ASIA WEEK

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.

Chin Too family with unidentified Chinese consular official, unknown location in Rhode Island (private collection)

The Preservation Society of Newport County Fall Lecture Series
Exclusion, Rhode Island, Kinship: Making Your Own Chinese Family
Thursday, November 9, 2023
6:00pm – 7:00pm EDT
Live at Rosecliff and via Zoom Video Conference

In conjunction with The Celestial City: Newport and China exhibit at Rosecliff, this Fall Lecture Series explores different aspects of the Chinese-American experience and the many ways life in Newport and America was influenced and enriched by people of Chinese heritage.

This last lecture of the series invites Dr. John Eng-Wong, Visiting Scholar in American Studies at Brown University, to speak about the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the first time that people of a specific heritage were banned from immigrating into America. He will discuss how laws and social practices impacted Chinese family formation and reunification during this period and beyond. Drawing from adoption archives, Chinese Exclusion era documents, memoirs, articles and interviews with descendants, Dr. Eng-Wong will describe how exclusion unfolded in Rhode Island and illustrate how several Chinese-descent families from Providence and Newport negotiated these impacts. Almost everyone begins in a family. These chronicles explore the complications when the road forward from birth is disrupted, or not.

To learn more and register, click here.

Chinese Painted Pottery Equestrian Figure, Northern Wei Dynasty, AD 86-535, H:10 ¾ inches (27.3 cm)

Delaware Antiques Show
Chase Center on the Riverfront, Wilmington
Booth, No. 31

Dates and Hours:
Gala Preview Party: November 9 from 5-9pm
Public Dates: November 10-12, 2023
Hours: Friday and Saturday 11am-6pm; Sunday 11am-5pm

Ralph M. Chait Galleries is delighted to exhibit at this year’s Delaware Antiques Show as it celebrates its 60th Anniversary. They will bring a wonderful variety of fine Chinese porcelain, works of art, and export silver. Be sure to visit them at Booth, No. 31 located near the center of the main exhibition room.

To learn more, click here.

Portrait of Calligrapher Weng Dehong (翁德洪像) (detail), 1639; Zeng Jing (Chinese, c. 1564–1647), landscape by Cao Xizhi (Chinese, active 1600s), inscribed by Jin Ye (Chinese, active 1600s); Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper; painting: 118.7 x 41.3 cm; University of California, Berkeley Art Museum of Pacific Film Archive; Museum purchase, 1967.22

In conjunction with the recently opened exhibition, China’s Southern Paradise: Treasures from the Lower Yangzi Delta, the Cleveland Museum of Art presents a weekend of insightful events focusing on the artistic and cultural role of the Jiangnan region in China and beyond.

Symposium: Jiangnan—Objects in Focus
Saturday, November 4, 2023
10:00 am–6:00 pm

Jiangnan—Objects in Focus is an international one-day symposium featuring 15 scholars from the United States, Asia, and Europe, who will each give a talk spotlighting one exhibit in their respective area of expertise. The goal of the symposium is to discuss highlights of the exhibition and foster a better understanding of the Jiangnan region and its artistic and cultural role in China and beyond.

To view the full schedule and register for free tickets, click here.

Lecture: “Heaven Is High and the Emperor Is Far Away”: Jiangnan in Ming-Dynasty China
Sunday, November 5, 2023
2:00 pm

Although the Jiangnan region of China, meaning “south of the Yangtze,” was the site of the first Ming dynasty capital, the court relocated to the north of China half a century after the dynasty’s founding. From this time, emperors and their immediate families were largely absent from the culture of this prosperous and vibrant heartland. But many ties still linked the culture of Jiangnan’s “Southern Paradise” and that of the Ming court. This lecture focuses on what artworks, as well as literature, can tell us about the often-fraught relationship between Jiangnan, its people, and their distant rulers in the north.

To learn more and register for free tickets, click here.

(L-R): Honda Syoryu, Aurora II, 2023, madake bamboo, rattan, 8.75 x 12 x 10 in.; Shono Tokuzo, Setting Sun, 2023, madake bamboo, rattan, 36 x 29 x  25 in.; Kawano Shoko, Red Sky on the Morning of New Year’s Day, 2022, madake bamboo, rattan, 8 x 16.5 x 16.25 in.; Courtesy TAI Modern

A selection of new bamboo pieces has just arrived at TAI Modern by artists Honda Syoryu, Shono Tokuzo and Kawano Shoko.

Honda Syoryu began his career studying bamboo basket making for flower arranging but the limitations of this centuries-old genre constrained his creativity. He takes what are deceptively simple techniques, such as plait weaving and twining, and turns them into beautiful expressions of playfulness and agility. The sculptural form of Honda’s Aurora II is reminiscent of fabric folding, showing his mastery of organic movement in abstract shape.

Shono Tokuzo is meticulous in his artistic process and prefers to prepare the bamboo entirely by himself in order to have greater control over the medium. The bamboo is cut in the winter from a mountain grove and processed traditionally. He then lets the culms dry standing up for 100 days. Thus, the process of removing the oil and sugar through heat leaching is easier. The bamboo then goes into a special hot chamber and dries for another 20 days which gives it its final ivory color and luster. Finally, it is ready to be cut and prepared to be used in Shono’s works.

Kawano Shoko has exquisitely balanced his basket, Red Sky on the Morning of New Year’s Day, with an open ajiro technique for the inner wall with a line construction for the outer wall. Kawano says “I try to express my creativity mostly within the vessel form. However, I think sculpturally. My consciousness moves from lines to planes, from planes to three-dimensional forms, and from three-dimensional forms to space.”

