Brooklyn Museum — “Arts of South Asia and the Islamic World”
200 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, USA
The reopening of the galleries marks the completion of a ten-year project that revamped the museum’s entire floor of Asian art. The South Asia gallery features work spanning 5 millennia, from the Indus Valley to many Hindu objects . The Islamic World gallery presents the extent of Islam’s global reach with works from Asia, Africa, Europe, and North America across 14 centuries.
The Indra and Harry Banga Gallery — “Amber: Baltic Gold”
Lau Ming Wai Academic Building, City University of Hong Kong
The exhibition traces amber’s diffusion across Europe from the Baltic regions to ancient Rome, and then down the Silk Road to China, revealing the remarkable role it played over the last 3,000 years in culture, art, politics and religion. The exhibition presents 240 works from organisations such as the National History Museum of Latvia, the Latvian National Museum of Art, Association Tresors de Ferveur, the Fondation Fourviere–Musee d’art religieux, the Mengdiexuan Collection, the Liang Yi Museum, and others.
Asia Society Texas — “Summoning Memories: Art Beyond Chinese Traditions”
1370 Southmore Blvd, Houston, USA
This group exhibition features 32 artists of Chinese descent working to push the boundaries of tradition across painting, sculpture and photography. The artists develop unique fabrication processes to subvert the visual language and meaning of borrowed imagery from the past in order to respond to current social, political and environmental concerns. Artists include Zhang Jian-Jun and Yang Yongliang, Xu Bing, Kelly Wang, Yun-fei Ji, among others.
The Met — “Learning to Paint in Premodern China”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Galleries 210-216, New York, USA
This exhibition considers the underexplored question of how painters learned their craft in premodern China. Some painters learned at home from family members, others learned from friends. Still others turned to painting manuals, treatises that expanded knowledge of painting to anyone who could buy a woodblock-printed book. The exhibition aims to illuminate these and other pathways to becoming a painter in premodern China.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston — “None Whatsoever: Zen Paintings from the Gitter‐Yelen Collection”
1001 Bissonnet, Houston, USA
This exhibition explores the origins of Zen Buddhism in Japanese painting with masterworks from the renowned holdings of Kurt Gitter and Alice Yelen as well as the MFAH’s collection of modern and contemporary art. With the title taken from a fabled encounter between Bodhidarma and Emperor Wu Liang (r. 502–549), who was told that his good deeds earned “none whatsoever” merit points in the eyes of the Buddha, the exhibition highlights ink paintings and calligraphy by Zen monks.
“Radiance: Ancient Gold from The Hong Kong Palace Museum Collection and the Mengdiexuan Collection”
Hong Kong Palace Museum, 8 Museum Drive, Hong Kong
This exhibition debuts the museum’s new permanent collection of ancient gold artefacts, donated by Betty Lo and Kenneth Chu. On view will be more than 200 sets of ancient golds from the Eurasian Steppe, Tubo Kingdom, and Central Plains, the oldest dating to the 18th century BC.
Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art — “Anyang: China’s Ancient City of Kings”
1050 Independence Ave, Washington, DC, USA
This exhibition spotlights Anyang, China’s ancient capital, the source of China’s earliest surviving written records and the birthplace of Chinese archaeology. It utilises more than 200 artifacts from nearly 100 years of formal Anyang archaeology to examine the evolution of Chinese archaeological practice and the Shang (1250 BC–1050 BC) capital’s material, social and economic culture.
Dai Ichi Arts — “Intangible Heritage: The Art of Japan’s Living National Treasures”
18 East 64th Street, New York, USA
This group exhibition showcases Japan’s ceramic Living National Treasures, and includes the masters of a range of ceramic techniques from porcelain to stoneware, celadon and iron glazes. Among the featured artists is Shimaoka Tatsuzo (1919–2007), known for his unique and personalised blend of Mingei and modern influences which is reflected in this elegant stoneware platter.
Wattis Fine Art Gallery — “Hong Kong Around and About”
20 Hollywood Road, 2/F, Central, Hong Kong
This exhibition showcases a collection of pictures, ephemera and memorabilia of Hong Kong and the surrounding region from 1842 to 1983. Pictured here is an 1847 lithograph painted by hand of the Chinese junk “Keying”, which first appeared in New York on July 13, 1847, 212 days from China, with Captain Kellett. It later sailed to London, where it was displayed publicly at temple-bar pier, Essex St., Strand.
