The Met — “Embracing Color: Enamel in Chinese Decorative Arts, 1300–1900”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, USA
This exhibition reveals the aesthetic, technical, and cultural achievement of Chinese enamel wares by demonstrating the transformative role of enamel. From the late 14th–15th century, porcelain with overglaze enamels was developed along with the introduction of cloisonné enamel from the West, leading to a palette shift from monochromatic to colourful. From the late 17th–18th century, European enamelling techniques were brought to the Qing court and more subtle and varied colour tones were developed on enamels applied over porcelain, metal, glass, and other mediums. In both moments, Chinese artists actively created new colours and styles that reflected their own taste.
HK Palace Museum — “Stories Untold, Figure Paintings of the Ming Dynasty from the Palace Museum”
Hong Kong Palace Museum, 8 Museum Drive, Hong Kong
The exhibition presents 81 sets (97 pieces) of works by around 60 Ming dynasty (1368–1644) painters from the Palace Museum collection, among which 14 sets (16 pieces) are national grade-one cultural relics. Each group will showcase the artistic pursuits and achievements of court painters, literati painters, and professional painters from the early, middle, and late periods of the Ming dynasty. It will unveil fascinating stories about the painters and the painted and show the multifaceted lives and spiritual world of people living during the Ming dynasty.
Rubin Museum of Art — “Masterworks: A Journey through Himalayan Art”
150 West 17th St., New York, NY 10011, USA
This exhibition explores major strands in the development of art from the Himalayan region covering a period of more than one thousand years, with objects drawn primarily from the Rubin Museum’s collection. The presentation is organised geographically and chronologically, showcasing the diverse regional traditions of Tibet in relation to the neighboring areas of Eastern India, Kashmir, Nepal, Bhutan, China, and Mongolia. Juxtaposing the art of Himalayan regions over time sheds light on the geographic, historical, religious, and artistic interrelationships among these cultures. Discover more in the Rubin Museum of Art’s online collection search.
Bowers Museum — “Asian Comics: Evolution of an Art Form”
2002 North Main Street, Santa Ana, California, USA
This exhibition presents the largest ever selection of original artworks from Asian comics, displayed alongside their printed, mass-produced forms. This exhibition is a vivid journey through the art of comics and visual storytelling across Asia. From its historical roots to the most recent digital innovations, the exhibition looks to popular Japanese manga and beyond, highlighting key creators, characters, and publications. It features over 400 works—the largest selection of artworks from the continent—including Japanese woodblock prints, Hindu scroll paintings, digital media, printed comics, and contemporary illustrations.
Rubin Museum of Art — “Reimagine: Himalayan Art Now”
150 West 17th St., New York, NY 10011, USA
Contemplate and celebrate what Himalayan art means now with a Museum-wide exhibition of artworks by over 30 contemporary artists, many from the Himalayan region and diaspora and others inspired by Himalayan art and cultures. The exhibition includes new commissions, some site-specific, and existing works juxtaposed with objects from the Museum’s collection, inviting new ways of encountering traditional Himalayan art through a wide range of media, including painting, sculpture, sound, video, installation, performance, and more.
HK Palace Museum — “Yuan Ming Yuan: Art and Culture of an Imperial Garden-Palace”
Hong Kong Palace Museum, 8 Museum Drive, Hong Kong
This exhibition sheds new light on Yuanming yuan (Garden of Perfect Brightness) by featuring over 190 paintings, architectural models, and other works associated with this imperial garden-palace that served as the principal residence of five Qing emperors. The presentation highlights the life and aesthetic tastes of the emperors, festivals, and the relationship between members of the imperial family.
