Sneak Peek—From the Lab: Pigments in Chinese Painting
National Museum of Asian Art, Smithsonian Institution
Online event, February 14, 2023, 12pm (EST)

Pigments in the Chinese palette for paintings on silk and paper from the Song dynasty (960–1279) through the early twentieth century were identified in a study of over two hundred paintings from the National Museum of Asian Art’s collections. Detailed studies of both scholar-paintings and portraits revealed that the introduction of new imported pigments such as Prussian blue, invented in Germany in 1704, and cochineal, an insect dye from the Americas, occurred primarily in the products of professional painters. In this talk, senior scientist Blythe McCarthy will discuss the research on Chinese paintings in the context of the museum’s past, present, and future scientific studies of pigments. This multiyear scientific research project was partially funded through grants from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the Foundation for Advancement in Conservation. The results of the research are available in the book Scientific Studies of Pigments in Chinese Paintings.

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L-R: Shimaoka Tatsuzō (1919-2007), Iron Fish Trailed on Rope Impressed Inlay, Heisei period, 1990s, stoneware, Dai Ichi Arts, LTD; Oshiyama Motoko (born 1957), Kakuhanmon Vase “Shunen” (Spring Festival), 2022, silver, brass, shakudo and copper; Wada Morihiro (1944-2008), Kakugenki (Brilliance and Mystery Vessel), 1997, glazed stoneware, Joan B Mirviss LTD; and Teramasu Ikeda (born 1987), Tea Caddy Winter Wind, 2022, lacquer (urushi, wood, abalone shell), Ippodo Gallery

Four Asia Week New York dealers are preparing exhibitions of innovative and stunning artworks by Japanese contemporary artists in ceramic, metal, and lacquer.

Dai Ichi Arts, LTD
Intangible Heritage: The Art of Japan's Living National Treasures
March 1-31, 2023
Opening reception: Thursday, March 16
18 East 64th Street, Suite 1F
Dai Ichi Arts is delighted to present an exhibition of the exceptional works of Japan’s ceramic Living National Treasures, on the occasion of March Asia Week 2023. The exhibition showcases the masters of a range of ceramic techniques from porcelain to stoneware; from celadon to iron glazes. These sublime artworks take the potential of ceramics art to new heights.

Ippodo Gallery
Terumasa Ikeda: Iridescent Lacquer
March 16-April 16, 2023
Opening reception March 16, 6-8pm
32 East 67th Street, 3rd Floor
Ippodo Gallery New York illuminates a modern lacquer technique that disrupts preconceived notions of the raden (mother-of-pearl inlay) tradition. Terumasa Ikeda: Iridescent Lacquer showcases Terumasa Ikeda’s revolutionary laser-incised raden technique, a method the artist spent eight years developing. Ikeda was born and resides in Kanazawa, known as the country’s preeminent hub for lacquerware production. Arabic numerals, computer screens, and digital signals—all assembled from abalone shell—adorn the twenty object boxes, tea caddies, and incense containers.

Joan B Mirviss LTD
Painted Clay: Wada Morihiro and Modern Ceramics of Japan
March 16-24, 2023
39 East 78th Street, Suite 401
Standing at the center of a long tradition of ceramic surface decoration is Japanese artist Wada Morihiro (1944-2008), a revered master of intricate surface patterning. For Asia Week New York, Joan B Mirviss LTD is thrilled to present an exhibition of this past master’s oeuvre alongside the many Japanese artists who paint on clay, employing a wide range of techniques. These works by Wada’s predecessors and successors will stand in conversation with those by Wada. A fully illustrated catalogue with relevant essays will accompany the exhibition and will be available online.

Onishi Gallery
Heated Colors, Hammered Forms: Female Metal Artists of Japan
March 16-24, 2023
Opening reception: Thursday, March 16, 5-8pm
521 W. 26th Street
Onishi Gallery is proud to feature the best of Japanese metalwork and represents many of its leading contemporary practitioners, including nine who have been designated Living National Treasures. The March exhibition, Heated Colors, Hammered Forms: Female Metal Artists of Japan, turns the spotlight on the contribution made by women to the revival of this demanding art form, highlighting seven female artists who are distinct in their personal modes of expression, but united in their embrace and adaptation of traditional methods.

