Celebrating Asian Art

January 6-July 29, 2023
Beginning in the 400s C.E., Chinese painters used qinglü, a palette of blues and greens, to depict paradise or fantastical places. These pigments came from minerals and botanic materials, which had medicinal properties. Therefore, the colors connected ideas of health, healing, and longevity to the scenes of paradise. Artists originally used this palette to depict Buddhist and Daoist paradises.

In the 700s C.E., painters expanded this tradition beyond religious connotations. Some used blue and green to portray tranquil retreats where a hermit might escape the chaotic world. Others favored blue and green to illustrate well-known stories or enhance dramatic scenes.

The paintings and objects dating from the 1200s to 1800s in this exhibition, organized by the Nelson-Atkins, exemplify the enduring tradition of blue and green landscape painting. The colorful landscape paintings span many contexts, showing how a visual vocabulary can be created, built upon, and transformed.

May 21, 2022-May 28, 2023
Thrones communicate the authority and grandeur of their owners. Created in the early 1900s while India was under British colonial rule, these silver thrones and their regalia reveal complex histories of cultural exchange and the representation of political power. In 1911 the Maharawal (ruler) of Dungarpur, a small kingdom in the western state of Rajasthan, commissioned these European-style objects for use in a new royal palace. 1911 was also the year of the British King George V’s coronation as Emperor of India, an event celebrated by a grand Durbar (court assembly) and King-Emperor’s tour of India. Given the date, the thrones were likely created to receive dignitaries in Dungarpur during this year of tours and celebrations. A former Dungarpur king brought the thrones to Europe in 1969 and the Nelson-Atkins acquired them in 2013. Since then, the museum, with local and international partners, restored these objects, using a combination of advanced technologies and traditional Indian art forms to give a sense of their original appearance.

October 8, 2022 - August 20, 2023
We often hear of the risks of losing meaning in translation. But visual artists are skilled at converting ideas and questions into art. Found in Translation: Explorations by 8 Contemporary Artists reveals the richness and nuance that can be discovered through this process of change and transformation.

The art in Found in Translation is informed but not defined by artists’ individual experiences with immigration from places across Asia to the Kansas City region. It reflects their perspectives on the world and their places in it, shaped through a range of styles and media. These eight artists use their practices to explore evolving personal questions tied to place, memory, relationships, and other complex topics.

Found in Translation is the second exhibition in the Nelson-Atkins initiative KC Art Now, which celebrates the talent of local artists.

ARTISTS:
Heinrich Toh (born Singapore)
Hong Chun Zhang (born Shenyang, China)
Hye Young Shin (born South Korea)
Kathy Liao (Taiwanese American)
Noriko Ebersole (born Gumma Prefecture, Japan)
Priya Suresh Kambli (born Solapur, India)
Shreepad Narayan Joglekar (born Mumbai, India)
Yoonmi Nam (born Seoul, South Korea)

PROGRAMS:

Artist Hours:
In-person event, Friday, March 10, 2023, 5:30–7:30pm

Studio Visit Day
In person event, Saturday, April 22, 2023, 1-5pm

Read more, click here