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What is it? Himalayan Art
Rubin Museum of Art
New York
Ongoing
This exhibition is intended to serve as a guide through the exhilarating landscape of Himalayan art. It is organized into four sections, and each object on view contributes a partial answer to the question `What is Himalayan art?’ The installation will change periodically to refocus the questions and to pose others. The museum as a whole is a journey along many paths through Himalayan art, offering intimate encounters and changing perspectives.

Parting the Curtain: Asian Art Revealed
Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Berkeley, California
Ongoing exhibition
An exhibition of treasures from the museum's diverse collection of historical Asian art, as well as exceptional works on long-term loan. The more than fifty works represent a wide geographical range - India, Tibet, China and Japan - and span 10,000 BCE to the 20th century. The material is divided into thematic sections: `Buddhist Imagery of India and Tibet' comprises bronze statuary and other objects that trace the formation of Buddhist religious art from 3rd century India through much later manifestations in the Himalayas. All of the paintings, embroidery and sculpture are on long-term loan from Louise Gund. `Tibetan and Buddhist Ritual Arts: The Bernard-Murray Tibetan Collection', formed by Theos Bernard on his travels to Tibet in 1939, provides a unique record of the art and culture of traditional Tibet prior to Chinese incursion. `The Literati Tradition: Scholarly Pursuits in China and Japan' presents several landscape works from the collection by Chinese literati, along with related works by Japanese Nanga painters. `Ideals of Beauty in India' presents a selection of sculptures demonstrating Indian ideals of feminine beauty: large breasts, ample hips and thin waists. These voluptuous ideals appear repeatedly in Indian poetry, paintings and sculpture, such as an 8th/9th century curvaceous stone figure of the River Goddess from Uttar Pradesh that once flanked a temple sanctum, blessing and purifying visitors. `Art for the Afterlife: Chinese Tomb Culture' features glazed earthenware storage jars from the Neolithic period and glazed ceramic figures from the Han and Tang period. Although made for the grave and not intended to be seen except in the realm of the afterlife, the objects describe important aspects of the material culture of their day.

Asian Galleries
Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indianapolis, Illinois
Reopened 5 November 2006
After closure and refurbishment the galleries reopen to the public. More information can be found on the museum's website.

Sir Christopher Ondaatje South Asian Gallery
Royal Ontario Museum
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Opened 16 February 2008
Named in appreciation of Sir Christopher's support, this gallery is part of the ROM's ambitious expansion-and-renovation project. The gallery features 400 examples of the museum's collection of objects from South Asia and is the only such gallery in North America to include contemporary arts in its permanent gallery. Religious objects, sculpture, decorative arts, arms and armour, miniature paintings and textiles originate from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Tibet and, together, they tell the story of over 5000 years of the region's artistic and cultural history. There are nine roughly chronological thematic sections including `Material Remains' featuring objects of material culture from the Indus Valley civilization, Pakistan to the Sunga period in northern India; `Imagining the Buddha' traces the birth and development of Buddhist art from the 3rd to 5th centuries BCE with a focus on the region of Gandhara; `The Goddess' explores icons of the feminine divine represented in both benevolent and wrathful forms; `Visualizing Divinity' showcases representations of gods across several religions over time; `Passage to Enlightenment' illuminates the spread of Buddhism and thus presents the colourful arts of the Himalayas; `Courtly Culture' encompasses the lavish arts of the royal courts such as the Mughal and Rajput dynasties; `Cultural Exchange' focuses on Dutch, Portuguese and British commercial interactions with South Asia; `World and the World' presents modern and contemporary art of South Asia including video, photography and sculpture. A special area will be devoted to temporary installations, the first of these is `Playful Krishna' comprising some 40 objects exploring various depictions of this Hindu go. Early in the display is one of the gallery's most recent acquisitions - a balustrade depicting a yali that was once part of a Sri Lankan palace or temple.

Liu Fang Yuan, The Huntington's Chinese Garden
The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens
San Marino, California
Opened 23 February 2008
This project is the result of a remarkable international collaboration among Chinese garden scholars, architects, engineers and philanthropists. Some 10 years in the making, it is a remarkable and ambitious undertaking. The garden reflects traditional Suzhou-style scholar gardens and features a 1.5-acre lake, a complex of pavilions, a tea house and tea shop and five stone bridges, set against a wooded backdrop of mature oaks and pines. Two firms based in China have worked with The Huntington to provide authenticity to the project. The Suzhou Institute of Landscape Architectural Design developed detailed construction plans, working from the initial conceptual drawings done by Jin Chen. The firm sent eleven stone artisans to install the hand-carved bridges and to place the stones around the lake. Another 50 wood carvers, roof tile experts, stone pavers, and other specialists arrived in summer 2007 to work on the structures. Nearly all materials except structural steel and concrete have come from China, including highly sculptural `scholar rocks'. If was funded by a US$10-million bequest from Peter Paanakker, a Los Angeles businessman and philanthropist, and two US$500,000 grants from the Starr Foundation of New York provided the initial funding that enabled The Huntington to take on the project in 2001. Half of the Paanakker gift has been applied toward construction and half has formed an endowment for ongoing support of the garden.

Kenro Izu: Bhutan, the Sacred Within
The Rubin Museum of Art
New York, New York
Until Spring 2008
After years of pilgrimage to sacred landscapes and spiritual monuments, the photographer Kenro Izu has turned his masterful lens to the sacred within. This exhibition is his final work in a trilogy on this theme, and the second at the Rubin Museum of Art. Izu takes the people of Bhutan and their particular blending of an indigenous religion and Buddhist thought as his subject. The meticulously crafted portraits he has made express the purity of those beliefs and their resonance in the larger world of today.

The Floating World: Ukiyo-e Prints from the Wallace Brown Rogers Collection
Lauren Rogers Museum of Art
Laurel, Mississippi
Until 13 July 2008
The LRMA Japanese print collection is being highlighted as part of the nuseum's 85th anniversary celebration. It consists of 142 ukiyo-e woodblock prints from the Edo period donated in the 1920s by Wallace B. Rogers, father of Lauren Eastman Rogers. With the assistance of Chicago art dealer Frederick Gookin, Rogers collected works by some of the best-known ukiyo-e artists of the Edo Period, including Utamaro, Hokusai and Hiroshige. This exhibition marks the first time the collection has been exhibited in its entirety. A catalogue The Floating World: Ukiyo-e Prints from the Wallace B. Rogers Collection at the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art accompanies the exhibition. A symposium will follow on 11 April features lectures by Laura J. Mueller, Gallery Director of Joan P. Mirviss Ltd and Donald A. Wood, Curator of Asian Art at the Birmingham Museum of Art will present `Kamisaka Sekka: Rimpa Master and Pioneer of Modern Japanese Design’.

Tales of the Brush Continued: Chinese Paintings with Literary Themes
Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
Until 27 July 2008
From the ancient times to the present day, Chinese artists have always turned to literature for inspiration for their paintings and works of calligraphy, and other objects. By creating a close correlation between image and text, artists over the centuries have depicted famous mythical scenes, illustrated significant events in Chinese history, and interpreted beloved poems and stories. Among the major literary themes on view are the mythical Nymph of the Luo River, the historical tale of Lady Cai Wenji Returns to Han, the legendary Female Immortal Chang E and the poetic Thoughts on Ancient Sites by Du Fu.

Yellow Mountain: China's Ever-Changing Landscape
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
Until August 2008
Yellow Mountain (Mt. Huang or Huangshan) is arguably the most beautiful mountain in China. For centuries artists have endeavored to capture the even-changing appearance of the area. Included in the exhibition are woodblock-printed illustrations of the 17th century and mountainscapes brushed mostly by monk-painters who either traveled to or/and lived deep in the wildness of the Yellow Mountain during the second half of the 17th and early 18th centuries. A subject focused exhibition presents prints and paintings depicting the scenic Yellow Mountain, topographical or reminiscent, that were created by both well and little known painters of the time. (See article by Joseph Chang in Orientations, May 2008 issue.)

Traces of China: The Japanese Transformation of Chinese Themes and Techniques
The Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture
Hanford, California
Until 2 August 2008
An exhibition focusing on the traces of China that are found in Japanese art. It presents Chinese themes like idealized landscapes and introduces also Chines painting and ceramic techniques that were employed in by Japanese artists. Ranging from the 14th century to the present day, this exhibition provides a lively account of China’s influence on Japanese art. A separate section of the exhibition presents a selection of bonsai trees, an art form that original derived from China and became an inevitable part of Japanese culture.

Muraqqa: Imperial Mughal Albums from the Chester Beatty Library, Dublin
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery
Washington, DC
Until 3 August 2008
Among the most remarkable of Mughal paintings and calligraphies are those commissioned by the Emperors Jahangir and Shah Jahan for display in lavish imperial albums. A window into the world-views of the emperors, these exquisite images depict the emperors, the imperial family in relaxed private settings, Sufi saints and mystics, allies and courtiers and natural history subjects. Many folios are full-page paintings with superb figural borders, other are collages of European, Persian and Mughal works collected by the emperors. Produced by the atelier's leading artists, they reveal the conceptual and artistic sophistication of the arts of the book at its apex in the early 17th century. The exhibition brings together 86 masterpieces - many not previously exhibited in the US - from the renowned collection of the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.

Vietnam: A Memorial Work by Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba
Asia Society
New York, New York
Until 3 August 2008

Memorial Project Nha Trang: Vietnam: Towards the Complex – For the Courageous, the Curious, and the Cowards
By Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba (b. 1968), 2001
Single-channel video projection and two sculptures
Vietnam: A Memorial Work by Jun Nguyen-Hatsushiba
Asia Society, New York

Ardeshir Mohasses: Art and Satire in Iran
Asia Society
New York, New York
Until 3 August 2008
An exhibition presenting more than 70 rarely-seen ink drawings completed by Ardeshir Mohasses between 1976 and 2000 that provide a unique insight into modern Iranian history.

