese art. They have been active philanthropists and supporters of museums and educational ventures in Asian Art.

Living in Two Times: Photography by Bahman Jalali and Rana Javadi,
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
Concludes January 8

Living in Two Times features the work of Bahman Jalali (1944–2010) and his wife and closest collaborator Rana Javadi (born 1953). Noted for their sharp documentary images and haunting photomontage works, the artists are among the most influential figures in the development of late twentieth-century photography in Iran. Driven by the medium’s powerful—and fragile—relationship to memory, Jalali and Javadi created an unparalleled visual record of a tumultuous period in their homeland.

This exhibition features images by both photographers from the iconic series Days of Blood, Days of Fire, capturing events in Tehran during the 1979 Iranian Revolution, as well as images from Jalali’s Khorramshahr: A City Destroyed and Abadan Fights On, drawn from his years spent on the Iran-Iraq warfront. Throughout his career, Jalali returned continually to his project of observing the changing lives and landscapes of Iran. A third section of the exhibition presents a selection of his images of fishing communities along the northern Persian Gulf. In addition to their documentary projects, Jalali and Javadi preserved early twentieth century archives, which they used as a basis for creating vivid photomontages that explore the role of the medium in documenting history. This will be the first museum retrospective in the United States that offers a glimpse of Jalali’s extensive practice and the first to be presented together with a selection of Javadi’s evocative work from the late 1970s to the present.

Curator-Led Tour—Living in Two Times: Photography by Bahman Jalali and
Rana Javadi
In-person program, January 7, 2-3pm
Meet curator Carol Huh in the galleries for a tour of Living in Two Times: Photography by Bahman Jalali and Rana Javadi. The tour will begin at Arthur M. Sackler gallery at the entrance of the exhibition on level B1.

Read more, click here

Book Launch: Ganesh Haloi: A Rhythm Surfaces in the Mind,
Akar Prakar, New Delhi
January 5, 5:30pm IST

Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, in association with Akar Prakar, invites guests who are in New Delhi to a special book launch. The new publication, Ganesh Haloi: A Rhythm Surfaces in the Mind, is edited by Natasha Ginwala and Jesal Thacker, with contributions by Iftikhar Dadi, Adam Szymczyk, Lawrence Rinder, Soumik Nandy Majumdar, Roobina Karode, Natasha Ginwala, and Jesal Thacker, and published by Akar Prakar and Mapin Publishing. There will also be a Film Screening of A Rhythm Surfaces in the Mind, directed by Nilanjan Paul. After the book launch and screening, a conversation between Adam Szymczyk and Roobina Karode will follow. For those in New Delhi, this engaging event will take place at Kiran Nadar Museum of Art, Saket 145, DLF South Court Mall in New Delhi.

Read more, click here

Chen Duxi (born 1983), Magnolia Delavayi, mineral pigment on silk,59 x 39 3/8 in. (150 x 100 cm.)

Chen Duxi: The Order of Body, Fu Qiumeng Fine Art
January 6-March 4, 2023
Opening reception, January 6, 6-8pm

Beginning on January 6th, Fu Qiumeng Fine Art presents Chinese artist Chen Duxi’s (born 1983, Chengdu) first major solo exhibition in North America. Titled The Order of Body, the exhibition consists of paintings on silk which reveal the artist’s persistent interrogation of time, motion, and objects through a synthesis of Western oil painting and traditional Chinese ink painting. The neo-traditionalist paintings Chen creates can best be located in his ongoing engagement with lines and threads, which seek to express the subtle stability of qi and the concealed shi (momentum) that underlie the observable world. Though his works take classical elements of landscape and figures as stylistic references, Chen does not merely seek to revive antiquity. Rather, he grounds the act of painting in the artist’s embodied relationship with the natural world.

Read more, click here

Huang Shaofen (active 1881-1901), Teaching in Haimen (detail), handscroll, ink and color on paper, Matthew J. Edlund Dongguanlou Collection

Mountains and Painting: An Educational Journey Through Landscape Art,
China Institute
Concludes January 6, 2023

Combining photography of the renowned Chinese mountains with original Qing dynasty (1644-1911) Chinese landscape paintings from U.S. private collections, this showcase spotlights twenty-two works of art by thirteen artists, revealing the importance of mountain culture in Chinese history and art. The assembled works highlights the formats, compositions, techniques, subjects, and aesthetics of Chinese painting. This unique display provides basic knowledge of landscape painting, as well as inspire further interest in the genre and arouse and appreciation of the relationship between man and nature in Chinese culture. The Qing-dynasty artists featured in the exhibition are Dai Mingyue戴明说, Wu Tao吴滔, Huang Yi黄易, Zhang Geng张庚, Gu Linshi顾麟士, Hu Gongshou胡公寿, Dai Xi戴熙，Huang Shaofen黄绍芬, Xiang Kun项坤, Chen Chongguang陈崇光, and an unknown painter.

Read more, click here

Man's Informal Robe, Coromandel Coast, mid-18th century, cotton, plain weave foundation, painted and resist-dyed, Grace R. Smith Textile Endowment, 2016.176

Fabricating Fashion, Art Institute of Chicago
Final day January 2, 2023

Fabricating Fashion celebrates the artistry and rich legacy of an extraordinary range of fabrics for clothing from around the world.

Textiles are fundamental to clothing: they determine a garment’s color and texture and contribute to its silhouette. They have the power to convey messages, from social rank and status to gender to cultural identification, as well as individual preference and taste. Handmade fabrics, in particular, often have special resonance for the wearer as the product of human labor and technical expertise.