HKMoA — “Art of Gifting: The Fuyun Xuan Collection of Chinese Snuff Bottles”
Hong Kong Museum of Art, 10 Salisbury Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Epitomising the finest skills of Chinese artisans, small and delicate snuff bottles became popular among nobilities and high-ranking officials since emerging in the early Qing dynasty, and were often given as precious gifts in diplomatic, official and social settings. This exhibition showcases the whole of a set of 490 Chinese snuff bottles from the Fuyun Xuan Collection donated by Mr Christopher Sin and Mrs Josephine Sin, and with the theme of gifting, the audience is invited to step into the unique, kaleidoscopic world of these miniature yet precious gifts.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston — “Meiji Modern: Fifty Years of New Japan”
Caroline Wiess Law Building, 1001 Bissonnet Street, Houston, Texas, USA
Japan’s Meiji period (1868–1912) was a time of unprecedented cultural and technological transition, when the country experienced radical social and political shifts propelling it into a new modern, global era. This exhibition presents a fresh look at the art of this transformative era. Paintings, prints, photographs, sculpture, and fine examples of enamel, lacquer, embroidery, and textiles all evidence a blending of cultures and techniques and the innovative interchange of old and new. Uniquely, the exhibition features a wide selection of export and domestic wares, reflecting the period’s diverse tastes and aesthetic discourse.
The Met — “Chinese Painting and Calligraphy: Selections from the Collection”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, USA
This exhibition spans a millennium and a half of cultural production and a variety of genres, techniques, and styles, with 90 works, to introduce key themes of Chinese history, culture, and art. Highlights include Palace Banquet, one of the Met’s earliest and most important Chinese paintings; Xianyu Shu’s (1246–1302) calligraphy Song of the Stone Drums; Cloudy Mountains, one of the surviving masterpieces of the Daoist landscape painter Fang Congyi (about 1301–after 1378); Shitao’s touching Returning Home (about 1695); and the magisterial Qianlong Emperor’s Southern Inspection Tour, Scroll Four.
The Met — “The Three Perfections: Japanese Poetry, Calligraphy, and Painting from the Mary and Cheney Cowles Collection”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1000 Fifth Avenue, New York, USA
This exhibition presents over 160 rare Japanese works that showcase the power and complexity of the traditional three forms of art. Examples include folding screens with poems brushed on sumptuous decorated papers, calligraphy by Zen monks of medieval Kyoto, hanging scrolls with paintings and inscriptions alluding to Chinese and Japanese literary classics, ceramics used for tea gatherings, and more. The majority of the works were donated or promised to The Met by Mary and Cheney Cowles, whose collection is one of the finest assemblages of Japanese art outside Japan.
HK Palace Museum — “The Origins of Chinese Civilisation”
Hong Kong Palace Museum, 8 Museum Drive, Hong Kong
The exhibition offers one of the most comprehensive overviews of the origins of Chinese civilisation in recent years, featuring nearly 110 rare, recent archaeological finds and significant treasures on loan from 14 museums and archaeological organisations in China, including16 grade-one national treasures. Partnering museums include The Palace Museum, National Museum of China, Shanxi Museum, Liaoning Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Zhejiang Provincial Museum, Liangzhu Museum, Hanshan Museum, Shandong University Museum, Erlitou Site Museum of the Xia Capital, Hubei Provincial Museum, Jingzhou Museum, Shaanxi Cultural Heritage Promotion Center, Shaanxi Archaeological Museum, and Gansu Provincial Museum.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston — “Living with the Gods: Art, Beliefs, and Peoples”
Caroline Wiess Law Building, 1001 Bissonnet Street, Houston, Texas, USA
This expansive exhibition explores 3,000 years of spiritual belief and practice through 200 historic and contemporary objects. British art historian and long-time museum director Neil MacGregor was invited to revisit his 2017 BBC radio series and book of the same title, bringing that vision to great objects in the MFAH’s collections as well as landmark loans from international institutions. Displayed in dialogue across a suite of 11 galleries, the installations will explore elemental themes such as the cosmos, light, water, fire; the mysteries of life and death; the divine word; and pilgrimage. The exhibition draws from regions across ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome, Africa, Asia, Oceania, Europe and the Americas.