ASIA WEEK

Courtesy China Institute

One-Day Symposium: Forging the Sacred: Imagery, Ritual & Power in Shang–Zhou Bronzes
Saturday, May 24, 2025, 9:30am-5:30pm
Tickets: $25 (Members & Students); $40 (Adult)
40 Rector St, 2nd fl⁠⁠

Held in conjunction with the China Institute Gallery’s exhibition Eternal Offerings: Chinese Ritual Bronzes from the Minneapolis Institute of Art, this one-day symposium brings together leading scholars in art history and archaeology to explore the ceremonial and political dimensions of bronze in the Shang and Zhou dynasties.

Through several presentations, speakers will examine how bronze vessels and images were not only crafted as material objects but also forged as instruments of sacred authority, ancestral communication, and social hierarchy. Topics will include the symbolic language of bronze iconography, the role of bronze in royal legitimation, and new insights from recent archaeological discoveries. Together, these perspectives shed light on how bronze shaped early Chinese ritual practice, political culture, and systems of meaning.

The symposium invites scholars, students, and the public to reflect on the enduring legacy of one of ancient China’s most powerful ceremonial technologies.

To learn more and reserve your tickets, click here.

Portraits of Three Famous Poets: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, Lady Ise, and Ono no Komachi; Tosa Mitsuoki (Japanese, 1617–1691), Tosa Mitsunari (Japanese, 1646–1710), Tosa Mitsutaka (Japanese, 1675–1710), 1691. Triptych of hanging scrolls: ink, color, gold and silver on silk; Image: 39 1/2 × 17 3/8 in. (100.3 × 44.1 cm); Overall with mounting: 73 3/4 × 22 3/8 in. (187.3 × 56.8 cm); Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection, Gift of Mary and Cheney Cowles, 2021; Courtesy The Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Three Perfections: Japanese Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting
Tuesday, May 20, 2025 at 5pm (ET)
Zoom Webinar

The Japanese Art Society of America welcomes members for their upcoming Zoom talk by John T. Carpenter, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese Art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the themes covered in his recently published book The Three Perfections: Japanese Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting, co-authored with Tim T. Zhang, research associate in the Department of Asian Art. This volume accompanies the exhibition, currently on view at The Met, that commemorates the extraordinary gift of more than 300 Japanese paintings and calligraphies from collectors Mary and Cheney Cowles.

The five primary areas addressed in the book include: kana calligraphy of the 11th to 14th centuries; bokuseki, or Zen monks’ calligraphies of medieval times; courtly styles of calligraphy and paintings of the early modern period; Ōbaku Zen calligraphy of the 17th century; and literati painting of the 18th and 19th centuries. By way of background, please see the in-depth interview with Cheney Cowles published in Impressions 41 (2020), “Cheney Cowles: A Seattle Collector Makes a Statement.”

To learn more and register, click here.

Ewer (Brocca) (detail), Medici Porcelain Manufactory, ca. 1575–80. Soft-paste porcelain. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917 (17.190.2046)

Daylong Symposium
Creative Convening—Monstrous Beauty: A Feminist Revision of Chinoiserie
Saturday, May 17, 2025 from 10:30am–4pm
Free with museum admission (kindly register)
The Met Fifth Avenue – The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium

Dive deep into the themes found in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s current exhibition,  Monstrous Beauty: A Feminist Revision of Chinoiserie, through dynamic conversations, presentations, and readings by leading scholars, designers, and writers. Explore how the decorative style of chinoiserie shaped both European women’s identities and racial and cultural stereotypes around Asian women in this critical look at the historical style and its afterlives.