Tapestry in Architecture: Creating Human Spacce
Japan Society Gallery
New York
Until 14 August 2008
Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University
Cambridge, Massachusetts
15 September – 14 November 2008
The Morikami Museum and Gardens
Delray Beach, Florida
16 December 2008 – 22 February 2009
American Institute of Architects Headquarters Gallery
Washington, DC
12 March – 26 June 2009
Organized as part of the year-long celebration of the 30th anniversary of the National Association of Japan-American Societies (NAJAS), this is the first US exhibition of the textile work of Japanese artist Mitsuko Asakura. Highlighting intricately woven, delicately patterned works specifically designed to complement architectural interiors, the exhibition showcases eleven hanging pieces replete with photos and a video essay depicting the creation process. The works were specifically commissioned by clients including Hie Shrine for its new building in downtown Tokyo, Pfizer Global Research and Development for its laboratories in Nagoya, Resona Bank in Osaka and more. Because the works are integral components of these buildings, rather than remove them for the exhibition, Asakura has painstakingly created exact copies to travel in the exhibition. The dramatic enhancement of these architectural spaces, ranging from a cutting-edge pharmaceutical laboratory in Nagoya, Japan to a shrine in Tokyo, with site specific tapestries is documented in the exhibition by large-format photographs that show some of the works in situ. In addition, a four-minute video shows Asakura working in her studio creating a tapestry from selecting the dyes to weaving on her traditional Japanese loom. A 60-page catalogue featuring an essay by Akira Tatehata, the director of the National Museum of Art in Osaka accompanies the show.

Bejing 2008: A Photographic Journey
China Institute Gallery
New York, USA
Until 17 August 2008
From the 15th century Forbidden City to the new titanium egg-shaped National Center for the Performing Arts, Beijing offers visitors some of the world's most stunning architectural views. This exhibition offers an architectural overview of this world famous city – the political, educational and cultural center of China. 60 photographs include contemporary images by 20 Chinese photographers from the Beijing City Photographers Association of buildings by some of the most important architects working today - the CCTV headquarters by Rem Koolhaas, the National Stadium (also called the Bird's Nest) by Herzog & de Meuron and Terminal 3 at the Beijing Capital International Airport conceived by Norman Foster. Providing historical context for some locations, photographs dating from the 1930s are exhibited beside the contemporary scenes.

National Center for the Performing Arts, also known as “The Egg.”
Designed by French architect, Paul Andreu
Completed 2007
Photograph: Liu Jinbiao, 2008
Bejing 2008: A Photographic Journey
China Institute Gallery

Beijing National Stadium, also known as “The Bird’s Nest.”
Designed by Swiss architectural firm Herzog & de Meuron
Completed 2008
Photograph: Wang Huiming, 2008
Bejing 2008: A Photographic Journey
China Institute Gallery

CCTV Headquarters
Designed by Dutch architects Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren
Completed 2008
Photograph: Fu Zhongqing, 2008
Bejing 2008: A Photographic Journey
China Institute Gallery

Later Chinese Jades: Ming Dynasty to Early Twentieth Century
Asian Art Museum
San Francisco, California
Until 17 August 2008
In 1996 the museum began a systematic study of the jades in the Avery Brundage collection with experts from China to survey the collection. Armed with a new understanding of the material, the museum has published a major catalogue focusing on the period from the beginning of the Ming period to the early 20th century. More than 73 superb examples of later jades are presented in a special installation to coincide with the publication.

Woven Splendor from Timbuktu to Tibet: Rugs and Textiles from New York Collectors
The New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West at 77th Street, New York
Until 17 August 2008
An exhibition featuring some 75 objects belonging to current Hajji Baba Club members, including world-renowned rugs, costume and other Near Eastern/Central Asian textiles. It will explore how rugs were produced and used in their countries of origin, as well as how Americans initially understood these objects. In addition to textiles, the show will incorporate photographs depicting Oriental rugs in the homes of club founders in the early 20th century and images revealing how such objects were originally made available through galleries and World's Fairs. A companion installation, `Orientalism in New York', will serve as a prelude to the exhibition, providing historical context by examining such fashion during the late 19th century. Through paintings, prints, photographs and books as well as silver, lighting, and metalwork - most from the Historical Society's extensive collections - the display will explore New Yorkers' fascination with the `Orient'. The installation will include paintings of Orientalist artists that hung in New York salons, as well as depictions of New Yorkers sporting traditional Middle Eastern dress and photographs of opulent New York interiors. It will also feature decorative arts inspired by the East, including Islamic-style silver made by Tiffany & Co. and Moorish-style chandeliers and lighting from Tiffany Studios.

A Tibet Expedition 1938: Selected Gifts from Two Explorers
Santa Barbara Museum of Art
Santa Barbara, California
Until 17 August 2008
In June 1938, two young Americans, Wilbur L. Cummings, Jr and F. Bailey Vanderhoef, Jr set off on an expedition into Tibet. Their principal goal was to document the religious art and the famous `lama dances’ in the city of Gyantse. The paintings, sculpture and ritual objects brought back from their trip were donated to the museum in 1954 and 1991 by the Cummings family and Bailey Vanderhoef and now form the core of the museum's Tibetan art collection. This exhibition commemorates the adventurers and their gifts in the context of their journey. It highlights select thangkas and a few objects accompanied by photographs and journal entries. The three-month trip included a six-week wait in Kalimpong, then British India, to gain permits to enter Tibet, then a rush to arrive in Gyantse in time for the Sagadawa festiaval and the viewing of the Great Thangka unveiling. Their photographs of this festival and the dramatic unveiling of the painting appeared a year later in the 12 June 1939 edition of Life and had the elite distinction of being some of the first colour images of Tibet to appear in the American popular press.
While their spirit of adventure fuelled the journey, it was their love and interest in art that ignited the flame. They wanted items that were distinctively Tibetan but typically many monasteries and wealthy families were not amenable to parting with religious icons. However, `the older the things were the less expensive they were and that of course suited us perfectly’.
The exhibition is presented concurrently with a special academic course focusing on Tibetan and Himalayan art at University of California, Santa Barbara. It also coincides with the online publication of A Glimpse of Another World: A Journey Through Western Tibet (1938) by F. Bailey Vanderhoef, Jr (www.religion.ucsb.edu/tibetjourney1938/).

Buddha in Paradise
The Rubin Museum of Art
Rubin Museum of Art
New York
Until 18 August 2008
Thirty paintings lay out the concept of `paradise' in Tibetan Buddhism, understood through different approaches and teachings, the most radical of which confronts us with the realization that paradise is all around us if we are able to perceive it. Poetry and writings by Buddhist masters, including texts that guide the passage from death to rebirth, are provided to accompany the visual communications of these ideas in paintings, textiles, and sculpture.

Earthly Immortals: Arhats in Tibetan Painting
Rubin Museum of Art
New York
Until 18 August 2008
This exhibition looks at this particular genre of painting to show how a distinctly Tibetan visual vocabulary was developed through the absorption of foreign ideas. Through more than 40 works of art, it shows that Tibet is a culture built on indigenous traditions infused with foreign ideas. By the 14th century, Chinese art and luxury goods were pouring into Tibet as a result of political ties with the Mongol emperors of China. This massive influx had a profound effect on the development of Tibetan painting, including the introduction of the Arhat painting genre to Tibet.

When Gold Blossoms: Indian Jewellery from the Susan L. Beningson Collection
Figge Art Museum
Davenport, Iowa
Until 24 August 2008
Museum of Fine Arts
St. Petersburg, Florida
13 September - 28 December 2008
Asia Society
Hong Kong
12 February - 10 May 2009
An exhibition showcasing more than 150 pieces of Indian jewellery dating from the 17th to 19th centuries from the Susan Beningson collection. It includes intricate rings, anklets, earrings, necklaces, hair pendants, ivory combs and jewelled crowns - a dazzling array of exquisite objects of adornment that reveal complex signals of communications and beliefs. Initially organized by the Asia Society and Museum, New York; the national tour is organized by the American Federation of Arts. A 142-page fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition.

Rhythms of India: Paintings by Nandalal Bose (1883-1966)
San Diego Museum of Art
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Until 1 September 2008
Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
31 May - 31 August 2009
National Gallery of Modern Art
New Delhi, India
Autumn 2009 - Winter 2010
The first comprehensive exhibition in the West of the prolific 20th-century Indian artist which explores his career. Considered the most influential pioneer, teacher and leader of modern art practice in India, Bose worked work closely with Mahatma Gandhi and was a central figure in India's transition to independence. The passages of India's modern history can be traced through some 139 works visual expressions created by one of the nation's most critical figures. Painting in a variety of styles with diverse media, Bose vividly captures the strength of India's spirit under British colonial rule and during its subsequent transition to an independent nation state. His paintings not only provide insights into the way India's non-violent struggle for independence from colonial rule was aided by the production of art and expressions of self-sufficiency, but they also contributed to the success of that movement of which he was a figurehead, especially as he worked closely with Mahatma Gandhi. The exhibition addresses key issues that have sparked academic interest and new scholarship in recent years, including transnational identity in the early 20th century Pan-Asian movement and the non-communalism of Indian art during the late colonial period. Paintings by Nandalal Bose exemplify the harmony resulting from modern transnational approaches blended with strong roots in traditions of the ancient past. Through the diverse and rich corpus of this remarkable artist, this exhibition reexamines the meaning of nationalism in modern India and presents for the first time in a major exhibition the history and ideals of an important twentieth-century world movement. It was accompanied by an international symposium on 15 April and a scholarly 240-page catalogue with an introduction by John M. Rosenfeld, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University and essays by Debashish Banerji, Pasadena City College; Sugata Bose, Harvard University; Pramod Chandra, Professor Emeritus, Harvard University; Sonya Quintanilla, Curator of Asian Art, SDMA; Kumamoto Kenjiro; translated by Louise Court, Freer-Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; R. Siva Kumar, Visva-Bharati Univeristy, Santiniketan; A. Ramachandran, Artist and Professor Emeritus, Jamia Milia Islamia University, New Delhi; K.G. Subramanyan, Artist and Professor Emeritus, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan. (See articles by Sonya Rhie Quintanilla and Supratik Bose in Orientations, March 2008 issue.)

A Connoisseur's Delights: Indian Paintings from the Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection
Los Angeles County Museum of Art
Los Angeles, California
Until 1 September 2008
An installation featuring a diverse selection of paintings from LACMA's renowned Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck Collection. Ranging in date from the 16th to 19th centuries, these paintings reflect several of the distinctive styles that flourished in the largely Hindu kingdoms of northern India and the Himalayan foothills. They also indicate the variety of subjects explored by India's courtly painters which included idealized depictions of gods and kings, romanticized images of women, visualizations of musical melodies, and illustrations inspired by South Asia's vast literary traditions. The paintings on view - several of them masterpieces which have not been shown in over a decade - highlight the richness of India's courtly artistic traditions. The title of the show refers to a well-known 16th century Hindi poem thus testifying to the extraordinary aesthetic discernment of the collectors Nasli and Alice Heeramaneck.

The Shape of Things: Chinese and Japanese Art from the Mr and Mrs John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection
Asia Society
New York, New York
Until 4 September 2008

Tea for Everyone: Japanese Popular Ceramics for Tea Drinking
The Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
Until 7 September 2008
This exhibition turns to a later moment in the history of tea when enjoyment of powdered tea became widespread among artisans, townspeople, even farmers. Numerous small, provincial kilns active in the 19th century provided attractive, affordable ceramics for preparing and sharing tea. This exhibition presents tea-leaf storage jars, water jars, tea bowls, tea cups and tea pots used by people of modest means.