Hong Kong Museum of Art — “Joan Miró: The Poetry of Everyday Life”
10 Salisbury Rd, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
This exhibition presents the works of Spanish master Joan Miró (1893–1983), including paintings, sculptures, drawings, textiles, lithographs, posters and audio-visual materials related to him, many on loan from the Fundació Joan Miró in Barcelona, founded by Miró himself in 1975. Also exhibited are works by Chinese artists of the same period such as Zao Wou-ki and Wu Guanzhong as well as new works by contemporary artists made for the occasion.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston — “Art of the Islamic Worlds”
1001 Bissonnet, Houston, USA
These 6 new, permanent galleries doubles the museum’s space for Islamic art, and presents hundreds of objects from both the MFAH and from the Hossein Afshar Collection of Iranian art, which is on extended loan. Works spanning more than 1000 years include paintings, manuscripts, ceramics, carpets, and metalwork, from present-day Morocco, Spain, Tunisia, Egypt, Türkiye, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
Rossi & Rossi at TEFAF Maastricht 2023
Stand 130, MECC, Maastricht, Netherlands
This presentation includes stone sculptures, bronzes and paintings representing the craftsmanship of Himalayan artists from the steppes of the Tibetan Plateau to the heartland of the Indian subcontinent. A key part are Himalayan sculptures from the late Greek collector Leonidas Goulandris, including a rare 14th century Vasudeva-Kamalaja from Nepal and other stone sculptures. Other highlights include a phylilite sculpture of Avalokiteshvara from the Pala period.
Littleton & Hennessy Asian Art — “Chinese Lacquer and Early & Archaic Bronzes”
Stand 168, MECC, Maastricht, Netherlands
This exhibition showcases works from important private collections, including a group of early and imperial lacquerware previously from The Mike Healy Collection such as a carved red lacquer cup stand, Yongle mark and period. Also on display is a collection of archaic and early Chinese bronzes, including an important pagoda-shaped bronze food vessel, Fang Yi, from the Shang dynasty (11th century B.C.).
The Seattle Art Museum (SAM) — “Ikat: A World of Compelling Cloth”
1300 First Avenue, Seattle, USA
Ikat is known for its jagged or flaming edges that have been adapted in fashion and design in a factory-made, printed form. The exhibition, beginning with a contemporary installation, then presents a tour of ikat textiles from around the world featuring over 100 textiles from the 12th century to the present from the museum’s collection and from the David and Marita Paly Collection. On display are kimonos, furnishings, robes, and other cloths from Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas.
Jorge Welsh Works of Art at TEFAF Maastricht 2023
Stand 208, MECC, Maastricht, Netherlands
The gallery’s expertise is in Chinese porcelain—with an emphasis on export porcelain—and cross-cultural works of art from Africa, India, China, and Japan ranging from the 15th to the 19th century. One highlight of the TEFAF presentation, pictured here, is a Chinese “Bacchus” porcelain dish in underglaze cobalt blue from 1690–1710 of the Kangxi reign.
Vanderven Oriental Art at TEFAF Maastricht 2023
Stand 104, MECC, Maastricht, Netherlands
In celebration of the 55th anniversary of the family run business specialising in Chinese art, the gallery has chosen the theme “Quintessential” to show artworks that reflect the essence of its collection with a varied cross-section of objects that reflect the great diversity of art they deal in, from Chinese ceramics to works of art including (archaic) bronzes, jades, glass, wooden and iron objects.
Orientations Gallery and Oriental Treasure Box Gallery — “Celebrating Japanese Artists and Artworks”
Nippon Gallery, Nippon Club Tower, 145 West 57th Street, New York, USA
This marks the 10th anniversary of this collaborative vetted exhibition at Asia Week New York. The show focuses on the Japanese concept of Kinen (Anniversary and Commemoration), with objects chosen for their depictions of special celebratory events and ritualistic occasions such as cloisonné enamels, metalwork, ceramics, art lacquer, painting, basketry, carving, and textiles. Artists who have won awards from the Meiji Period through today will be featured as well as Imperial Court Artists and Living National Treasures.
Kaikodo LLC — “Safety in Numbers”
Online Exhibition
This exhibition was inspired by a Heian-period image of Sho Kannon from a staggering group created and enshrined in the Kofukuji in Nara and an impressive Ming-dynasty fahua porcelain jar featuring the “Eight Immortals of Daoism.” Others include a Tang white amphora, two stalwart soldiers from the Six Dynasties period, A kosometsuke dish of the early 17th century with incised qilin décor, along with Japanese and Chinese paintings and much more.
Sebastian Izzard LLC Asian Art — “Japanese Paintings and Prints: 1800–1860”
17 East 76th Street, 3rd Floor, New York, USA
Among the works in this exhibition is “South Wind, Clear Dawn“, the iconic woodblock print by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849). The mountain was venerated as a female deity, and members were encouraged to ascend its slopes and enter its caves to engage in religious austerities, so that when they exited, they would be spiritually reborn and purified.