Below is the schedule of events:

10:30 am: Welcome and Introduction
Sarah Lawrence, Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Curator in Charge, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Met
Iris Moon, Associate Curator, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Met

11 am: Reading
Sally Wen Mao, Poet

11:15 am: Session I – Conversation: Chinoiserie’s Contested Histories
David Porter, Professor of English and Comparative Literature, University of Michigan
Michele Matteini, Associate Professor of East Asian Art, Architecture and Visual Culture, New York University
Moderated by Iris Moon, Associate Curator, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Met

12:15 pm: Roundtable Discussion: Why It’s Time to Rethink Chinoiserie—A Critical Look at Interior Design
Michael K. Chen, Principal, Michael K Chen Architecture
Aileen Kwun, Writer, editor, and creative director
Moderated by Dung Ngo, Editor in Chief, AUGUST Journal

1 pm: Break

2 pm: Session II
Artist Conversation: Heidi Lau and Patty Chang
Moderated by Howie Chen, Curator, 80 Washington Square East Gallery, New York University

2:30 pm: Conversation: Beauty Standards and Aesthetics
Alka Menon, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Yale University, and author of Refashioning Race: How Global Cosmetic Surgery Crafts New Beauty Standards
Elise Hu, Journalist, podcaster, entrepreneur, and author of Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital

3:15 pm: Keynote
Anne Anlin Cheng, Professor of English, Princeton University

4 pm: Closing Remarks
Iris Moon, Associate Curator, European Sculpture and Decorative Arts, The Met

To learn more and register, click here.

John Thomson, Portrait of a Woman, albumen silver print, c.1870

Sun and Silver: Early Photographs of China by Lai Fong and John Thomson
Through June 10, 2025
10 West 18th Street, 7th Floor
Open by appointment

The Loewentheil Photography of China Collection is pleased to announce the extended run of Sun and Silver: Early Photographs of China by Lai Fong and John Thomson, now on view through June 10. This landmark exhibition unites masterworks by two towering figures in 19th-century photography of China. Lai Fong, the most celebrated early Chinese photographer, and John Thomson, his prominent foreign contemporary, each played a pivotal role in shaping the early artistic and technical development of photography in China. This major exhibition gives viewers the opportunity to compare and contrast Lai Fong’s expressive artistry and technical ingenuity alongside Thomson’s stylistic virtuosity. This show reveals the intricate and fascinating relationship between the works of these two photographers who crossed paths, competed for patrons, and had a meaningful influence on one another and the art of photography.

Sun and Silver: Early Photographs of China by Lai Fong and John Thomson spans the careers of both artists through the finest examples of vintage prints, all dating to the 1860s and 1870s. It also presents works by other 19th-century photography studios in China that share the themes and subjects of Lai Fong’s and Thomson’s photographs. The exhibition suggests new ways of looking at the origins of photography in China.

This exhibition presents a tiny sliver of the holdings of the Loewentheil Collection, the most important collection of early China photographs in the world.

To learn more and schedule an appointment, click here.

Group of Flower vases by Yanagihara Mutsuo, 2023-24

Breathing Vessels: Contemporary Ceramics by Yanagihara Mutsuo
May 15 – 30, 2025
Open House Weekend: Saturday & Sunday, May 17-18, 11am-5pm
18 East 64th Street, Ste 1F, NYC

Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd. is honored to present a solo exhibition of works by the acclaimed artist Yanagihara Mutsuo, celebrating a career spanning over six decades of contemporary ceramics. To mark this special occasion, they invite you to join them for a celebratory open house weekend, May 17-18. Come experience the remarkable work of Yanagihara Mutsuo and explore the legacy of a true master of ceramic art.

From his Silver Oribe works (Gin Oribe) and his Flower-eating vessels (Kashoku) to his most recent abstraction series titled Exhalation and Inhalation (Kōki kyūki), this exhibition brings together Yanagihara’s ceramic works that explore the visual languages of botany, anthropomorphism, and abstraction with striking clarity.

Yanagihara Mutsuo (b. 1934, Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture) is a pioneering Japanese ceramic artist celebrated for his inventive forms and playful approach to clay. Raised in a family of medical doctors in Kōchi City, his early fascination with botany and the human body later influenced his sculptural ceramics. He studied at Kyoto City University of Arts under modern masters Tomimoto Kenkichi, Kondō Yūzō, and Fujimoto Yoshimichi, graduating in 1960.

