What's Happening in Asian Art...
December 13, 2021
Jun'ichiro Sekino (1914-1988), Nishijin (Kyoto) in Snow, 1973, ink and color on paper, 55.5 x 73 cm.
Egenolf Gallery offers a wide selection of fine Japanese prints and drawings for the perfect holiday gift. Two-day Fedex shipping is available, so there is still time to shop. They are posting daily on their website holiday gift ideas and new acquisitions. A special discount is available through their website.

Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-1889), Dance of the Long-Nosed Goblins, 1867, ink and color on paper,
35.3 x 25 cm.
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December 10, 2021
Kamoda Shōji (1933-1983), Jar (detail), 1971, stoneware with red and green painted glazes, 4 ½ x 6 1/2 in.
Minneapolis Institute of Art, Kamada Shōji: The Art of Change
December 11, 2021-April 17, 2022
Kamoda Shōji (1933–1983) became one of Japan’s most celebrated potters. His groundbreaking approach to the interplay among material, form, and surface helped revolutionize the way Japanese artists approached ceramic production. Inquisitive, thoughtful, and tireless, Kamoda was driven to innovate and experiment. His astonishing output and creativity garnered him a considerable following in Japan, and more recently in the United States. Despite his untimely death at the age of 49, this admiration continues today. This exhibition, the first outside of Japan, features nearly 50 works from 10 private American collections and spans the breadth of his brilliant artistic career.
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December 8, 2021
Monuments Woman, a podcast with Laura Tedesco, hosted by George Gavrilis
Monuments Woman-A Podcast Featuring Laura Tedesco, Hosted by George Gavrilis
In this current and ongoing podcast, host George Gavrilis discusses with American archaeologist Laura Tedesco her 11-year journey to help save Afghanistan's cultural treasures from looters, earthquakes, and the Taliban in this new and ongoing podcast. Tune in for thoughtful, well informed, and honest ongoing weekly considerations of what was involved to try and preserve Afghanistan’s rich cultural and artistic heritage in the midst of war and strife.
Laura Tedesco, who received a PhD from New York University in Anthropology and worked at the Met Museum before joining the U.S. State Department, has served as Cultural Heritage Program Manager in the Bureau of South and Asian Affairs for more than 11 years. Living in Kabul for several years, she was primarily tasked with investigating, assessing, and recommending actions to preserve the ancient and rich architectural sites and cultural patrimony of Afghanistan. With courageous honesty, deep knowledge, personal concern, and clear-eyed objectivity, she discusses these projects and the many complications and adventures that ensued. As a result of the pandemic and current circumstances in Afghanistan, Laura continues her work virtually and in close contact with Afghan colleagues.

Khwaja Abu Nasr Parsa Shrine, 15th century Timurid period, Balkh province, northern Afghanistan, photo by Laura Tedesco
Adding visual accompaniment to the podcasts are posts of photos Laura took during her work in Afghanistan on their Instagram page, "the_monuments_woman".
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December 8, 2021
Wonsook Kim, Walking the Dry Land III, 2020, oil on canvas, 36 x 48 in.
Dreams of Nature
November 11, 2021-January 29, 2022
This exhibition includes paintings by Woonsook Kim and ceramics by Geejo Lee, who are both Korean artists.
Wonsook Kim creates story-based figurative paintings that are poetic and ethereal in their fluid execution and mythical subject matter. She accepts that calligraphy has a clear influence on her work because she grew up surrounded by images of this type. Kim’s artworks are the result of her lifetime experiences in Korea and the United States. The highlight among her recent paintings is Walking the Dry Land III from the series The Wilderness (Gwang-ya) paintings.

Geejo Lee, Moon Jar, 2020, white porcelain, 19 1/8 in. high
Geejo Lee was born on Jeju Island. He received both his BA and MA from Seoul National University. In his pieces, Lee is fully absorbed with interpreting the unique aesthetics of Joseon white porcelain. This Moon Jar, dated 2020, is one of the best works from his series of moon jars.