Thomas Murray — “Recent Acquisitions”
Online / New York by appointment (415-378-0716)
This showcase of important textiles includes “Palampore” (18th century), made in India for the Indonesian market and beautifully decorated with mythical lions, large hamsa geese, charming purple and red elephants and Mughal-style flowers. Inspired in part by 17th century Dutch botanicals, no other examples illustrating this very special iconography are known today.
Zetterquist Galleries — “The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection of Chinese Ceramics”
3 East 66th Street, Suite 2B, New York, USA
Assembled over 50 years, the 56 pieces on offer span the 4th–14th centuries, concentrating on white and sancai Sui–Tang Dynasty earthenwares, Yue, Yaozhou, Ding, Qingbai, Jun, as well as Cizhou kiln type wares such as black and brown kilns from Northern and Southern China. Highlights include a Tang white-ware vase, a large Yueyao storage jar, a Junyao brushwasher, a rare carved Yaozhou yuhuchunping, a large carved Qingbai lidded meiping, and a lioness-and-cubs shaped Cizhou pillow.
INKstudio — “Many Splendored Spring”
Ukrainian Institute of America, 02 East 79th Street, New York, USA
This duo-show presents new works by Taiwanese artist Peng Kanglong and Li Jin from Tianjin. Kanglong debuts a new series “Splendid Flowers Valley” (2022), of landscape and flower paintings based on a Northern Song composition rendered with 17th century and Modern era styled brushwork. Li Jin debuts “The Heart Sutra” (2020), documenting his response to self-isolation during China’s Covid-19 lockdowns alongside urban portraits of anonymous Americans from his pre-pandemic excursions to the US.
Joan B Mirviss LTD — “Painted Clay: Wada Morihiro and Modern Ceramics of Japan”
39 East 78th Street, 4th floor, New York, USA
This exhibition showcases Wada Morihiro’s (1944–2008) oeuvre alongside 40 other Japanese artists—both Wada’s predecessors and successors—who paint on clay. Wada is a revered master of intricate surface patterning and stands at the centre of a long tradition of ceramic surface decoration, and the exhibition displays a stunning diversity of his works covering the entire span of his career.
Onishi Gallery — “Heated Colors, Hammered Forms: Female Metal Artists of Japan”
521 West 26th Street, New York, USA
This exhibition highlights the contribution made by women to the revival of the demanding art form of Japanese metalwork, presenting Oshiyama Motoko, Otsuki Masako, Hagino Noriko, and Osumi Yukie, each distinct in their modes of expression but united in their embrace and adaptation of traditional methods. Pictured here is Kakuhanmon Vase “Yunagi” (Evening Calm) (2021) by Oshiyama, who creates swirling, agitated surfaces by welding two or more metals.
Runjeet Singh — “Arms, armour and works of art from all over Asia”
Arader Galleries, 1016 Madison Avenue
This exhibition includes one large and unique 18th century Rajput leather dhal (shield) with silver bosses from Mewar India. The shield’s size is equally matched by its striking depiction in black-and-gold paint of a complex procession which trails busily around the shield’s decorative centre. Other highlights include Sikh art, Indian and Islamic art, and art from the British-Sikh contemporary artist Suman Kaur.
Thomsen Gallery — “Fukami Sueharu”
9 East 63rd St, 2nd Floor, New York, USA
This is a solo show for Kyoto-based artist Fukami Sueharu, who is among the most highly regarded sculptors working in porcelain today. His work is abstract, horizontally or vertically elongated, graceful, and though made of materials from the earth seems impossibly light, such as this illustrated porcelain sculpture made with seihakuji glaze. Fukami’s sculptures are in the collections of over 55 museums world-wide.
TAI Modern — “Historic Works of Japanese Bamboo Art”
Colnaghi, 23 East 67th Street, New York, USA
This exhibition includes diverse works by prestigious bamboo artists, like members of the historic Tanabe family lineage, as well as contemporary masters such as Living National Treasure Fujinuma Noboru, Kawano Shoko, Torii Ippo, and others. One highlight is Isohi Setsuko’s tray, “Home Place” (2019), woven from susutake, a rare, centuries-old smoked bamboo taken from roofs of traditional Japanese homes.
The Met — “Annual Lecture: Fragrant Stories, Buddhist Art in Early India”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue, New York, USA
The Annual Distinguished Lecture on the Arts of South and Southeast Asia will feature John Guy, Florence and Herbert Irving Curator. Guy will explore the lived traditions of early Indian Buddhism as witnessed in the rich archaeological and artistic legacy of the Deccan in south central India, a colourful and fragrant world centered on the art of the stupa (an ancient monumental religious structure) and the veneration of relics.