Japanese Arts of the Edo Period, 1615 – 1868, Part II
Freer Gallery of Art
Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
Until 7 September 2008
The lively metropolis of Edo (modern Tokyo) grew rapidly around the castle of the Tokugawa shoguns and fostered a new popular urban culture that was distinct from the courtly culture of Kyoto, the traditional artistic centre of Japan. Many of the arts we regard today as traditional Japanese expressions flourished in the vibrant culture of the Edo period. Paintings, lacquer, and ceramics selected from the collection of the Freer Gallery of Art present a vivid glimpse of the vitality and energy of Edo Japan.

Afghanistan: Hidden Treasures from the National Museum, Kabul
National Gallery
Washington, DC
Until 7 September 2008
Asian Art Museum
San Francisco, California
24 October 2008 – 25 January 2009
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
Houston, Texas
22 February – 17 May 2009
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
23 June – 20 September 2009
Some 228 extraordinary artifacts unearthed in modern Afghanistan - most on view for the first time in the US - attest to the region's importance as a vital and ancient crossroads of trade routes known as the Silk Road, which stretched from Asia to the Mediterranean. Many of the objects were long thought to have been stolen or destroyed during some 25 years of conflict until they were dramatically recovered from a vault under the Presidential Palace in 2004. Dating back 2000 years and more, the works belong to the National Museum of Afghanistan, Kabul. The exhibition explores the cultural significance of the treasures and illustrates the story of their discovery, excavation, and heroic rescue.

Wedded Bliss: The Marriage of Art and Ceremony
Peabody Essex Museum
Salem, Massachusetts
Until 14 September 2008
This wide-ranging exploration of the wedding as an artistic inspiration across cultures, lifestyles and three centuries includes over 130 remarkable works of art and culture - including paintings, prints, jewelry, dresses and textiles, objects and a major multimedia installation inviting museum visitors to share their own wedding experiences with the public. All of the items in the exhibition have wonderful stories with significant emotional and historic connections to people, places and events. Attached to this message is a highlight of some of the Japanese objects featured in this remarkable exhibition.

Tradition Redefined: Modern and Contemporary Chinese Ink Paintings from the Chu-tsing Li Collection, 1950-2000
Phoenix Art Museum
Phoenix, Arizona
Until 14 September 2008
Norton Museum of Art
West Palm Beach, Florida
11 October 2008 - 4 January 2009
The University of Kansas, Spencer Museum of Art
Lawrence, Kansas
11 February - 24 May 2009
The exhibition is the first to present an overall, comprehensive picture of the development of modern and contemporary Chinese ink painting. Drawn from the private collection of distinguished Chinese art historian Chu-tsing Li, many of the 63 scrolls, albums and framed works by 35 Chinese artists have not previously been exhibited in the West. Assembled over the past 40 years, these paintings document the many profound changes that affected Chinese culture during the second half of the 20th century, when artists experimented with divergent traditional and modern East Asian and Western subject-matter, media, formats and styles. In examining this five-decade period, the exhibition demonstrates the dramatic evolution of Chinese ink painting in recent times and lays a foundation for understanding the international-style work that is being created in China today. In addition, the exhibition illustrates their graduate work in Chinese painting at the University of Kansas, studying with Chu-tsing Li. A fully-illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition and includes essays by the exhibition's three co-curators: Robert D. Mowry, Janet Baker and Claudia Brown, as well as by artist and independent scholar, Arnold Chang. Chun-yi Lee, ink-painter and graduate student in the history of Chinese art at Arizona State University, Tempe; and Melissa Moy, assistant curator of Chinese art, Harvard University Art Museums, also made important contributions to the catalogue. A symposium took place on 3 November.

Power & Glory: Courts Arts of China's Ming Dynasty
Asian Art Museum
San Francisco, California
Until 21 September 2008
Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indianapolis, Indiana
26 October – 11 January 2009
St. Louis Museum of Art
St. Louis, Missouri
22 February – 17 May 2009
An exhibition featuring for the first time outside China some 240 artworks from the great museums of Beijing, Nanjing and Shanghai. Jades, textiles, jewellery, lacquer, porcelain and paintings explore the grandeur and opulence of the Chinese dynasty especially renowned for its refined aesthetic and standards of perfection. The exhibition provides a rare opportunity to experience the breadth and depth of Ming achievement, through an unequalled collection of works from the Chinese dynasty most renowned for its refined aesthetic and standards of perfection. It is divided into seven themes related to different aspects of Ming court life: government and ranks; entertainment and hobbies; daily life; architecture and court environments; technology and innovation; religion and beliefs; and education and tradition. It opens with the intricate costume system that distinguished the Government and Ranks of the Ming ruling elite. Among the many ornaments on view is a brightly colored crown ornament consisting of a heart-shaped amber pendant flanked by two three-clawed gold dragons. The dragons grip the amber with tongs at the heads, rear legs, and overlapped tails. Around the dragons float whirling clouds that are inlaid with a ruby at the top and another at the bottom. Representing the symbolic color of the Ming dynasty, the red heart implies loyalty to the dynasty. This amber piece will be on view for the first time in the US. Artworks in the `Entertainment and Pastimes of the Ming dynasty court’ section include musical instruments, other accessories for amusements, and paintings depicting various pastimes of those in the court. Pillars from the Baoensi temple built by the Yongle emperor as a gesture of respect to his mother and father are among the works on view in `Architecture and Court Environments’. The next section, entitled `Technology and Innovation’, features remnants of the famed shipyards used to build the massive wooden nine-masted ships – the largest the world had seen at the time – sailed by Admiral Zheng He during his Ming government sponsored expeditions dating from 1405–1433. a foundry in Fengyang, the hometown of the first Ming emperor. Vessels, sutra covers, and other religious and ceremonial artworks comprise the Religion and Beliefs section and more than half the works in `Education and Tradition’ are paintings which illustrate the various stylistic influences on painters active at the Ming court.
It is organized and curated by Li He, Associate Curator of Chinese Art, and Michael Knight, Senior Curator of Chinese Art and Deputy Director of Strategic Programs and Partnerships. It is made possible by the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation.

Perspectives: Y.Z. Kami
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
Until 13 October 2008
An exhibition presenting two monumental portraits from Y.Z. Kami’s current series depicting individuals in meditation. Each subject, rendered with soft focus and simple palette, emanates a sense of peace and introspection. Kami draws on Eastern and Western aesthetic and mystical traditions to create large-scale works that explore the movement between the physical world and the inward spiritual journey. In his third and largest work on view, poetry and religious architecture also give form to the divine.

Red, Black, and Gold
The Rubin Museum of Art
Rubin Museum of Art
New York
Until 13 October 2008
The thirty paintings in this exhibition look at a painting style in which imagery created with freely drawn lines is placed on a solid ground of red, black or gold. Whereas almost all Tibetan painting is structured using a grid system, passed down through generations of artists, these paintings were done without using a grid. Lack of the grid system in this painting style is attributed to the use of the solid ground colour, which seems to preclude the use of the grid. As a result, lines are drawn entirely by free-hand, resulting in wildly energetic compositions and dramatically expressive imagery, including ethereal landscapes, flying and flowing garments, and leaping flames. The exhibition also explores the significance of these three solid ground colours, used to convey specific emotions. Red is used to express alarm, power and resolve; black conveys caution, fear and protection; and gold communicates wonder, wealth and opulence. These ground colours, combined with the kinetic power of the line imagery, have a strong emotional and psychological impact on viewers of these works of art.

From the Land of the Gods: Art of the Kathmandu Valley
and Nepal in Black and White: Photographs by Kevin Bubriski
Rubin Museum of Art
New York
Until 13 October 2008
These two exhibitions offer a nuanced exploration of Nepal - its art, culture, religious belief systems, people and politics - spanning from 1200 to the late 1980s. `From the Land of the Gods: Art of the Kathmandu Valley' draws from RMA's permanent collection, exhibiting more than 50 of the museum's finest examples of Nepalese sculpture, painting and ritual objects. Emphasis is on highlighting the variety of forms and subjects, techniques and media, which emerged from Nepal's creative matrix. The exhibition also touches on the main religious traditions of the Kathmandu Valley, Hinduism (Shaiva, Vaishnava, and Shakta) which have been an integral in the artistic and culturally rich environment. `Nepal in Black and White: Photographs by Kevin Bubriski' presents more than 30 photographs selected from Bubriski's large body of work produced over the last 35 years of his visits to Nepal. The exhibition is composed of his black and white photographs, taken in the mid-1970s and mid-1980s. Bubriski's first introduction to the country he would come to document over the years was as a Peace Corps volunteer working on drinking water supply pipelines in remote mountain villages. He carried a 35mm camera with him everywhere he went, taking photographs that would form the beginning of the body of work he built up over the following years. In 1984, Kevin Bubriski returned to Nepal as a photographer. This time, he carried with him a 4" x 5" view camera, a tripod, and the trappings of a mobile professional set-up, travelling the length and breadth of the country for the better part of three years. With unflinching clarity and sharp detail, the photographs show the changes that took place between the mid-1970s and mid-1980s, especially the influence of Western society on a previously isolated culture. In his words: The realization that not only my camera but also the modern world was, in turn, making ever-increasing intrusions into even the most remote areas of Nepal compelled me to document a time and way of life slipping inexorably into the past.

Padmapani Avalokiteshvara
Nepal, 13th century
Gilt copper alloy
Height 37.5 cm
`From the Land of the Gods: Art of the Kathmandu Valley and Nepal in Black and White: Photographs by Kevin Bubriski’
Rubin Museum of Art

Kancha Lama, Ngyak Village, Gorkha
By Kevin Bubriski, 1984
Gelatin silver print
Height 55 cm, width 45 cm.
Collection of Kevin Bubriski
`From the Land of the Gods: Art of the Kathmandu Valley and Nepal in Black and White: Photographs by Kevin Bubriski’
Rubin Museum of Art

Kalsang's Father, Dhinga Village, Jumla District
By Kevin Bubriskim, 1977
Gelatin silver print
Height 35 cm, width 45 cm
Collection of Kevin Bubriski
`From the Land of the Gods: Art of the Kathmandu Valley and Nepal in Black and White: Photographs by Kevin Bubriski’
Rubin Museum of Art

Gateway Bombay
Peabody Essex Museum
Salem, Massachusetts
Until January 2009
Bombay has served as home and vibrant inspiration for many artists, including Atul Dodiya, M.F. Husain, Bhupen Khakhar, Nalini Malani, Gieve Patel, and Sudhir Patwardhan-artists well-represented in the Museum's contemporary Indian art collection. This exhibition features works from the Herwitz collection and a dynamic installation in the Atrium by Bose Krishnamachari of video-enhanced tiffin carriers (Bombay's famous and ubiquitous lunch-boxes).