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December 7, 2021
Three lots from Christie's NY's current online sale of Art of China and Japan, available through December 14, 2021.
Christie's New York, Art of China and Japan Online Auction
December 1-14, 2021
Viewing in person available by appointment: Wednesday-Friday December 8-10 and Monday, December 13
Christie’s New York is now presenting their December online sale, Art of China and Japan. The sale features a fine selection of works from private and institutional American collections in a wide range of collecting categories, including porcelain, jades, snuff bottles, textiles, and prints. Highlights include prints by Katsushika Hokusai and Toshusai Sharaku, a Daoguang period famille rose and faux bois ‘olive’-shaped vase from the Strong Museum of Play, a large famille noire `phoenix-tail’ vase from Yale University Art Gallery collection, and an inside-painted snuff bottle signed Zhou Leyuan.
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December 3, 2021
Anonymous, Quail, Sparrows, and Millet, early 16th century, hanging scroll, ink and color on silk,
32 5/16×13 5/8 in., The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Japan: A History of Style, 3rd Rotation, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Closing this weekend, last day Sunday, December 5, 2021
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 both expanding and deepening the range of remarkable artworks that can meaningfully elucidate the past. Each of the ten rooms that make up the Arts of Japan Galleries features a distinct genre, school, or style, representing an array of works in nearly every medium, from ancient times to the present. Highlights include the debut of a spectacular group of contemporary metalwork by Living National Treasures and emerging artists.
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While at the Met, be sure to see as part of this rotation and before it closes, too, the works from artist and collector Paul Binnie's completed series, A Hundred Shades of Ink of Edo. The prints, which the Met acquired from Scholten Japanese Art in 2017, are brilliantly displayed side-by-side with stunning examples of ukiyo-e masterpieces that inspired Binnie's compositions—in a way that very few museums would have the ability to do.
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December 2, 2021
Masatoshi (sign.), Recumbent Hare with Raised Forepaw, c. 1880, ivory and buffalo horn, de Waal Family Collection
The Hare with Amber Eyes Exhibition at the Jewish Museum
November 19, 2021-May 15, 2022
The Hare with Amber Eyes tells the story of the Ephrussi family—celebrated in the 2010 memoir and The New York Times bestseller of the same name by Edmund de Waal—and showcases the breadth and depth of their illustrious collection. The exhibition explores the family’s rise to prominence and splendor in the first half of the nineteenth century, followed by a focus on the prolific collector and historian of art, Charles Ephrussi, to the inter-war years, and finally World War II, when the family lost its fortune and collection to Nazi looting.
The exhibition’s centerpiece is the extraordinary collection of Japanese netsuke, miniature carved sculptures of the Edo Period (17th-19th centuries), hidden by a maid from German officials in her mattress during World War II, and later returned to the family after the war. Also on display are items from the Ephrussi’s collections, including artworks by Jean-Honoré Fragonard, Berthe Morisot, Claude Monet, Gustave Moreau, and Auguste Renoir, among others; decorative objects; and family photos and ephemera from their lives across four continents. The most recent member of the family to inherit the netsuke collection, author and ceramicist Edmund de Waal, drew from them the inspiration for his memoir The Hare with Amber Eyes, continuing the family’s storied legacy of artistic and cultural pursuits.
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November 30, 2021
Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849), Dragon head Kannon (The Great Picture Book of Everything), 1820s-40s, ink on paper. Purchase funded by the Theresia Gerda Buch Bequest, in memory of her parents, Rudolf and Julie Buch, with support from Art Fund (with a contribution from the Wolfson Foundation). © The Trustees of the British Museum
Hokusai: A Curatorial Perspective
Zoom Webinar, Wednesday, December 1, 5pm EST
JASA (Japanese Art Society of America) welcomes you to join their exciting and informative series of presentations about this year's several superb exhibitions focusing on the master artist Hokusai. A wonderful show at the National Museum of Asian Art focuses on the collection of Hokusai drawings, paintings and screens collected by its founder, Charles Lang Freer. Across the Atlantic, the British Museum features a much-anticipated exhibition of drawings by Hokusai. Other museum curators have turned their attention to new publications. This webinar offers an opportunity to hear four expert curators and specialists speak about their perspective on connoisseurship of Hokusai drawings, prints and paintings.
