What's Happening in Asian Art...
June 20, 2023
Tsukamoto Kaiji (1912-1990), Lotus-form bowl
On view now in the gallery and online at Joan B Mirviss LTD:
Warm to the Touch: Cool and Refreshing Celadon
Highly prized across Asia for centuries, celadon finds inventive new expression in recent ceramics by leading Japanese artists. This summer, the captivating qualities of celadon are showcased in a range of forms and styles by a dozen modern and contemporary Japanese ceramic artists from different backgrounds and traditions. Often synonymous with a very distinctive and pristine bluish-green color, “celadon” encompasses many different tonalities and textures that challenge our expectations. From exquisite vessels to daring sculptures, works in this exhibition play with celadon’s categorical boundaries and even reconsiders its very definition.
Paired with this intriguing celadon showcase is a suite of never-before-seen paintings by MINOL ARAKI (1928-2010). An industrial designer and ink painter, Araki was a fascinating hybrid figure who bridged many worlds. As a Japanese artist born in northeast China, he was influenced by traditional Chinese painting—from Bada Shanren (ca. 1626-1705) to Zhang Daqian (1899-1983)—and by the Japanese painting movements of his time and even later, by contemporary American art. Araki’s paintings reflect his sensitivity to color and light and make a perfect complement to the landscape of celadon in this show.
June 19, 2023
Yun Lanxi (dates unknown) and Zou Yigui (1686-1772) Eight Immortals in the Flower World Album of 8 leaves; ink and color on paper 12 1/8 x 19 in. (30.8 x 25.2 cm) Tianjin Museum (Leaf 3)
The landmark exhibition, Flowers on a River: The Art of Chinese Flower and Bird Painting, 1368-1911, now on view at China Institute is closing on June 25.
Do not miss this exhibition, featuring masterworks from the Tianjin and Changzhou museums, including the painting by Zhu Da referenced in the title. This is the first major show in the United States to systematically explore the important flower and bird genre of Chinese painting.
More information
June 16, 2023
The main hall of Gongga Qude Temple
The Songtsam Group, the award-winning collection of boutique hotels, resorts & tours in the Tibet & Yunnan Provinces of China is in a joint project with The Palace Museum, Gongga Qude Temple, to reprint an exquisite album entitled Murals of Gongga Qude Temple: A Milestone in the History of Tibetan Buddhist Art. Songtsam Founder and Chairman Baima Duoji noted that the purpose of the project is to “make the beauty of these historic murals, vivid carriers of Tibetan Buddhist art and culture, available to more people." The album was first published in 2015, but due to limited funds, only a few books were printed, which were donated to various temples, universities, research institutes and others who were interested in the murals. The new reprint is composed of the digitized images of the murals of Gongga Qude Temple. Some of the murals have been re-photographed and added to this new edition of the album.

“Murals of Gongga Qude Temple: A Milestone in the History of Tibetan Buddhist Art”
Gongga Qude Temple, 60 kilometers (approx. 37.2 miles) outside of Lhasa (Tibet) and an important temple of Tibetan Buddhism, is like a museum frozen in time. Baima Duoji commented "Every Songtsam guest, as they travel from Lhasa Airport to the Songtsam Linka Retreat Lhasa, passes the Gongga Qude Temple, yet few people know that there is an ancient temple on the roadside.” The murals are a rare work of art, and it is a remarkable stroke of luck that after 600 years, the lines and colors painted by the masters can still be seen today. The Gongga Qude Temple Tour has now become an important part of the Songtsam Lhasa experience and an excellent “starting” point for guests to enter the spiritual world of the local people.

Restoration of the murals of Gongga Qude Temple
Baima concluded that “Songtsam hopes that the reprinting of this ancient Album will support Songtsam’s efforts to preserve the culture, so that the beauty of these lands can be known, understood, even appreciated and touched by people from around the world.”
June 15, 2023
l-r: Arnold Chang, Michael Cherney, Wang Mansheng
Understanding the Perpetuation of the Chinese Literati
Tradition in the Present Day
Arnold Chang|A Closer Look at Bimo 筆墨 (Brushwork)
Saturday, June 24, 2-4pm
Michael Cherney|An Unrolling Landscape - a Conversation with the Artist
Saturday, July 8, 2-4pm
Wang Mansheng|The Art and Symbolism of Tuanshan 团扇 (Round Fan)
Friday, September 22, 6-8pm
This summer Fu Qiumeng Fine Art is hosting a series of three in person dialogues, entitled Understanding the Perpetuation of the Chinese Literati Tradition in the Present Day, featuring distinguished artists and independent scholars Arnold Chang, Michael Cherney, and Wang Mansheng. The talks will delve into the exploration of Chinese ink painting, landscape art, and aesthetic development and will be moderated by Fang Xian, artist, independent scholar and partner at FQM.
For more information and to book tickets ($12 each),
click here.
June 12, 2023
Exhibition view, Alchi: Visions of Enlightenment, Tibet House US
Wednesday, June 14, 2023
and Thursday, June 22, 2023
6-7:30pm (in person)
You may attend one or both sessions
Suggested Donation: $20 or $40
Jeff Watt, a leading scholar of Himalayan Art and founding curator at the Rubin Museum of Art (RMA) in New York City, will discuss the iconography in Peter Van Ham’s monumental photographs of Alchi Monastery, currently on immersive display in the Tibet House Gallery.
The Alchi murals are a part of the main features of the cultural heritage of Ladakh, and the complex of monastic temples with breathtakingly preserved art from the 11th centuries have become a significant tourist destination.