Asian Lacquer: Masterpieces from the Florence and Herbert Irving Collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
Until 11 May 2009
Ranging in size from small boxes for incense to larger containers for sake, and dating from the 14th to 19th century, the exquisite works in this exhibition also have cultural significance. Some are associated with the art of writing, others illustrate themes important in the history and literature of East Asia.

Perfect Imbalance, Exploring Chinese Aesthetics
Peabody Essex Museum
Salem, Massachusetts
Until 17 May 2009
Chinese culture is diverse, longstanding and ever-changing, and yet common ties still unite it. This exhibition offers an approach to understanding Chinese culture through a study and celebration of the aesthetics of Chinese art. Objects reveal key aesthetic clues that define the art of China, and distinguish it from art produced by neighbouring regions, or art made in China for the export market. These aesthetic standards prevailed with the passing of time and foreign influences. The exhibition features 30 objects that date from the Neolithic era to 2004 in a range of media including paintings, jade, textiles, porcelain and prints.

Beauty and Learning: Korean Painted Screens
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
Until 1 June 2009
A special installation of four magnificent Korean screens dating for the late 19th to the early 20th century and drawn from American collections. The exhibition highlights a unique genre of Korean painting known as ch'aekkori (books and things) which flourished in Korea from the late 18th to early 20th century. Portraying books and objects, they represent a scholar's studio. Approximately 20 objects, including ceramics and bronzes, similar to those illustrated in the screens, will complement the installation. This is the first exhibition to focus on the subject in the US.

Anatomy of a Masterpiece: How to Read Chinese Paintings
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
Until 10 August 2009
A visual installation analyzing what makes a work of art a masterpiece by juxtaposing Chinese paintings with enlarged photographic details. Focusing on as few as two or three weeks in each gallery, the exhibition studies 35 paintings and calligraphies from the museum's collection, drawing attention to telling details of style, composition or content. Spanning the 8th to 17th century, the display will examine many of its finest figure, flower and bird paintings, landscapes and those featuring religious subjects. Accompanied by an illustrated catalogue How to Read Chinese Paintings: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Tibetan Arms and Armor from the Permanent Collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
Until autumn 2009
An installation of approximately 35 highlights from the Met's extensive collection of rare and exquisitely decorated armour, weapons and equestrian equipment from Tibet and related areas of Mongolia and China, dating from the 15th to 20th century. Included are several recent acquisitions that have never been exhibited or published.

Taking Shape: Ceramics in Southeast Asia
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
Until 2010
Approximately 200 diverse and visually striking ceramic vessels from Southeast Asia will remain on display for three years in the Sackler connecting link, which joins the Sackler and the Freer. These clay pots and jars, made permanent by firing in bonfires or kilns, form the most enduring record of human activities, interactions and ideas about form and decoration in mainland Southeast Asia. Given to the Sackler between 1996 and 2005 by brothers Osborne and Victor Hauge and their wives Gratia and Takako, these remarkable objects provide the focus for a detailed narrative of the migration of pots from their makers to their users.

The Charm of Woodcut Seals and Chinese Calligraphy - Tseng-Yao (Terry) Sun
San Diego Chinese Historical Museum
San Diego, USA
Opens 31 May 2008
Until recently, intricate seals carved with a person's name in ancient script served as identification for nearly everyone in China and Japan. For centuries, artists have used these seals to authenticate paintings and calligraphy, and the emperor's seal once conveyed absolute authority. Today, leisure seals still add decoration to artwork and are enjoyed as works of art in their own right, imbued with profound meaning. However most of these original seals are very small. In the 1980s, Terry developed a technique of enlarging seal designs and carving them into wood, making a traditionally arcane and diminutive art more accessible to the general public. His calligraphy also emphasizes the beauty and meaning of the seals.

Re-View
Harvard Art Museum
Cambridge, USA
Opening 13 September 2008
Works from the Harvard Art Museum's three museums — the Fogg Museum, Busch-Reisinger Museum and Arthur M. Sackler Museum — are shown together for the first time and reflect the diversity and richness of these holdings. Included are highlights from the Asian art collection.

Symposium: Chinese Art in Texas
The Crow Collection of Asian Art
Dallas, Texas
12 July 2008
This event is part of a yearlong series that showcases works of art from some of the most prestigious private and public collections from throughout Texas, thus honoring the collecting spirit of the Crow family. Assembled from 39 Texas collections - including 31 private collectors and eight museums - this enterprise is the result of a lengthy statewide canvas of Asian art, and is the first time that Texas collections have been represented as a single genre at this institution. In conjunction with each exhibition, the Crow Collection has organized a series of lectures and conversations with curators and collectors who helped realize this important initiative. How these Texans, brought together for the first time, developed their own passion for the arts of Asia will be revealed and the curators will talk about their selections for these exhibitions. Reservations required. Each symposium is US$35 for Friends of the Crow Collection and students, US$50 for non-members. Register online at www.crowcollection.org or call 1 214-979-6436.

Seascapes/Sea Moods: Hiroshi Sugimoto
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
12 July 2008 – 25 January 2009
For the first time since the opening of the Freer Gallery of Art in 1923, works from the American collection will be shown with works from outside the museum. A series of nineteen pastels known as the `Sea Moods’ by Dwight Tyron will be juxtaposed six black and white photographs of the series `Seascapes’ by Hiroshi Sugimoto. Although the works are separated by history and medium, they are linked by a common subject – the sea – a concern with documenting the perceptual activity of the artist as well as a natural motif. The formal resonance between these two series will encourage quiet contemplation and allows viewers to discern aesthetic connections between the diverse artworks on view throughout the galleries.

A Hidden Chinese Art: Snuff Bottles
San Diego Chinese Historical Museum
San Diego, USA
26 July - 30 September 2008
An exhibition showcasing 42 19th and early 20th century snuff bottles that Peg Evans collected between 1937 and 1939 in China as well as some more modern pieces. Evan’s eldest daughter, Joan S. Campbell, and her brothers and sisters have donated their collection to the Chinese Historical Museum for this show. They comprise various materials such as carved stone, jade and ivory, metal, porcelain, cloisonné and glass, with the latter often featuring exquisitely detailed paintings on the interior.

Early Buddhist Manuscripts: The Palm-Leaf Tradition
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
29 July – 16 November 2008

Court Arts of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644)
Asian Art Museum
San Francisco, California
Summer 2008
Ming means `bright,' an appropriate title for China's last native-ruled dynasty. This dynasty came in to existence in 1368 when rebels overthrew the Mongol rulers of the preceding dynasty; it ended when Manchu invaders took the imperial capital in 1644. The 276 years of Ming rule were marked by stability, economic strength and a dramatic flourishing of the arts. This exhibition will explore the glories of the Ming dynasty imperial court through approximately 250 works of art selected from the collections of three museums in China and from the Avery Brundage collection at the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco.

Guests of the Hills: Travelers in Chinese Landscape Painting
Freer Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
23 August 2008 - 22 February 2009
This exhibition addresses the omnipresent depictions of recluses and recreational travellers in Chinese landscape painting over a 700 hundred year period, from the mid-11th to the mid-18th century. Chinese landscape painting held particular appeal for the scholar-official class, who were its primary creators and consumers, and it is populated with figures that represent their aspirations and ideals, such as the free-roaming mountain sage or gentleman living in retirement. While works on these themes predominate throughout the exhibition, other paintings were created during an actual excursion or journey, or as a gift for someone about to embark on a trip.

Landscape Clear and Radiant: The Art of Wang Hui (1632-1717)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
9 September 2008 - 4 January 2009
Wang Hui, the most celebrated painter of the 17th century China, played a key role in reinvigorating past tradition of landscape painting as well as in establishing the stylistic foundations of the imperially sponsored art of the Qing court. An artist of protean talent and immense artistic ambition, Wang's all-embracing synthesis of historical landscape styles marked one of the most innovative moments in the arts of the late imperial China. The exhibition will feature 27 masterpieces from Taipei and Beijing Palace Museums, the Shanghai Museum and the Tokyo National Museum, together with six outstanding works from the Met's permanent collection. Accompanied by a catalogue.

Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection
Berkeley Art Museum & Pacific Film Archive
Berkeley, California
10 September 2008 – 4 January 2009
A major exhibition of contemporary Chinese art draw from the collection of Uli Sigg, a Swiss collection whose close links with China since the late 1970s have enabled him to build a collection that is unrivaled in quality, scope and size. The exhibition will feature a selection of approximately 120 works by 92 artists including exceptional paintings, drawings, sculptures, photographs, video works and installations spanning four decades. It serves as a development of contemporary art beginning with Socialist Realist paintings and illustrates the avant-garde movements of the 1980s and early 1990s and also includes works by a generation of artists who have emerged following China's social and political reforms of the past decade. All the major developments in contemporary Chinese art are represented by pivotal works by artists such as Liu Wei, Huang Yan, Ai Weiwei, Weng Fen, Yue Min Jun, Wang Du, Zhang Xiaogang, Xu Bing and Zhang Huan as well as a number of artists still largely unknown outside China.

Ai Weiwei
Map of China 2003
Ironwood
4 ft. 9 in. x 6 ft. 5 ½ in. x 1 ft. 8 in.
`Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection’

Shi Xinning
Duchamp Retrospective Exhibition in China 2000–01
Oil on canvas
3 ft. 3 ½ in. x 3 ft. 3 ½ in.
`Mahjong: Contemporary Chinese Art from the Sigg Collection’

Falnama: The Book of Omens
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
12 September 2009 - 3 January 2010
Whether by consulting the position of the planets, casting horoscopes, or interpreting dreams, the art of divination was widely practised throughout the Islamic world. The most splendid tools ever devised to foretell the future were a type of illustrated texts known as the Falnama (Book of Omens). Notable for their monumental size, brilliantly painted compositions, and unusual subject matter, the manuscripts, created in Safavid Iran and Ottoman Turkey in the 16th and early 17th centuries, are the centre piece of the exhibition. This is the first exhibition ever devoted to these extraordinary illustrated texts, which remain largely unpublished, and sheds new light on their artistic, cultural and pious significance. It comprises some sixty works of art on loan from international public and private collections and is accompanied by a multi-authored, fully illustrated catalogue.