Christie’s New York
20 Rockefeller Plaza, New York, USA
Christie’s New York celebrates Asian Art Week with 8 auctions, 5 of which are live, beginning with Japanese and Korean Art then followed by Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art and South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art. Next are the sale auctions of J. J. Lally & Co. and two sessions of the Important Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art auction.
Bonhams New York
580 Madison Avenue, New York, USA
Bonhams will present important single owner collections and works of art that hail from across the continent and span centuries, including J. J. Lally & Co.; Fine Chinese Works of Art and The Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection of Classical Chinese Furniture; Chinese Works of Art and Paintings; Fine Chinese Snuff Bottles from American Collections; Indian, Himalayan & Southeast Asian Art; and Fine Japanese and Korean Works of Art.
Alisan Fine Arts — “Ink Alchemy: Beyond Tradition”
21/F, 1 Lyndhurst Tower, Central, Hong Kong
This group exhibition features 15 Chinese artists of different generations and backgrounds to highlight the changes in Chinese ink painting over the last half-century. New works include those created for the exhibition by established artists Zheng Chongbin and Yang Yongliang, and emerging artists Zhang Xiaoli, Cheuk Ka-Wai, Cherie, Kelly Wang and Ren Light Pan.
Art Basel Hong Kong
Convention & Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
The 2023 edition of Art Basel in Hong Kong is the largest show since 2019, and features 177 galleries from 32 countries and territories across Asia, Europe, North and South America, and Africa, plus the return of all the fair’s special sectors, including Encounters, Kabinett, Conversations, and Film. Also included is the sector for monumental works and a new site-specific commission by Pipilotti Rist.
Art Central
Convention & Exhibition Centre, Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Art Central, a cornerstone event of Hong Kong Art Week, showcases the next generation of talent from Asia’s most innovative galleries alongside distinguished artists from around the world. The 8th edition of the fair will be held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre, running alongside Art Basel Hong Kong.
Museum Summit 2023 in Hong Kong by HKSAR Government
Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre
The third edition of the Museum Summit, in partnership with the Gallerie degli Uffizi, Florence, aims to provide a platform for the exchange of experience and innovative ideas on the latest developments of museums worldwide. With a theme of “Between”, Summit 2023 explores cultural exchanges between places, the reinvention of old and new cultural facilities, the connection between museums and their communities, and the online and offline integration made possible by new technologies.
Sotheby’s Hong Kong — “50 Years New in Asia”
Hong Kong
This year marks Sotheby’s 50th anniversary in Asia, a milestone that will be marked by year-long events. The Hong Kong 2023 Spring Sales Series will showcase, among others, important Chinese paintings and works of art including Zhang Daqian’s “Pink Lotuses on Gold Screen“, a Yongle blue and white “dragon” ewer, and a Qianlong falangcai “swallows” bowl whose pair was separated from the present bowl in a 1929 sale and now at the British Museum.
Walters Art Museum — “Across Asia: Arts of Asia and the Islamic World”
600 N. Charles St., Baltimore, USA
The new exhibition displays Asian and Islamic works of art together at the museum, drawing out the artistic connections across these different cultures with over 600 artworks spanning 5,000 years. Works include examples of architecture, calligraphy, ceramics, cloisonné, enamelwork, lacquerware, manuscripts, metalwork, painting, sculpture, and textiles.
British Museum — “The Citi exhibition: China’s hidden century”
The Sainsbury Exhibitions Gallery, Great Russell St, London, UK
Between 1796 and 1912 Qing China endured numerous civil uprisings and foreign wars, with revolution ultimately bringing an end to some 2,000 years of dynastic rule and giving way to a modern Chinese republic. This period of violence and turmoil was also one of extraordinary creativity, driven by political, cultural and technological change. The exhibition is underpinned by a four-year research project supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and led by the British Museum and London University, in collaboration with over 100 scholars from 14 countries.
British Museum — “China’s 1800s: material and visual culture “
BP Lecture Theatre, Great Russell St, London, UK
Discover more about China’s culture in the 1800s, including painting, calligraphy, commerce, fashion, and decorative arts in this two-day conference, which will offer participants a chance to hear from more than 30 speakers about the material and visual culture of the last century of imperial China. In the evening of the first day, there will be a keynote lecture from Susan Naquin, Professor Emerita of History at Princeton University, “Reconsidering China’s 19th Century”. Booking is required.
Art Basel Basel
Messe Basel, Basel, Switzerland
The 2023 edition of Art Basel’s flagship fair in Basel features 285 galleries from 36 countries and territories, plus a participatory, site-specific installation by Latifa Echakhch on the city’s Messeplatz. Among these, 21 galleries join the fair for the first time. On display will be artworks across all media—from painting and sculpture to photography and digital works—by artists ranging from early 20th century Modern pioneers to contemporary practitioners.