Choosing specific aspects of the exhibition, Jeff will give a guided tour discussing the technical skill, taste, and finesse of the Alchi artists.
*The walk through docent tour will be recorded and made available to all registered participants*
Read more and register here.
June 8, 2023
Shivalal (Indian, active 1858–93). Maharana Fateh Singh crossing a river during the monsoon. Northwestern India, Rajasthan, Rajput Kingdom of Mewar, Udaipur, 1893. Opaque watercolor
A Splendid Land: Paintings from Royal Udaipur
June 11-September 10, 2023
Around 1700, artists in Udaipur (a court in northwest India) began creating immersive paintings that convey the mood (bhava) of the city’s palaces, lakes, and mountains. These large paintings and their emphasis on lived experience have never been the focus of an exhibition.
With dazzling paintings on paper and cloth—many on public view for the first time—A Splendid Land reveals how artists visualized emotions, depicted places, celebrated water resources, and fostered personal bonds over two hundred years in the rapidly changing political and cultural landscapes of early modern South Asia.
The exhibition is organized as a journey that begins at Udaipur’s center and continues outward: first to the city, then to the countryside, and finally to the cosmos.
This exhibition has been cocurated by Debra Diamond, the Elizabeth Moynihan Curator for South Asian and Southeast Asian Art at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art, and Dipti Khera, associate professor, Department of Art History and Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.
For more information, click here.
June 8, 2023
Due to the air quality, Ippodo Gallery is closed today, and the opening reception for Magic of the Tea Bowl Volume III has been postponed to Tuesday, June 13, 6-8pm.
The exhibition is now open online. To visit, click here.
The gallery will reopen on Friday, June 9.
June 8, 2023
Design Miami/Basel 2023, Thomsen Gallery
Basel, Switzerland, 13-18 June 2023
Thomsen Gallery is delighted to participate for the fourth time in Design Miami/Basel with Japanese modern and contemporary art. If you are in Switzerland during the Art Basel week, please visit them in Hall 1 Süd at Messe Basel at booth G06.
Thomsen's exhibition at Design Miami / Basel offers a select group of Japanese bamboo ikebana baskets by the great masters from the first half of the 20th century, considered the Golden Age of Japanese basketry, along with works by contemporary makers. The baskets are complemented by Japanese modern bronze vessels, contemporary porcelain vessels by Sueharu Fukami and gold-lacquer boxes.
Tuesday, June 13/ 10am–7pm
Wednesday, June 14/ 10am–7pm
Thursday, June 15/ 11am–7pm
Friday, June 16/ 11am–7pm
Saturday, June 17/ 11am–7pm
Sunday, June 18/ 11am–6pm
Read more, click here.
June 5, 2023
Kohei Nakamura, Kohiki Tea Bowl (C24290) / Takeshi Imaizumi, Blue Porcelain Tea Bowl (C25938) / Agnes Husz, Duality Tea-bowl 1 (C25909) / Yasushi Fujihira, Tea Bowl “Silver” (C25941) Tomoyuki Hoshino, Sugar Glazed Tea Bowl (C25914)
June 8-July 13, 2023
Opening reception postponed to Tuesday, June 13, 6-8pm
RSVP is encouraged
The exhibition is a showcase of eighteen selected ceramic artists representing styles from traditional to modern—emerging visionaries, rising stars, respected masters, and a Living National Treasure. The more than a hundred tea bowls presented provide a wide sampling of their artistry.
The “Way of Tea” began in Japan during the sixteenth century with the famed Sen no Rikyu, and this treasured facet of Japanese life has thrived until today. Used in the tea ceremony, the tea bowl (chawan) is the only art form that arouses such intimate emotions or possesses such a close and physical sensitivity. Japanese artists have sought out the perfect chawan form for more than four centuries. Tea bowls made at Bizen, one of Japan's "six great kilns," by artists using the production process that has been handed down from generation to generation are on view. New developments in kiln machinery have enabled artists in other regions of Japan to produce modern works of original character, which are also included here.
The exhibition is now open online.
View the online exhibition and read more...
June 2, 2023
Indian, Andhra Pradesh, Picchwai, late 18th century, cotton with pigments, gold and silver paint, 74 × 52 in. (188 × 132.1 cm), Banoo and Jeevak Parpia Collection.
Woven Wonders: Indian Textiles from the Parpia Collection
June 10-September 4, 2023
The Parpia Collection is one of the most significant private collections of Indian textiles outside of India and one of the most important in the United States. Woven Wonders: Indian Textiles from the Parpia Collection brings this extraordinary collection to Houston audiences for the first time.
Assembled to reflect India’s myriad range of regional traditions, the Parpia Collection includes singular pieces that showcase the extraordinary aesthetic and technical diversity of Indian textiles. From folk textiles to the most sophisticated court textiles, produced from the 14th to early 20th centuries, the collection illustrates the preeminence of textile arts produced in India with examples of hand-painted and hand-block-printed cotton, embroidery, ikat, tie-dye, brocade, and tapestry.
Woven Wonders: Indian Textiles from the Parpia Collection is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and co-curated by Amy Poster, Consulting Curator, MFAH, and Rosemary Crill, former Senior Curator at the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Ithaca, New York–based collectors Banoo and Jeevak Parpia have been collecting textiles from India since the 1980’s. They have been involved with the Museum since 2018, first as guest speakers on India’s global textile traditions, and then as experts to help survey and review selections from the Museum’s Annette Finnigan Collection.
For more information about the exhibition and related events, click here.