The presentations are:
Frank Feltens, Japan Foundation Associate Curator of Japanese Art, National Gallery of Asian Art, Visualizing Thunder: Hokusai’s Thunder God
Alfred Haft, JTI Project Curator for Japanese Collection, British Museum, Hokusai’s Illustrations for The Great Picture Book of Everything
Andreas Marks, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art, Minneapolis Institute of Art, To Wave or not to Wave: Variations in Hokusai's Fuji Prints
Sarah Thompson, Curator of Japanese Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Drawings by Hokusai and His Pupils at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
To register for this program, click here
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November 30, 2021
Iizuka Rokansai (1890-1958), Flower Basket Named "Bundle", 1930s, bamboo, 10x10x11 1/4in.
Japanese Bamboo Baskets and Contemporary Art
Design Miami, Booth G/17
December 1-5, 2021
Wednesday, December 1, 1–8pm
Thursday, December 2, 11am–8pm
Friday, December 3, 12–8pm
Saturday, December 4, 12–8pm
Sunday, December 5, 12–6pm
Thomsen Gallery is participating in the current Design Miami exhibition and will present newly-acquired masterpieces of Japanese bamboo art by the greatest bamboo artists of the 20th century. The baskets will be complemented by Japanese gold lacquer boxes, porcelain vessels by the Japanese porcelain sculptor Sueharu Fukami, and folding screens by the paper artist Kyoko Ibe.
The exhibition takes place in the Design Miami Pavilion at Convention Center Drive/19th Street, across from Art Basel Miami.
For more information, click here
November 30, 2021
Kenji Wakasugi, Sanctuary (detail), 2021, photograph of washi mounted screen, 23 5/8 x 33 1/2 in.
Synthesis II Exhibition: "Adore" Madonna and Fusuma
Photography by Kenji Wakasugi
December 3, 2021-January 11, 2022
Opening Reception: Friday, December 3, 5-8pm
Book Signing: Saturday, December 4, 3-5pm
Ippodo Gallery, 32 E. 67th St., 3rd Floor, New York
Tuesday-Friday, 10am-6pm and Saturday, 11am-5:30pm
A sequel to Synthesis, Wakasugi’s inaugural exhibition at Ippodo Gallery in 2016, Synthesis II highlights the artist’s exploration of photography inspired by traditional ink-painting. The show will also feature individual prints and a limited second edition publication of the photo book ADORE from his 1985 photoshoot with Madonna, published by Nick Groarke, NJG Studio in London.
Juxtaposed to works emphasizing traditional styles and architecture are Wakasugi’s images of Madonna, demonstrating a vivid sense of modernity and nostalgia for the late 20th century. Taken during a 45-minute photoshoot, Wakasugi captures the then 27-year old Madonna promoting her album Like A Virgin wearing clothes by Jean Paul Gaultier, as well as numerous crucifixes and rosaries. Transcending typical fashion photography, Wakasugi’s portraiture focuses on Madonna’s facial expressions and gestures to reveal the superstar’s stunning sincerity.
Wakasugi uses an array of modern and traditional techniques, such as digital manipulation and the application of gold leaf and his ink-wash painting or calligraphy, to further alter his photography. Emphasizing his range of styles and influences, Wakasugi mounts his paintings using Western-style framing and hanging scrolls or fusuma sliding doors.
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Kenji Wakasugi, Madonna_14, 2021, Photography, Small (Edition 15), 22 x 17 in.