The decorative fabrics presented in this exhibition, all part of the museum’s permanent collection, were specifically intended for clothing and meant to be worn in a particular way or made into a certain type of garment. Indeed, some of the works on view are fully realized articles of clothing. They were created by a range of communities and by individuals, both professionally trained and self-taught, who come from a spectrum of economic classes and are often unidentified.

While a number of techniques showcased in this presentation—such as dying, embroidery, printing, and weaving—are practiced globally, other materials and methods are more closely associated with particular cultures: Indian cotton, Chinese silk, French embroidery, West African indigo, among them.

Read more, click here

Tianzhuo Chen, Trance, 2019 (video still), Two single-channel videos with sound (loop) Courtesy of the artist and BANK/MABSOCIETY. Image courtesy of the artist, BANK/MABSOCIETY, and Asia Society Museum, New York

Mirror Image: A Transformation of Chinese Identity
Asia Society New York
Concludes December 31, 2022

This exhibition presents 19 artworks by seven artists, born in mainland China in the 1980s. Belonging to what is referred to as the ba ling hou generation, they grew up in a post-Mao China shaped by the one-child policy and the influx of foreign investment. Comprising painting, sculpture, performance, installation, video, digital art, and photography, the exhibition reflects the dramatic economic, political, and cultural shifts the artists have experienced in China during their lifetimes.

The exhibition’s title, Mirror Image, refers to the double reflection at the heart of the exhibition. Rather than emphasizing their “Chinese-ness,” these artists’ respective practices are born of a contemporary China where Starbucks can be found in the Forbidden City and the internet permits them access—despite the obstacles of censorship—to a host of influences beyond geographical boundaries.

Participating Artists:
Tianzhuo Chen (born 1985 in Beijing, China; lives and works in Beijing)
Cui Jie (born 1983 in Shanghai, China; lives and works in Beijing, China)
Pixy Liao (born 1979 in Shanghai, China; lives and works in Brooklyn, New York)
Liu Shiyuan (born 1985 in Beijing, China; lives and works in Beijing and Copenhagen, Denmark)
Miao Ying (born 1985 in Shanghai, China; lives and works in Shanghai and New York City)
Nabuqi (born 1984 in Inner Mongolia, China; lives and works in Beijing, China)
Tao Hui (born 1987 in Chongqing, China; lives and works in Beijing, China)

Nam June Paik, Li Tai Po, 1987, Ten antique wooden TV cabinets, 1 antique radio cabinet, antique Korean printing block, antique Korean book, 11 color TVs H. 96 x W. 62 x D. 24 in. (243.8 x 157.5 x 61 cm), Duration: Continuous loop, Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Harold and Ruth Newman, 2008.2. Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2014

Visionary Legacies: A Tribute to Harold J. Newman
Concludes December 31, 2022

This exhibition celebrates Hal Newman (1931-2021) who, with his wife Ruth, endowed Asia Society Museum’s Collection of Contemporary Asian Art with a seminal gift of some 30 artworks in 2007. Works by eight artists and one artist collective featured in the exhibition represent Hal’s eye and passion for art that pushes the boundaries in Asian and Asian American contemporary art.

In 2007, Asia Society Museum inaugurated its contemporary art collecting program with a significant gift from Mr. and Mrs. Harold and Ruth Newman. Their largesse provided the means for the Museum to acquire thirty-four objects by twenty-two artists from eight countries—including iconic video works by Cao Fei, Dinh Q. Lê, Yoko Ono, Nam June Paik, Koki Tanaka, and Yang Fudong, among many others—and develop a solid foundation for its contemporary collection. The Newmans’ gift also provided the Museum the opportunity to collect new media artworks at the highest level, following the precedent of connoisseurship set by John D. Rockefeller 3rd’s gift of traditional Asian art to the Museum. In memory of our beloved Trustee and friend, this exhibition serves to celebrate the Newman family’s legacy of commitment to Asia Society with this selection of highlights from the Harold and Ruth Newman New Media Collection, an integral part of the Asia Society Museum Collection. This show is curated by Michelle Yun Mapplethorpe, Vice President for Global Artistic Programs & Asia Society Museum Director.

Cong (Ts'ung) Prismatic Cylinder and Bi disc, Qijia Culture, Late Neolithic Period (2100-1600 BCE), jade

Round Heaven | Square Earth: Ancient Chinese Jade, TAI Modern
Last day—December 30

Chinese cosmology views the world in geometric terms. The Earth was square shaped and the Heavens round. As far back as the Neolithic period (10,000 – 2,000 BCE), Chinese artisans have used these shapes to symbolize their universe, which is most apparent when viewing the jade objects on display in Round Heaven | Square Earth: Ancient Chinese Jade.

The Neolithic Period witnessed stone workers carving jade into beautifully polished objects with possible ritual, symbolic or astronomical functions. As jade is both very tough and harder than steel, it is very durable but difficult to shape and carve. As the Smithsonian’s Freer-Sackler Museum of Asian Art describes it, “Working jade is an extremely laborious process that involves both slicing and removing unwanted stone with powdered abrasive minerals.”

This exhibition primarily highlights two distinct types of ritual jade objects: Bi (pronounced Bee), a thin disc with a hole in the center, and Cong (Tsung), a cylindrical tube encased in a square prism. They clearly had great significance, but despite many theories, the purpose of Bi and Cong remain a mystery.