The Dragon's Gift: The Arts of Bhutan
The Rubin Museum of Art
New York
19 September 2008 - 5 January 2009
Asian Art Museum of San Francisco
San Francisco, California
Spring 2009
A groundbreaking exhibition of rare religious Buddhist art with a special focus on ancient ritual Buddhist dances which have been preserved intact in Bhutan. The exhibition coincides with the end of the lunar year marking the 100th anniversary of the Royal Wangchuk dynasty in Bhutan. A catalogue will include essays by leading scholars on the history, cultural traditions and artistic techniques of Bhutan with detailed entries on each exhibition object included in the exhibition. Objects in the exhibition will comprise primarily paintings, sculptures, clay, stone and metalwork, textiles and ritual objects. The focus is on the religious Buddhist arts of Bhutan but it also incorporates the performing arts such as ancient ritual dances. It will also include a component on the traditional crafts of Bhutan, such as clay sculpture, textile weaving and metal work. In addition to the presentation of objects, a full program of lectures, films and demonstrations of dance and indigenous crafts during the run of the exhibition in Honolulu. After debuting at the Academy, the exhibition will travel to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco and Rubin Museum in New York. (See articles in Orientations, January/February 2008.)

Writing with Thread: Traditional Textiles of Southwest Chinese Minorities
University of Hawaii Art Gallery
Manoa, Hawaii
21 September - 30 November 2008
Chazen Art Museum, University of Wisconsin
Wisconsin, Madison
31 January – 12 April 2009
Museum of International Folk Art
Santa Fe, New Mexico
15 May - 16 August 2009
This exhibition features a selection of more than 500 objects including historically significant clothing and silver ornaments from a collection of southwest Chinese ethnic minority costumes. The costumes from 15 ethnic groups and nearly 100 subgroups to be shown in the US for the first time are on loan from the Evergrand Art Museum in Taiwan. Featured are entire ensembles of women’s, men’s and children’s regalia, baby carriers, quilt covers, festive and religious vestments, silver jewellery, embroidered silk valences and wax-resist dyed curtains, plus a loom, weaving tools and embroidery cases. The meanings associated with the production and use of indigenous clothing are explored and the textiles provide tangible evidence of a group's history, myths, and legends. The signs and patterns woven or embroidered in their clothing are often replicated in the accompanying silver ornaments made by men. Together the textiles and silver ornaments complement their oral traditions, record and transmit ideas and concepts that are important for the preservation and reconstruction the identities of their makers and users. Costumes from the Miao, Yi, Dong, Tujia, Shui, Zhuang, Dai, Buyi, Yao, Wa and Zang will be shown alongside needlework and silverwork of each ethnic group which reveal their myths of origin and heroic combats, communal memories, and wish fulfillment. Accompanied by a scholarly catalogue.

Symposium: Writing with Thread
Textile Society of America at the University of Hawaii
Manoa, Hawaii
24 – 27 September 2008
The society’s biennial will be attended by hundreds of textile specialists, curators from many of the most distinguished museums and scholars from around the world. They will share research and observe and learn about Hawaii's own multifaceted textile traditions.

Autumn Colors: Japanese Paintings from the Edo Period
The Walter Art Museum
Baltimore, Maryland
27 September - 30 November 2008

Erasing Borders 2008: Passport to Contemporary Indian Art of the Diaspora
Indo-American Arts Council, Inc.
Queens Museum of Art
Flushing Meadows, Corona Park, New York
October 2008
Reaching across today's political boundaries, this exhibition has been organized by Aroon Shivdasani who comes from Sindh, now part of Pakistan. Also from Sindh came Sindhbad's stories and here we see artists and inheritors of these lands crossing political limitations and religion, erasing border histories, and converging on common beloved experiences to tell us travellers' tales. This migration carries stories of what used to be, of partition, colonial theft, divorced borders, marriages across faiths, across class. They originate from lands overwhelmed with art and this brimming energy exploded across canvas, clay and film. These artworks, some simple, some highly accomplished, were chosen with one criterion: Do they erase borders between India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka? Laughter, irony, mockery and anguish are there, especially after 9/11, after Iraq, after racial profiling. Race, colour, religion have become major parameters to measure humankind. How did they see their world and how would they depict it? This exhibition provides some glimpses. While somewhat unrelated Sanskrit or Islamic symbols do lurk, basically the show represents now: People who belong together, who officials term 'South Asian', a term unknown in the Indian subcontinent. And so Siona Benjamin draws fine pictures of Leah and Rachel with Krishna's luminous dark blue skin - detailed like miniatures but with the spare spaces and emptiness of modern experiences. Coming from the only Jews in the world who have always known safety, Siona said her childhood was never discolored with prejudice or ripped by Europe's bloody Holocaust. The Indian Benes were free. There is a smoke and light filled picture of Kathak dancers by New Yorker Veru Narula. Kathak was danced while worshiping Krishna but later was truly loved by Muslim rulers. Here dancers in gorgeous, bright tradition continue undaunted amidst poisonous fumes from an explosion in a temple. They continue dancing but wear gas masks. Pakistan's Amina Ahmed's 'Root #1' shows a long hank of hair, heavy with tales of social attitudes. Long hair is admired and both Islam and Sikhism have so many standards defining who should cover their hair, to what degree, how it should be grown, who must sport it on faces and who must remove it. Fariba Alam's striking 'The Night Journey', with its dark, poignant and mysterious tiles, speaks of lovely old mosques and shows females without faces looking up at Urdu fonts. However Bangladeshi women were often feisty feminists who made sure that society respected them! Shelly Bahl's 'Karma Chameleon', plays on Boy George's song and shows the fine art of drawing with playful karaoke-like images and manga figures with lucid, beautifully delineated expressions. The torn, scattered maps in Bushra Chaudry's 'Broken Borders VIII' speak of unspeakable politics, of grief and loss and the ever present, imminent possibility of the demolition of this world. Suhas Tavkar's rare craft shows a unique relationship between the human form and the human touch that created it. He uses his nails on card paper to create slow, painful art that permits no mistake, there is no going back. For Indians, the Golden Age is the Gupta period and here he recreates it. Prince Varughese Thomas incorporates photography and digital techniques in 'Fashion Accessories'. Born in Kuwait, he grew up in India and in the United States. His 'For Regret' is grey and black with an old Indian fort and floating red balloons. What does he regret? A secure history, rosy, floating hopes? Reuben Sinha's 'Sujata' is speckled with symbols and alphabets. He remembers writing Hindi as a child and his fascination with fonts on billboards and in his mother's letters to his father. Now he creates font-like symbols without formal meanings. He incorporates etching and draws figures, after delving into the mysteries and power of Tantric art.

The Last Emperor's Collection: Masterpieces of Painting and Calligraphy from Liaoning Provincial Museum
China Institute Gallery
New York, USA
25 September – 14 December 2008
The 26 objects in this exhibition are from the Ming to Qing period and include handscrolls and a hanging scroll, as well as reproductions of the imperial catalogues of the works. They represent some of the most treasured painting and calligraphy from their periods in China. A BR> In the early twentieth century, China's last emperor, Pu Yi, sold off and dispersed countless palace treasures. Since 1949, however, the Liaoning Provincial Museum has successfully reassembled a large part of that collection, ranging from the earliest masterworks of painting and calligraphy created in the Eastern Jin dynasty to works from the Qing dynasty. The museum's holdings in this area, formed mainly from the imperial collection, have made it one of the top-ranked museums in China after the Palace Museum in Beijing. This project will provide an extraordinary opportunity to bring these world-renowned treasures to the US for the first time in a single exhibition, offering a rare chance to introduce the famed collection to the American public. It will introduce an understudied topic in Chinese art: the history of imperial collecting by looking at the impact of imperial collecting on the contemporary art world and society, specifically looking at those emperors who were noted as passionate collectors. In addition, the exhibition will give insight into the imperial collection management system and illustrate critical standards used in the appreciation and recording of the works at that time. A fully-illustrated bilingual catalogue will accompany the exhibition.

New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters
Japan Society Gallery
New York, USA
4 October 2008 - 11 January 2009
A striking introductory display featuring bamboo works by Kawana Tetsunori and Stephen Talasnik will be mounted in the lobby of the Japan Society’s landmark modernist building. An igloo-like bamboo structure by Kawana will merge with the actual bamboo plants in the lobby pond and Talasnik’s bamboo sculpture will interact with the waterfall and form an intriguing comparison with Kawana’s ikebana-based aesthetic. The main exhibition on the second floor features Matsumoto Hafu’s most recent work titled Flower Basket, first as the container to a large flower-arrangement but thereafter purely as a sculpture, emphasizing the close connection between traditional basketry and its contemporary application to non-functional artistic expression. The theme of transition from container to sculpture is further explored in the work of Honma Kazuaki and his son Honma Hideaki. Kazuaki has been creating sculptural work since 1965 but he also continues to weave flower baskets. His rhythmically curved sculptures seem strongly rooted in traditional technique. His son Hideaki’s sculptures, most often made from long bands, woven in a range of techniques, that are then twisted into their final form, mark a further departure from traditional styles.
The second section of the exhibition focuses on the work of a group of senior figures, resident in different parts of Japan, who were among the first to make the transition from container to abstract sculpture. Yamaguchi Ry?un specializes in unstained bamboo works inspired by wave forms and made from many strands of finely split bamboo secured at the edge and across with rattan stitching. A scion of the most classical of basketry traditions, the Tanabe dynasty of Sakai, Osaka, Tanabe Sh?chiku III is an international ambassador for his art. Like his mother Tanabe Mitsuko, he creates two entirely distinct types of work: refined, tightly woven flower containers for use in the tea ceremony and striking, often very large, sculptures woven from his signature medium of mottled `tiger’ bamboo.
The next section is devoted to two singular artists, as yet virtually unknown outside Japan, who are pushing at the limits of conventional bamboo sculpture. Ikeda Iwao was born into a basket-weaving family but later trained as a lacquerer, making exquisitely decorated boxes for use in the tea ceremony. Ikeda has now abandoned such detailed work in favour of a revolutionary mode of expression, first painstakingly applying many layers of polished lacquer to whole bamboo stems, then smashing the resulting forms to create random sculptures some of which have to be especially re-assembled each time they are displayed. Uematsu Chikuy? is remarkable not only for his legendary commitment to technical perfection but also for his ambition to create works that combine extreme precision with large scale. To create one of his recent monumental sculptures he tied both ends of 1,240 thin bamboo splints to two long strips of bamboo to form a twenty-foot-long band which he twisted into a knot to create the final form.
The last section focuses on the work of mainly younger artists whose experimentation with new types of bamboo art is for the most part unconditioned by the container tradition. Kawashima Shigeo combines bamboo with cotton ties in intriguing works that are miniature expressions of ambitious outdoor installations. Ueno Masao is a former architect who combines environmental activism and an extreme faithfulness to his chosen material—which he grows, harvests, seasons, treats and splits himself with no outside assistance — with a thoroughly modern exploitation of computer-aided design. Honda Sh?ry? is the most senior of a group living in the hot-spring town and bamboo center of Beppu in ?ita Prefecture. He first came to prominence in 1981 when he won an award at the Western Division of the Japan Traditional Craft Art Association, but his career stalled thereafter because interest in bamboo art among Japanese collectors declined, and because he failed to secure acceptance at four Association exhibitions, the total necessary to achieve full membership of that exclusive grouping. Thanks to the patronage of prominent American collector Lloyd Cotsen, Honda was eventually admitted to the rival Nitten exhibition, whose judges admired his revolutionary approach to basketry. Oki Toshie was the very last student of revered basketmaker Iizuka Sh?kansai, a Living National Treasure of Japan and an artist deeply revered by many of the individuals represented in this show. She has assumed a heavy responsibility in taking on this challenge but her bold transition from vessel to sculpture will eloquently encapsulate New Bamboo’s mission to encourage Japan's contemporary bamboo artists to continue with their move towards innovative modes of expression for their ancient craft.