Yanagihara’s career has been shaped by his exposure to international influences, particularly during his time in the United States. Teaching at Alfred University and Scripps College in the 1970s introduced him to the American studio craft movement, reinforcing his experimental and conceptual approach to ceramics. Rejecting traditional affiliations, he remained independent, allowing him to develop a unique artistic voice that blends Japanese craftsmanship with modernist and abstract principles. Now at 90, Yanagihara continues to innovate with recent series such as Exhalation and Inhalation (Koki kyūki). Throughout his career, he has embraced the tension between sculpture and function, creating works that are at once playful, imaginative, and rooted in ceramic form and tradition.

They extend their gratitude to Dr. Andreas Marks, curator of Japanese and Korean art and director of the Clark Center at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, for his retrospective article on Yanagihara Mutsuo’s career, which is featured in the accompanying exhibition catalog.

To learn more about the exhibition, click here.

Yui Tsujimura, Natural Ash Glaze Short-Neck Jar 自然釉短頸壺, ceramic, H15 x W17 3/8 x D17 3/8 in (H38 x W44 x D44 cm)

Craft Garden: Landscape of Japanese Art
May 15 – June 28, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 15, 5-8pm
35 N Moore Street, NYC

Ippodo Gallery is pleased to present Craft Garden: Landscape of Japanese Art featuring around twenty living artists who envision the philosophy of the Japanese garden in ceramics, lacquer, bamboo & plant fibers, glass, metal, wood, and painting opening May 15.

The Japanese garden, amongst the pond, trees, rocks, and moss, is a place to discover the fundamental attitude of coexistence between nature and humans. In the face of common natural disasters, this relationship defines the harmonious, yet resilient, Japanese lifestyle. Classical architecture such as the sitting veranda engawa connects inside and outside spaces. There is a closeness to nature; at a low viewing angle, aromas are most fragrant, shadows create beautiful vignettes, and sounds of the river current are peaceful. From this vantage, the sensory experience draws focus to craftsmanship where a glaze holds an entire cosmos.

The passage of time and change of the four seasons transpire with imperfection. A unique character emerges with appreciation for decay, weathering, asymmetry, or the ‘kiln-effect.’ The inextricable link between fine art craft and the garden is articulated as the transient wabi-sabi aesthetic; these artists exemplify this through different approaches.

They welcome you to experience the unique cultural viewpoint of today’s master craftsmanship!

To learn more, click here.

(L): Amulet in the Form of a Seated Figure with Bovine Head, c. 4700–2920 BCE. Northeast China, Neolithic period, probably Hongshan culture (4700–2920 BCE).; (R): Disc (bi) with Imperial Poem in Seal Script (zhuanshu) by the Qianlong Emperor, 1736–95. China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)

Materiality and Mystery in Chinese Art
Saturday, May 10, 2025 from 10am-12pm
John C. and Sally S. Morley Family Foundation Lecture Hall
Free; Ticket required

The Cleveland Museum of Art is delighted to present two compelling programs on May 10, celebrating the richness and depth of Chinese art. The day begins with a morning workshop, Materiality and Mystery in Chinese Art, featuring thought-provoking presentations and discussions led by scholars Dr. Lukas Nickel, Professor of Art History of East Asia at the University of Vienna, and Dr. Jenny F. So, former Senior Curator of Ancient Chinese Art at the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC.

To learn more and register, click here.

Jade: China’s Enduring Obsession
Saturday, May 10, 2025  from 2-3pm
Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Free; Ticket required

In the afternoon, they will  present their annual Distinguished Lecture in Chinese Art, delivered by Dr. Jenny F. So. Her lecture will trace jade’s rise to prominence in Chinese culture—from the mysterious jades buried over 5,000 years ago, to royal burials featuring jade suits and jade-inlaid coffins, to the symbolic jade medals awarded during the 2008 Olympic Games.

To learn more and register, click here.