New York: For centuries people have looked to nature and gardens to provide emotional support, a place to gather to mark important events in their lives, or as an escape from the finite walls of their homes. In The Luxurious Garden and the Gratification of Retreat, a distinguished panel of eminently qualified experts will discuss the origins of these luxurious spaces–designed in the Japanese and Chinese tradition–and their impact on visitors throughout the ages. To reserve a space for this webinar on Thursday, October 28th at 5:00 EST p.m., visit
https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ryptBMSLTveh1HQVAFqK8w
“Who at one time or another hasn’t sought out a garden to provide something that enhances their lives?” asks Andrew Lueck, Specialist, Vice President, Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art at Christie’s, who will moderate the discussion. “Whether it’s a tranquil setting at a museum, such as The Astor Court at The Met; the rolling hills of the Huntington Gardens; the waterfall at the Portland Japanese Garden; a private residential refuge; or in their absence, an evocative Japanese woodblock print of a Zen garden, outdoor settings have been providing us with areas of welcome refuge and retreat for centuries.”
The panel includes:
Phillip E. Bloom, the June and Simon K.C. Li Curator of the Chinese Garden and Director of the Center for East Asian Garden Studies at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens in San Marino, CA. A specialist in the history of Buddhist art, gardens, and designed landscapes of China's Song dynasty (960–1279), he received his Ph.D. in Chinese art history from Harvard University in 2013. Prior to joining The Huntington, he served as assistant professor of East Asian art history at Indiana University, Bloomington, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Tokyo. His exhibition, A Garden of Words: The Calligraphy of Liu Fang Yuan, is currently on display at The Huntington.
Maxwell K. (Mike) Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chairman, Department of Asian Art, began working at the Metropolitan Museum in 1971, helping oversee the expansion of the Met’s collection of Chinese art as well as major additions to its exhibition spaces, including the Astor Chinese Garden Court, the Douglas Dillon Galleries, and the renovated and expanded galleries for Chinese painting and calligraphy.
He has worked on over 50 exhibitions and authored or contributed to numerous catalogues many of which have become essential resources for the study of Chinese art including The Great Bronze Age of China (1980), Splendors of Imperial China: Treasures from the National Palace Museum, Taipei (1996), Along the Riverbank: Chinese Paintings from the C. C. Wang Family Collection (1999), How to Read Chinese Paintings (2008) and Ink Art: Past as Present in Contemporary China (2013). Mike, who received his undergraduate degree in art history from Yale University and his Ph.D. from Princeton, has taught graduate and undergraduate seminars on Chinese painting at Yale, Princeton, Columbia, and the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University. In 2014 he was elected a Fellow in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Marc Peter Keane is a landscape architect, artist and writer based in Kyoto, Japan. His work is deeply informed by Japanese aesthetics and design: simplicity, serendipity, off-balance balance, and natural patinas. Working in situations as diverse as a 350-year-old house in Japan and a contemporary museum in the United States, he designs singular gardens that are both beautiful and contemplative. Keane is also known for his ceramic sculptures and his many books on Japanese gardens and nature including, Japanese Garden Notes, Japanese Tea Gardens, and The Art of Setting Stones.
Andrew M. Lueck has worked in the Asian art auction business for nearly two decades. He is a Specialist, Vice President, in Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art at Christie’s. He resides near San Francisco and works with West Coast collectors and institutions as well as others throughout the country and globe. He has been responsible for bringing to market notable fine Chinese works of art for sale in New York as well as Hong Kong and advises and works with some of the country’s top collectors and institutions.
Since 1999, Katherine Martin has served as the Managing Director of Scholten Japanese Art (SJA), one of New York’s preeminent galleries specializing in Japanese woodblock prints. Prior to her role with Scholten, she was a specialist in the Japanese Department at Sotheby's New York from 1993 to 1999. Ms. Martin frequently advises and lectures for museum and collecting groups and has written several catalogs published by SJA, including the ongoing series focused on woodblock prints, Highlights of Japanese Printmaking, for which the most recent volume, Part Six- The Baron J. Bachofen von Echt Collection of Golden Age Ukiyo-e, was released in March 2020. She has served as an officer for the Ukiyo-e Society of America (renamed the Japanese Art Society of America), and since 2016 has been on the Asian Art Vetting Committee at the prestigious Winter Antique Show in New York. From 2012, Ms. Martin has been active with Asia Week New York, both on the Planning Committee as well as on the Board as the Treasurer, and recently concluded her two-year term as the Chairman from 2019-2021.
Sadafumi (Sada) Uchiyama served as Garden Curator for 2008-2020 and is currently the Chief Curator at the Portland Japanese Garden. Sada is a registered landscape architect and a fourth-generation Japanese gardener from southern Japan. He is devoted to fostering relations between Japanese gardens in Japan and those outside of Japan. He has taught landscape design courses and lectured on Japanese gardening at colleges and public gardens through the United States and Japan. His representative projects include the renovation of the Osaka Garden, the site of the 1893 Great Columbian Exposition at Jackson Park in Chicago, Japanese gardens at the Denver Botanic Gardens, Duke University in NC, and Wellfield Botanic Garden in Indiana.
About Asia Week New York
The collaboration of top-tier international Asian art galleries, the major auction houses-Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle, Heritage Auctions, iGavel, and Sotheby’s–and numerous museums and Asian cultural institutions, Asia Week New York is a week-long celebration filled with simultaneous gallery open houses, Asian art auctions as well as numerous museum exhibitions, lectures, and special events. Participants from the United States and countries abroad unveil an extraordinary selection of museum-quality treasures from China, India, the Himalayas, Southeast Asia, Tibet, Nepal, Japan, and Korea.
Asia Week New York Association, Inc. is a 501(c)(6) non-profit trade membership organization registered with the state of New York. For more information visit www.AsiaWeekNewYork.com @asiaweekny #asiaweekny
About Songtsam, Presenting Sponsor
Continuing as Presenting Sponsor for Asia Week New York is Songtsam Hotels, Resorts & Tours, an award-winning luxury boutique hotel group with thirteen properties (four Linka resort hotels and nine lodges) located in the Chinese provinces of Tibet and Yunnan. Founded by Baima Duoji, in 2000, the hotel group is the only collection of luxury Tibetan-style retreats found across the Tibetan Plateau that strives to preserve and share the cultures and spirituality of its locale, all the while offering guests sophisticated elegance, refined design, modern amenities, and unobtrusive service in places of natural beauty and cultural interest. For information, visit: www.songtsam.com/en
Captions (top to bottom)
*Portland Japanese Garden (Courtesy Portland Japanese Garden)
*Liu Fang Yuan, the Garden of Flowing Fragrance
The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA
Photograph by Phillip E. Bloom, November 2020
*Toshi Yoshida (1911-1995)
Lantern and Maples, 1964
Woodblock print, 9 1/2 by 14 1/8 in.
(Courtesy Scholten Japanese Art)