`New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters’
Japan Society

`New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters’
Japan Society

`New Bamboo: Contemporary Japanese Masters’
Japan Society

77 Dances: Japanese Calligraphy by Poets, Monks and Scholars, 1568-1868
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
Delray Beach, Florida
7 October - 30 November 2008
With more than 70 hanging scrolls, handscrolls, fan paintings, albums, poem cards and ceramics, the exhibition examines the flowering of the art of writing during Japan's early modern period. It also explores the personalities of poets in classical waka and haiku form, Chinese-style masters, Confucian scholars, literati artists and Zen monks. Accompanying the exhibition will be a series of workshops and lectures on the tea ceremony, bunraku puppets, Haiku and creating `77 Dances'. More details can be found at the museum's website

Garden and Cosmos: The Royal Paintings of Jodhpur
Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution
Washington, DC
11 October 2008 - 4 January 2009
Newly discovered paintings from the royal collection of Jodhpur form the core of this groundbreaking exhibition of 61 paintings and a silk-embroidered tent. From the desert palace at Nagaur the paintings reveal the emergence of a uniquely sensuous garden aesthetic in the 18th century; these delightful images present royal pastimes and the divine exploits of Hindu deities Krishna and Rama. The exhibition explores the dramatic shift that occurred in 19th century Jodhpur, when paintings of yoga philosophy led to a sublimely minimal aesthetic; these startling images, 4 feet in width, are unprecedented in Indian art. Ten 17th-century Jodhpur paintings borrowed from museum collections in India, Europe and the US reveal the idiom from which the innovations of later Jodhpur painting emerged.

2008 Hadrian Award
World Monuments Fund
at The Plaza, New York
16 October 2008
Dinner and ceremony to award Houghton and Doreen Freeman and the Freeman Foundation for their extraordinary commitment to historic preservation in China and Japan.

Symposium: Japanese Folk Art in Texas
The Crow Collection of Asian Art
Dallas, Texas
18 October 2008
This event is part of a yearlong series that showcases works of art from some of the most prestigious private and public collections from throughout Texas, thus honoring the collecting spirit of the Crow family. Assembled from 39 Texas collections - including 31 private collectors and eight museums - this enterprise is the result of a lengthy statewide canvas of Asian art. In conjunction with each exhibition, the Crow Collection has organized a series of lectures and conversations with curators and collectors who helped realize this important initiative. How these Texans, brought together for the first time, developed their own passion for the arts of Asia will be revealed and the curators will talk about their selections for these exhibitions. Reservations required. Each symposium is US$35 for Friends of the Crow Collection and students, US$50 for non-members. Register online at www.crowcollection.org or call 1 214-979-6436.

The Art of Samurai
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
21 October 2008 - 11 January 2009
This is the first comprehensive exhibition devoted to the arts of the samurai. Japanese arms and armour will be the principal focus, bringing together the finest examples of armour, swords and sword mountings, archery equipment and firearms, equestrian equipment, banners, surcoats and related accessories of rank such as fans and batons. Drawn entirely from public and private collections in Japan, the majority of objects date from the early medieval Heian period through the early modern Edo period. The martial skills and daily life of the samurai and their governing lords, the daimyo, will also be evoked through the presence of painted scrolls and screens, depicting battles and martial sports, castles and portraits of individual warriors. The exhibition concludes with a related display documenting the recent restoration in Japan of a selection of arms and armour in the Met's collection - the first ever to focus on the subject of conservation of this material. Accompanied by a catalogue.

Treasures Rediscovered: Chinese Stone Sculpture from the Sackler Collections at Columbia University
University of Virginia Art Museum
Richmond, Virginia
29 October - 21 December 2008
Ringling Museum of Art
Sarasota, Florida
February - April 2009
University of Michigan Museum of Art
1 August - 11 October 2009
This exhibition marks the first time that a major aspect of the gift of Arthur M. Sackler is on view since the collection was presented to the university some decades ago. (See articles by Eileen Hsu and Leo Swergold in Orientations, March 2008 issue.)

Kimono as Art: The Landscapes of Itchiku Kubota
San Diego Museum of Art
San Diego, USA
1 November 2008 - 4 January 2009
An exhibition featuring the work of internationally recognized Japanese textile artist and kimono designer, Itchiku Kubota. Kubota used a variety of traditional techniques and unique personal innovations to create shimmering, abstract landscapes through a complex layering of dyes and inks on monumentally-scaled kimono. Included in the exhibition are a selection of kimono from his Mt. Fuji series presented as three views of Japan’s most famous mountain at different times of day. The centerpiece of the exhibition and Kubota's life work is `Symphony of Light’, a dramatic 30-piece presentation of kimono placed side-by-side depicting the four seasons. The subtle changes of colour and the quality of light achieved through skilful dyeing and the clever exploitation of the light-reflective properties of silk make this a breathtaking installation. In addition, a selection of Kubota's individual works will round out the exhibition. Dale Gluckman is the guest curator.

Symposium: Contemporary Asian Art in Texas
The Crow Collection of Asian Art
Dallas, Texas
8 November 2008
This event is part of a yearlong series that showcases works of art from some of the most prestigious private and public collections from throughout Texas, thus honoring the collecting spirit of the Crow family. Assembled from 39 Texas collections - including 31 private collectors and eight museums - this enterprise is the result of a lengthy statewide canvas of Asian art, and is the first time that Texas collections have been represented as a single genre at this institution. In conjunction with each exhibition, the Crow Collection has organized a series of lectures and conversations with curators and collectors who helped realize this important initiative. How these Texans, brought together for the first time, developed their own passion for the arts of Asia will be revealed and the curators will talk about their selections for these exhibitions. Reservations required. Each symposium is US$35 for Friends of the Crow Collection and students, US$50 for non-members. Register online at www.crowcollection.org or call 1 214-979-6436.

Dream Weaver: the Bamboo Art of Jiro Yonezawa
The Rubin Museum of Art
Rubin Museum of Art
New York
6 February - 13 July 2009
Of all the Tibetan painting traditions, the Karma Gardri, or `the Painting Style of the Karma-pa Encampment', drew the most heavily on Chinese painting for inspiration. It was established by the Tibetan painter Namka Tashi in the court of the 9th Karmapa during the second half of the 16th century. Namka Tashi looked to Indian bronzes as figural models in painting, placing them in heavily Chinese inspired landscapes based on products of the Yuan and Ming courts. However, most of what we know of this tradition belongs to the 18th century New Gardri tradition fostered by the great scholar-painter Situ Panchen Chokyi Jungne in Eastern Tibet. Even more important to the history of Tibetan art than Situ Panchen's place as an individual painter is his role as a patron and designer of paintings, many of which continue to be copied down to this day.

Korean Art under Confucian Kings, ca. 1400-1600
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
New York
17 March – 21 June 2009

Symposium in honour of Professor Yoshiaki Shimizu
P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art, Princeton University
Princeton, New Jersey
18 - 19 April 2009
This symposium, organized by the Tang Center, will honour Yoshiaki Shimizu, Frederick Marquand Professor of Art and Archaeology, who will retire after more than 25 years of teaching at Princeton. Professor Shimizu's graduate students, past and present, will offer papers on their recent research. Details about the symposium will be announced in the autumn.

The Last Emperor’s Collection: Masterpieces of Painting and Calligraphy from Liaoning Provincial Museum
Taft Museum of Art
Cincinnati, Ohio
29 May – 2 August 2009
China Institute
New York
25 September – 14 December 2009
Liaoning Provincial Museum is famed for its world known painting and calligraphy collection which mainly from the previous Qing Palace collection. Drawn from this renowned collection and seen for the first time in the US, this exhibition will present 34 painting/calligraphy/imperial catalogue from the former Imperial Collection of the Ming and Qing dynasties. This collection was dispersed by the last emperor Pu Yi in the early 20th century and is now partially held by the Liaoning Provincial Museum. With an innovative approach, the exhibition will give an insightful analysis of the selected masterpieces, as well as explore the history of imperial collecting, the emperor connoisseurs and collection management. The bilingual exhibition catalog will be one of the first important publications to provide in-depth research on the imperial collection.

Cloisonne Enamels from the Stephen W. Fisher Collection
The Walter Art Museum
Baltimore, Maryland
28 June - 30 August 2009

Ganesha: The Elephant-Headed God
The Rubin Museum of Art
New York, New York
Autumn 2009
The elephant-headed Ganesh is often said to be the most popular deity in India. Ganesh is arguably also the most familiar Hindu god to Westerners, who favour him with a singular affection. Yet Ganesh's role in Buddhism, particularly that of the Tantric Buddhism practiced in the Himalayan region, in which his playful nature was transformed into something more sinister, is virtually unknown outside the sphere of practitioners and academics. Concentrating on the art of India, Nepal and Tibet, this exhibition will examine the multiplicity of Ganesh's character and his change, in form and persona, over time and through various religions. Approximately 65 objects - sculptures, paintings, manuscripts and other ritual tools dating from the 1st century BCE to the 19th century - will be complemented by a multimedia installation of the annual Ganesh festival in Mumbai, which reveals the fervent devotion that continues to surround Ganesh in contemporary India.