Debasish Mukherjee, Floating Nights (set of 4), 2023, acrylic on wood, 45 x 40.5 in.

This week Akar Prakar opened two new exhibitions in New Delhi with innovative artworks by two important contemporary Indian artists.

Debasish Mukherjee: Whispering Lanes
February 18-March 17, 2023
Akar Prakar New Delhi
Curated by Siddhi Shailendra

The concept of spaces is often defined by the lines and limitations placed in a three-dimensional area, but what these primary geometrical definitions neglect to take into consideration is our inhabitation of these spaces. The weight of our experiences and memories within the walls of one’s home or the street crossed too often are woven into the fabric of the place. In his latest solo exhibition, artist Debasish Mukherjee (born 1973) makes use of these limitations, the elemental aspects of the spaces, the line, the architecture and the everyday objects to create visual metaphors in an effort to uncover the dormant stories of his past.

An aesthetic that combines the language of abstract expressionism and structural minimalism, Mukherjee experiments with the medium of sculptural installations, paintings, and textile-based works employing a purposefully limited color palette. The silhouettes of the ghats, the lanes, the structures, and the steps take on the manifestation of the city of Benares, a place that is his muse and a mystery yet to be solved. Having spent years of his childhood at his maternal grandmother’s house in Benares and then again as a student of painting at the Banaras Hindu University, he spent some of the most formative years of his life in the city.

A remembrance of the days gone by and the reality of its present, the essence of the city forms the premise of the suite of works displayed in this exhibition. With a history of countless cycles of destruction and revival at the center of its past, the works like Monsoon Fables and Pakka Mahal are a reference to the recurring historical and current displacement and resettlement of the populace. The carved-out bricks and grids of sites and lands, within the motif of the almirah wide open and submerged, connotes the idea of unlocking our memories of the familiar places of the past.

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Jayashree Chakravarty, Rajbari (detail), 2004-2022, oil, acrylic, cotton, tea stain, grass, seeds, roots, jute, synthetic glue on canvas, 42 x 192 in.

Jayashree Chakravarty
India Art Fair 2023
Booth A4
at NSIC Ground Okhla, New Delhi

Jayashree Chakravarty (born 1956) is a Kolkata based Indian visual artist, working with the medium of paintings, and large-scale installations of paper with mixed media. Rooted in the themes of ecology and nature, her works often include organic materials such as grass, roots, leaves and seeds with paper.

“The Worlds of Bernice Bing”: Film Screening and Panel Discussion
Asian Art Museum, San Francisco
In person program, February 11, 2pm

An exploration of Bernice Bing’s art, life, and enduring legacy, featuring some of the Bay Area’s most accomplished Asian American women artists and activists.

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Kyohei Inukai (1913-1985), Striped Cat with Purple Background, circa 1978-1984, watercolor painting with charcoal and pastel, 13 5/8 x 11 in. (34.5 x 27.9 cm.). Provenance: Estate of Kyohei Inukai

Kyohei Kats: Paintings, Drawings & Woodblock Prints by Kyohei Inukai
Scholten Japanese Art
Online exhibition, February 2023

Scholten Japanese Art is pleased to announce an online exhibition featuring fabulous and feisty felines by the Japanese American artist, Kyohei Inukai (1913-1985).

Born in Chicago in 1913, Kyohei Inukai was the son of the notable Western-style Japanese American painter, Kyohei Inukai (1886-1954). The younger Inukai studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, and The National Academy of Design and The Art Students League in New York. Inukai exhibited his first one-man show at the California Arts Club in 1934, followed by subsequent works exhibited at museums in the United States and in Japan. He was multi-talented artist, actively working as a painter, sculptor, and printmaker. His works are found in the collections of the Albright-Knox Museum in Buffalo, the Portland Art Museum in Oregon, Rose Art Museum in Waltham, Massachusetts, and the Wichita University Museum of Fine Art in Kansas.

