Celebrating Asian Art

Virtual, Friday, March 12, 4:30 pm

John Guy, Florence and Herbert Irving Curator of the Arts of South and Southeast Asia

More information forthcoming on how to register for this virtual event.

January 25, 2020–June 28, 2021

This exhibition juxtaposes masterworks from the Museum’s collection with photographic enlargements of their details, intended to draw us back to the original, revealing the rewards that close looking can offer.

January 30, 2021–June 5, 2022

This exhibition showcases an outstanding selection of Chinese art gifted to the Museum by Florence and Herbert Irving, fundamentally transforming the holdings of Chinese art at The Met and reuniting important works with comparative pieces.

January 30, 2021–January 17, 2022

This Lunar New Year, which begins on February 12, 2021, is the Year of the Ox. In celebrating the Year of the Ox, this exhibition presents depictions of oxen and water buffalo (considered the same category of animals in China) created by artists in the last 3000 years.

March 8, 2021–April 24, 2022

This exhibition celebrates how gifts and acquisitions of the last decade have transformed The Met’s ability to narrate the story of Japanese art by expanding and deepening the range of works that can elucidate the past. Represented are an array of works in nearly every medium, from ancient times to the present.

March 27, 2021–October 16, 2022

Within the Buddhist traditions of the Himalayas, three bodhisattvas emerge as personifications of Buddhist ideals: Manjushri, Avalokiteshvara, and Vajrapani. This show presents sublime representations of these three bodhisattvas at the center of this great devotional tradition.

Through August 30, 2021

From the shapes and motifs of the ceramics to the disparate sizes and formats of the paintings, this rotation exhibits continuity and variety in Korean art. Arranged in loosely chronological order are notable objects from The Met’s collection, along with significant loans from the National Museum of Korea.

The Met presents a world of crossroads—between places, eras, and cultures. Empires and Emporia represents the sustained contact linking Asia, Europe, and America for more than four centuries, beginning with the arrival of Portuguese merchants in Japan and China in the 16th century, the conquest of the Philippines by Spain, and the establishment of a transpacific trade route between Manila and Acapulco.

The focus of this installation is a selection of avant-garde ceramics by the Kyoto-based group Sōdeisha (Crawling Through Mud Association), which was founded in 1948 by Yagi Kazuo, Yamada Hikaru, and Suzuki Osamu. Their sculptures reshaped the world of Japanese pottery in the second half of the twentieth century.

Through Winter 2021

This year’s annual rotation of the Himalayan galleries is distinguished by a number of major new acquisitions and gifts that continue to build The Met’s holdings as one of the premier collections of Tibetan and Nepalese masterworks.