Barbarian Kingdoms: Ancient Treasures of South and Southwest China
The Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, Illinois
3 April - 5 July 2010
This first comprehensive exhibition to be held in North America of the ancient art and culture of Southwest China features more than 150 works of art from the Bronze Age Kingdom of Dian which emerged as a major power during the 4th century BCE and flourished for nearly 500 years. Objects made of bronze, gold, lacquer and jade reveal the superb artistry of the Dian and provide an unparalled picture of their customs, rituals and beliefs. Ancient Yunnan's material culture as well as its spiritual world is explored thus heightening awareness through this complex and intriguing art of ancient China of the role that Yunnan has played in the cultural history of Asia. Also included are objects from neighbouring regions in China and Southeast Asia that show Yunnan's position in a large network of cultural interaction.

UNITED KINGDOM

Asia House
Moved to New Headquarters
63 New Cavendish Street
London W1G 7LP
Opened 26 August 2005
The refurbishment of the new headquarters in a Grade II listed building off Portland Place is now complete. Asia House is one of the premier pan-Asian organizations in Britain, promoting a greater understanding of the rich and varied Asian cultures and economies. The new headquarters has a museum-standard visual arts gallery, spaces for conferences, cultural and corporate events and a cafe serving Asian cuisine. It will be the centre for all who have an interest in developing their contacts and their understanding of business, diplomatic and cultural interaction between Asia and Britain. Contact details: tel: 44 20 7307 5454; fax: 44 20 7307 5459; email: enquiries@asiahouse.co.uk or visit their website.

Objects of Instruction: Treasures of the School of Oriental and African Studies
Brunei Gallery, The University of London London, England
Opened 10 October 2007
(See articles in Orientations, November/December 2007.)

China Design Now
Victoria and Albert Museum
London, England
Until 13 July 2008

Cincinnati Art Museum
Cincinnati, Ohio
18 October 2008 – 11 January 2009
Tomie Ohtake InstituteM
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Portland Art Museum
This is the first exhibition to explore the recent explosion of new design in China, where dynamic economic development and rapid cultural change are fueling unprecedented innovation in the country’s design industries. The exhibition features the work of the top Chinese fashion designers, graphic artists, and architects — as well as major projects in China by Western architects and designers — exploring how Chinese designers are mixing global influences with their own perspectives and history. It is structured in three sections, leading visitors on a journey along China’s eastern coast: through Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Beijing. Each city is a starting point for the exploration of different design fields—graphic design and visual culture in Shenzhen, fashion and lifestyle in Shanghai, and architecture and urban spaces in Beijing. It showcases over 250 objects across architecture, fashion and graphic design, as well as film, photography, product and furniture design, youth culture and digital media. This exhibition enables visitors to explore how China’s design and consumer dreams began, how and why they are developing, and—most importantly—where they are going.

Masked Unmasked - Work by Wuon-Gean Ho
Asia House Gallery
London, England
Until 9 August 2008
Wuon-Gean Ho’s series of masked faces peels away the surface layers of social pretences to focus on inner emotions and past histories. These vibrant, hand-made silkscreen prints possess a texture evoking the tactility of skin. Powerful gestural marks and sharp lines dominate the faces, creating narratives for the viewer’s contemplation.

A Darkness Visible: Afghanistan
Asia House Gallery
London, England
1 July - 13 September 2008
Photographs of Afghanistan by Seamus Murphy who from 1994 to 2007 photographed the effects of the Taliban regime, the tumultuous years of civil war and the historical elections following the fall of the Taliban. Alongside scenes of war and politics, his magnificent photographs capture intimate images of domesticity, work and leisure.

Images of Devotion: Tibetan Buddhist Miniature Paintings from Mongolia
The Museum of East Asian Art
Bath, UK
Opening 9 September 2008
A presentation of a series of Tibetan Buddhist miniature paintings from Mongolia, where the Tibetan form of Buddhism is the dominant religion. Commonly called tsagli, these miniatures serve as teaching aides, meditation tools, offerings and talismans; and can be used in various ceremonies.
The museum will also host a visit by Tibetan Buddhist monks from the Tashi Lhunpo Monastery from 14 to 19 October. The monks will spend six days creating a sand mandala, which they will destroy in a traditional ritual during a ceremony of chanting and music. This will form the centrepiece of the Cosmic Design: Tibetan Mandala exhibition. The Tashi Lhunpo monks will also be holding a series of workshops relating to Tibetan art at this time.

New Galleries for Asian Buddhist Sculpture
The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Gallery
Opening spring 2009
The suite of four day-lit galleries, situated alongside the V&A's John Madejski Garden, will display highlights from the museum's unrivalled collections of Asian Buddhist sculpture. Around 60 sculptures created by anonymous master craftsmen between 200 and 1850 will go on display in the refurbished galleries to explore the many ways in which the Buddha has been represented in the arts of Asia. The sculptures will be arranged in geographic groupings to demonstrate the diversity of artistic expression across India, Sri Lanka, the Himalayas, Burma, Thailand, China and Japan. The new display will include the majestic gilt bronze Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara from 14th century Nepal, a monumental gilt bronze seated Buddha from Tibet, a protective standing Buddha from Ayutthaya in Thailand, and a 6th century marble torso of the Buddha from Tang China, as well as associated images of Bodhisattvas Guardians and Taras. The South Asian sculptures will be displayed alongside recently restored 19th century oil paintings which record the 6th century murals of the great rock-cut Buddhist shrines of Ajanta in central India. Contextual background will also be provided for Southeast Asian works through displays of life-sized copies of the world famous sculptural reliefs from the 8th century Buddhist temple of Borobudur in Java. The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Gallery is part of the V&A's Future Plan to transform the museum through new galleries and beautiful redisplays of its collections. The gallery has been made possible by a generous lead donation from the Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation and a grant of £300,000 from the DCMS/Wolfson Museum and Galleries Improvement Fund.

EUROPE

Peach Blossom and Mohammedan Blue
Gyorgy Rath Museum
Budapest, Hungary
Permanent exhibition
Drawn from the Chinese collection of the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Eastern Asiatic Arts, the exhibition displays the major types of objects and techniques of the last 2000 years of Chinese ceramics in chronological order. The funerary ceramic objects represent the 7th-9th century Chinese conception of the otherworld. Most of these figures show scenes of everyday life; they depict people, animals and buildings giving the visitor an insight into the life of this period in China. The classical period of Chinese ceramics from 10th and the 13th centuries is represented by the subdued harmony and beauty of Ding, Jun, Qingbai, Cizhou and Longquan ceramics wares. Ceramic figures of mythical animals and grotesque-faced anthropomorphic creatures in dynamic movement were used as finial elements enhancing buildings. However the underglaze blue decoration is the most significant inventions of the ceramic potters. From the end of the 14th century, tens of thousands of imperial porcelain wares were produced in Jingdezhen which also became the centre of export wares.
The last great period of the 18th century saw the production of monochrome porcelains and those decorated with overglaze polychrome enamels. The exhibition includes wares that reflect the great variety of forms, perfection of technique and beauty characteristic of the wares produced in the Qing period. The last section of the exhibition gives an insight into the trade of Chinese ceramics for the palaces of the English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Netherlander and the aristocrats.

New Oriental Gallery in Dresden
Zwinger Royal Porcelain Collection
Dresden, Germany
Opened 14 October 2006
The new gallery of the collection was designed by architect Peter Marino. He has used 18th century forms with modern interpretation of the baroque. The gallery will display the Chinese and Japanese porcelain collection of Augustus the Strong. For more information on the display, visit skd-dresden.de.

Islamic Art at the Musee du Cinquantenaire
Royal Museums of Art and History
Brussels, Belgium
Opened 22 February 2008
Following the positive response to an exhibition `Art of Islam in the Belgian collections' in 2003 and 2004, a new venue designed by architects Anne Pire and Jan Goots now displays some 340 of the 1200 objects from the museum's collection and some 200 weapons from the Musée de l'Armée. One view are Iranian textiles and those from central Asia, with its lampas that look like miniatures; Sassanian ceramics, glossy ceramics from Kashan, tiles from Iznik; ancient glass of the Mameluks; metal objects, the art of stonework, miniatures and books are also represented. Decorative wood fragments from a small mosque in North-Western Pakistan, as well as three columns from the same region, acquired by the Royal Museums of Art and History between 1992 and 1996, are set up in the room to form an ensemble that will be one A catalogue in preparation will be available by mid 2009.

Takahashi Setsurô - Creation Myths
Museum für Lackkunst
Muenster, Germany
Until 27 July 2008
In addition to its wide-ranging permanent collection, the museum of BASF Coatings AG, which is unique for its specialization in lacquer art of East and South Asia, Europe and the Islamic world, regularly presents special exhibitions focusing on particular aspects of both traditional and modern lacquer work. This exhibition, devoted entirely to the recently deceased Japanese lacquer artist Takahashi Setsurô, reveals that his work is extraordinarily diverse. He applied a wide variety of decorative techniques with brilliant virtuosity, especially the engraving technique chinkin-bori filled with gold leaf on deep-black lacquer grounds. He achieved masterfully exquisite effects. Large two-fold standing screens and panels, sculptures made with so-called dry lacquer, incense boxes and other objects artfully decorated in traditional sprinkling techniques and with mother-of-pearl inlays, but also monotypes printed with lacquer and superb works of ink painting show an artist who handled his primary theme - the creation and the primeval myths born from it - in an enormous range of forms and formats. The exhibition will consist exclusively of works on loan from the Municipal Museum of Art in Toyota, where Takahashi's artistic heritage is preserved. This show is intended to be the first event in an irregular series of further exhibitions devoted to outstanding 20th century Japanese lacquer artists. It will, strikingly and for the first time, present to the Western public the most recent period in the venerable, 1200-year tradition of Japanese lacquer art - a period which also in the specialist literature has still not met with the appreciation it deserves.

Temple Treasures of a Sacred Mountain: Daigo-ji - the Secret Buddhism in Japan
Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany
Bonn, Germany
Until 24 August 2008
On display in Germany for the first time is the magnificent temple treasure from one of the most ancient monasteries in Japan: Daigo-ji. The exhibition shows 160 outstanding works, including large sculptures, valuable paintings and scrolls, exquisite ritual objects, artistic calligraphy, sutras and historical documents, many unseen national treasures and important cultural property. The exhibition offers viewers an introduction to the esoteric Buddhism of Japan and showcases Daigo-ji, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1994. The monastery has a history dating back to 874 and has been preserved as one of the most influential religious centres and pilgrimage sites.