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Sun Xun, The Time Vivarium-16, 2014, acrylic and ink on paper mounted to aluminum, Pizzuti Collection

Summoning Memories: Art Beyond Chinese Traditions,
Asia Society Texas
In person event, opening reception, February 10, 2023:
5:30pm Conversation with Artists
6:30–8pm Reception and Gallery Opening

The show highlights work by over 30 contemporary artists of Chinese descent who reinterpret traditions in dynamic and innovative ways.

To celebrate the exhibition, join guest curator Dr. Susan L. Beningson for a conversation with featured artists Zheng Chongbin, Zhang Jian-Jun, Wu Chi-Tsung, Kelly Wang, and Bingyi. Discussing their art on view in the exhibition, the artists will guide the audience through their respective practices and a reflective conversation on the essential themes of Summoning Memories, including how each artist explores, changes, and subverts various aspects of Chinese art historical traditions to forge new artistic ground.

Mayumi Oda, White Tara as Dharma Daughter,

Sarasvati’s Gift: The Art & Life of a Modern Buddhist Revolutionary
Tibet House US
Concludes February 10, 2023

Known as the “Matisse of Japan,” Mayumi Oda is a painter, environmental activist, and Buddhist practitioner whose life reflects both the brilliance and shadows of modernity. Sarasvati’s Gift explores her tremendous artistic talent and inspiration drawn from her Buddhist practice and her commitment to healing the planet.

“Sarasvati’s Gift, Mayumi Oda’s great gift—how wonderful to receive it in this beautiful, heartfelt, honest book. Sarasvati, the goddess of art, the Lady of the River of Beauty, is the cleansing divine flow of the waters of truth and beauty, and she emanates to heal and cleanse our stressed-out lives on our stricken planet through the undaunted art and golden heart of Mayumi Oda.” — Robert A.F. Thurman

Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892), Ichikawa Kodanji in the Rain With Sword in his Teeth, 1860, woodblock print, ôban 36 x 24.7 cm

Los Angeles Fine Print Fair, Egenolf Gallery
In person exhibitions, February 11-12
Pasadena Hilton
168 S. Los Robles Ave, Pasadena

The Los Angeles Fine Print Fair (LAFPF), now in its 34th year, is the longest-running fair focused exclusively on original Fine Art Prints. As the only fair of its kind in Southern California, LAFPF offers collectors a unique opportunity to view thousands of prints and learn from ten of the field's leading experts, all in a relaxed environment.

While at the fair, be sure to visit Egenolf Gallery and view their many new acquisitions.

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Refashion Your Wardrobe with Sky Cubacub, Japan Society
In-person event, February 12 at 2pm
In conjunction with the current exhibition, Refashioning: CFGNY and Wataru Tominaga, Sky Cubacub, founder of Rebirth Garments, will lead an interactive workshop on re-envisioning your wardrobe to make it fully celebrate the intersections of all of your identities. Joining live from their studio in Chicago, Sky will facilitate demonstrations on no-sew, zero-waste methods of draping garments and repurposing fabrics that embrace individuality.

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The Japanese Art Society of America (JASA) hosts an online lecture and a special study trip to Houston this month.

Art Across Borders: Japanese Artists in the United States before World War II
Online program, February 7, 5pm (EST)
Join JASA virtually for a webinar with scholar Ramona Handel-Bajema, author of Art Across Borders: Japanese Artists in the United States before World War II (MerwinAsia Publishers, 2021). She will discuss the wave of Japanese artists who contributed to the establishment of American Modernism, challenged notions of a Japanese aesthetic and flourished in a nation that was at times hostile and other times welcoming. Note: Advance registration is required.

None Whatsoever: Zen Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection
In person trip, February 17-19
On the occasion of the opening of None Whatsoever: Zen Paintings from the Gitter-Yelen Collection at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, join JASA in person for a curated weekend, February 17 to 19, in Houston’s renowned Museum District, focusing on this special exhibition and other key events. Dr. Yukio Lippit, Jeffrey T. Chambers and Andrea Okumura Professor of the History of Art and Architecture at Harvard University, is co-curator of the exhibition with Bradley Bailey, the Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao Curator of Asian Art at the MFAH. Note: Sign up in advance is required.

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