To learn more, click here.

Maeda Masahiro (b. 1948), Faceted waterjar decorated with owl-motif panels, 1980, iro-e porcelain, lacquer lid, 5 7/8 x 6 1/4 x 6 1/4 in.; Photo by Noda Kōichi; Courtesy of Joan B Mirviss LTD.

Playing with Pattern: MAEDA MASAHIRO
Retrospective of an Iro-e Master
November 2–December 15, 2023
Opening Reception with the Artist: Thursday, November 2

Avidly collected in Japan for decades, this artist-curated exhibition at Joan B Mirviss LTD marks Maeda Masahiro’s first retrospective show outside of Japan. Playing with Pattern brings together major works from each stage of his career. Though his style has undergone transformations over the years, Maeda’s artistry is rooted in a unique layering of decorations, often utilizing a remarkable range of colors and motifs that are accentuated in gold and silver. Working steadily for over fifty years, Maeda is renowned for his skills in iro-e, an overglaze enamel technique that traces its roots to the vibrant Japanese polychrome porcelain ware of the seventeenth century. By combining his technical expertise with exuberant patterning, Maeda Masahiro is a modern master committed to enlivening tradition while occasionally imbuing it with wry humor.

Artist Maeda Masahiro will be present for the exhibition opening. Please email the gallery for more information.

To learn more about this upcoming exhibition, click here.

Munakata Shiko, Rahula (Ragora), from the series Two Bodhisattva and Ten Great Disciples of Sakyamuni (Nibosatsu Shaka judai deshi), 1939/68; Courtesy Art Institute Chicago

Art Institute Chicago
Munakata Shikō and Buddhism in 20th-Century Japanese Prints
October 21, 2023 – January 7, 2024

In Japan, printing and Buddhism have long been closely linked. The earliest surviving prints date back to the 8th century; these were sacred texts that were placed within small wooden pagodas. Japanese printmakers continued to develop related imagery even after developing commercial forms of their work in the 17th century. Over the past 100 years, artists’ prints have become a significant way for individuals to express their beliefs by depicting Buddha, bodhisattvas, and other deities of the Buddhist pantheon. Foremost among 20th-century artists who drew upon Buddhist iconography for their subjects is Munakata Shikō, whose 25 prints are presented in this exhibition.

To learn more, click here.

Lai’an (Chinese, approx. 1250–1350), Fish and Waterweed, approx. 1300, Yuan dynasty (1271–1368), pair of hanging scrolls; ink on paper; Gift of the Tang Foundation; Courtesy Asian Art Museum

Asian Art Museum
Deities, Paragons, and Legends: Storytelling in Chinese Pictorial Arts
October 13, 2023 – July 8, 2024

This selection of paintings, textiles, and lacquerware illustrates well-known historical stories and love romances, tales of popular deities and heroic figures, and anecdotes of filial sons and celebrated scholars in Chinese art. For centuries, these fascinating images and their inscriptions were used to inform, entertain, and instruct various audiences, whether for religious persuasion, social engagement, cultural statement, or moral teaching. A showcase of these narrative or figural images in various mediums illuminates the deeply rooted visual cultural tradition that has existed in Chinese society across dynasties.

To learn more, click here. 

Sonam Dolma Brauen (Swiss, born in Tibet, 1953), My Father’s Death, 2010 (detail), cloth and plaster, 49 cast-off monk’s robes, 2 vests, and 9 molded plaster tsa tsa, dimensions variable; Photo by Martin Brauen; Courtesy The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art
Sonam Dolma Brauen, My Father’s Death
October 28, 2023 – November 11, 2024

Personal biographies, political histories, and Tibetan Buddhist beliefs and practices inform Sonam Dolma Brauen’s sculpture My Father’s Death (2010). Born in 1953 in Tibet, Sonam and her family fled their homeland when she was a child. Assembled with robes donated by Tibetan monks and tsa tsas, molded objects used as votive offerings, My Father’s Death commemorates Sonam’s own father, Tsering Dhondup, who died a few years after the family came to India as refugees. The exhibition pairs Sonam’s work with Buddhist sculptures from Nepal and Tibet, offering visitors the opportunity to contemplate how concepts of consecration, relics, and commemoration are explored in Buddhist art and ritual practices across time.

To learn more, click here. 

Kyungah Ham (b. 1966), What you see is the unseen / Chandeliers for Five Cities (detail), 2015; Photo by Hyunsoo Kim; Courtesy Philadelphia Museum of Art

Philadelphia Museum of Art
The Shape of Time: Korean Art after 1989
October 21, 2023 – February 11, 2024

Through the lens of 28 Korean artists, all born between 1960 and 1986, The Shape of Time: Korean Art after 1989 focuses on South Korea’s growing influence on the world stage and how the country continues to grapple with its past. The artists bend time—addressing the past, present, and future, sometimes all in the same work—and place to make sense of their complex cultural experiences. They reflect on the rapid urbanization and industrialization that shaped South Korea, unresolved political tensions with North Korea, the use of traditional techniques in contemporary art, the pressure to conform to societal norms around gender and sexuality, and their own resistance to these experiences. Many of the artists are well known in South Korea or have an international following, but others have not yet been properly introduced to audiences beyond Korea, especially in American museums, until now.

To learn more, click here.