Furusiyya: Tresors des chevaliers en pays d'Islam
Musee des Arts Asiatiques
Nice, France
Until 31 August 2008

`Furusiyya: Tresors des chevaliers en pays d'Islam'
Musee des Arts Asiatiques, Nice, France

The Transforming Marks of Ink
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin and Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Berlin and Dresden, Germany
Until 14 September 2008
This exhibition demonstrates the importance of the ink painting tradition for Chinese contemporary art and presenting the amazing range of ways in which the tradition of ink painting is being upheld, implemented and renewed in modern Chinese art. At two venues, two aspects – man and landscapes – are presented and together provide visitors with a good overview of the diverse range of forms and individual items. The spectrum of works extend from traditional rolled pictures to video installations and demonstrate how the time-honoured tradition of ink painting is being continued today. The Berlin exhibition concentrates on the increasing urbanization of China and the development of the country from a predominantly agricultural society to a progressively more industrialized state – with the individual at the focal point. The Dresden show, on the other hand, draws attention to the countryside, the traditional mystic portrayal of which gives an indication of the philosophical characteristics of ink painting.

China Gold
Maillol Museum
Paris, France
Until 13 October 2008

Chinese Gardens for Living: Illusion into Reality
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden
Dresden, Germany
Until 31 October 2008
In another project of `China in Dresden in China’ year, Chinese designers, architects, painters and photographers explore another aspect of Chinese artistic tradition in landscape architecture. In East Asia, a `garden’ is not only considered to be an ideal place for living but is also a practiced philosophical concept. The principle of yin and yang whereby opposite phenomena are always in a state of mutual attraction and dynamic equilibrium, the ultimate goal being harmony between the two poles. The exhibition shows how contemporary Chinese artists reflect on this `garden’ philosophy and apply it to the dynamic life of present day. Sculptures, ceramics, paintings, photographs and architectural installations blend in the setting wonderfully. Schloss Pillnitz at the river Elbe still bears testimony to the 18th vogue for chinoiserie – in the architecture of the palace, in the ornate décor of its rooms and in the design of the park.

Masters of 20th Century Chinese Painting from the Collections of the National Gallery in Prague
National Gallery in Prague at the Waldstein Riding School Gallery
Prague, Czech Republic
Until 2 November 2008
The gallery possesses a unique collection of 20th century Chinese painting - its scope and quality unparalleled in Western collections. Numbering some 260 paintings, it was formed mostly in the 1920s and 30s by the painter and art collector Vojtech Chytil with another large body acquired in the 1950s and 60s during various visits by Czech cultural figures to the PRC. Many of the works are by artists of the `Beijing School’ including Qi Baishi, Chen Nian, Jin Cheng, Xiao Sun, Yu Fei´an, Hu Peiheng and Chen Yunzhang. Among the traditionalists are Pu Ru, Zhang Daqian, Huang Binhong, Pan Tianshou and Fu Baoshi. It also features works by masters who studied in Europe in the early 20th century - Lin Fengmian and Xu Beihong. The younger generation whose fuse elements of Western and traditional Chinese ink paining include Li Keran and Wu Zuoren. Although the collection has never catalogued or published in its entirety, all the works were studied in detail thus resulting in an exhibition in the Waldstein Riding School Gallery. Some 200 paintings will be published in an extensive scholarly catalogue in both Czech and English. (See articles `The Origins of the 20th Century Chinese Paintings Collections in the National Gallery in Prague’ by Michaela Pejcochova and `Tradition and Modernity: 20th Century Chinese Paintings from the Collection of the National Gallery in Prague’ by Sandy Ng in Orientations, April 2008 issue, pp. 48-60.)

New World Order: Contemporary Installation Art and Photography from China
The Groninger Museum
The Netherlands
Until 9 November 2008
The exhibition surveys recent trends in contemporary Chinese art with a focus on installation art and staged photography. All these works were created after 2000, and some were specially commissioned by the Groninger Museum for this exhibition. The selection of works therefore provides an impression of the current diversity of working methods, guiding principles and artistic approaches. Contributing artists are: Yin Xiuzhen, Sun Yuan and Peng Yu, Xin Danwen, Mu Chen and Shao Yinong, Zhang Wang, Weng Feng, Li Song Song, Shi Jingsong, Chi Peng, Zhang Hui, Liu Wei, Miao Xiaochung, Shi Guorui, Jin Jiangbo, Liu Jianhua, Leung Mee Ping, Bai Yiluo and Wang Gonxin.

Tibet
Museum Centre Vapriikki
Tampere, Finland
Until 11 January 2009
This exhibition opens a window into traditional Tibetan culture, presenting the full range of culture, from that of farmers and herdsmen to monks and other inhabitants of the monasteries. The objects are all on loan from Finnish museums and private collections. The material includes many pieces never before seen publicly: lavishly decorated ceremonial objects, sculpture, thangkas, magnificent jewellery, rugs and furniture. Some of the objects come to the show at Vapriikki directly from a field trip made to Tibet during the past 12 months. An extensive and lavishly illustrated book about Tibetan culture and history will be published in Finnish and English to coincide with the exhibition. The essays in the book are written by renowned experts in this field. A lecture series on Tibet will be arranged in autumn 2008.

Golden Dragon-white Eagle: Arts and Power of the Courts of the Chinese Emperors and Saxon-Polish Rulers (1644-1795)
Staatliche Kunstsammlungen
Dresden, Germany
11 October 2008 - 11 January 2009
Palace Museum
Beijing, PRC
Spring 2009
This is one of four exhibitions as part of `China in Dresden in China' during 2008 following an intensive dialogue over many years between the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden and renowned Chinese cultural institutions. Jointly curated by staff of the Palace Museum of the Forbidden City and the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, this exhibition features around 250 top-quality objects from the Palace Museum in Beijing alongside treasures from the Saxon-Polish court reflect the displays of power and prestige. Six sections under the headings `images and power', `festivals', `the imperial household', `courtly arts and sciences' and `politics and diplomacy' further contrast the historic `control centres' of two different cultures.

Gandhara - The Buddhist Legacy of Pakistan: Legends, Monasteries, and Paradise
Art and Exhibition Hall of the Federal Republic of Germany
Bonn, Germany
21 November 2008 - 15 March 2009
Buddha's life is the main focus of this exhibition. Approximately 350 unique objects, including stone sculptures, elaborately worked reliefs with scenes from Buddha's life as well as exquisite coins and magnificent gold jewelry transport viewers from the first to the 5th century BCE. The presentation sheds light on different aspects of the works of art, making the extraordinary cultural legacy of Ghandara, the melting pot of cultures in modern Pakistan, come alive. The representations appear strangely familiar to Western eyes - Buddha is depicted in Greek robes, and reliefs show Greek divinities such as Dionysus and Athena. The goods traded along the southern Silk Road also spread the teachings of Buddhism. The legacy of the artists and craftsmen who came to Hindukush in the wake of Alexander the Great was the creation of the first depictions of Buddha. The exhibition spans a vast period of time and territory - beginning with Greek culture in Central Asia and the historical northwestern India, modern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan and Central Asia: the realm of Ghandara.

HONG KONG

The Asia Art Archive
Hong Kong
Opened 15 March 2003
Hong Kong's first ever research centre dedicated to contemporary art from Asia, The Asia Art Archive opened to the public on 15 March 2003. Its computer facilities, study and reading areas are available for visitors to access the archives holdings of exhibition catalogues, artist's monographs, art books, magazines, invitations and audio-video recordings. Material relating to artists and exhibitions from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan can be accessed from its website. Throughout 2003, it will be updating its online catalogue to include publications and accessions from these regions as well as from the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The Archive also plays an important role in co-organizing workshops and symposia to promote greater awareness of art from the region, as well as producing publications in Hong Kong.

The Hong Kong Maritime Museum
Hong Kong
Opened September 2005
The largest maritime model of the 800-ton Chinese junk Keying will be on view at the museum. From 6 December 1846 to 28 March 1848, the Keying undertook the first recorded voyage under sail by junk from Hong Kong to England, thus proving the ocean going capabilities of this characteristically Chinese type of vessel. She sailed the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean, rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and finally arrived as planned at London's East India Docks. After being exhibited to the public and to royalty, the Keying was sold and her timbers made into two ferry boats and some souvenirs.
The blessing ceremony took place on 2 February 2005 for the creation of Hong Kong's first museum dedicated to the history of shipping in China and Asia over the past 2000 years signalled the commencement of construction of the space into a world class maritime museum. Frank Tsao, founder of IMC Shipping and current Chairman of the Hong Kong Ship Owners Association, and Anthony Hardy, immediate past Chairman of the Wallem Group which originated in Shanghai over 100 years ago, combined their mutual ambitions to lobby the Hong Kong government for support to establish a maritime museum. Together they submitted a proposal to occupy the ground floor of the historical Murray House, originally built on the current HSBC site in 1844 as an army officer's mess. The structure had been dismantled 1982 and recently re-erected on Stanley's waterfront. The Hong Kong shipping community supported the project and on 5 September 2004, a six-year lease was signed. The multi-million dollar installation to house some 500 historical objects is expected to take three to four months. A highlight of the display will include a unique Han period pottery of a Yangtze river boat used for passenger travel. (See interview in Orientations, June 2005.)

`Hong Kong Art: Open Dialogue’ Exhibition Series I: Digit@logue
Hong Kong Museum of Art
Hong Kong
Until 20 July 2008
The exhibition has been conceived using the digital works held by the museum, independent artists as well as archive from `Videotage’ and the Hong Kong Art Centre’s digital collection that is has built up over 20 years. It is divided into two parts – Cultural Evolution and Cultural Revolution – and each aims to juxtapose the cultural and aesthetic discourse of our heritage of moving images within the global context. The works exhibited will generate discussions that will help foster an understanding that reaches beyond technological determinism and a dialogue of impossibilities and rational imagination.

A Eulogy of Hong Kong Landscape in Painting: The Art of Huang Bore
Chinese Fine Art Gallery
Hong Kong Museum of Art
Hong Kong
Until 9 October 2008
Through donations of hundreds of sketches and the loan of ink paintings by Huang Bore’s sons, this exhibition rediscovers the artist’s varied views of Hong Kong’s natural landscape.

An Eulogy of Hong Kong Landscape in Painting: The Art of Huang Bore
Hong Kong Museum of Art
Hong Kong
Until 9 October 2008
An exhibition featuring about 180 works by Huang Bore, including paintings selected from the generous donation by Huang's family to the museum and some paintings on loan by Huang's sons. Huang Bore was known for actively defending traditional Chinese painting in the late 1920s, but took a drastic change in his painting style in the 1960s that proclaimed him as a forerunner in the renewal of the traditions of landscaping painting. He was also known for his passion in exploring landscapes in Hong Kong and transforming the unique scenery into sketches and drawings. Some of the works are realistic renderings of landscapes, while others are free interpretations with a serendipitous charm. They are not only were records of Huang's love of nature but were also sources of inspiration for his later works. These landscape paintings show the signature style of this hiker-painter, making him the forerunner of a school of artists who use the Chinese painting idiom to capture the landscape of Hong Kong.

Alchemy in Blue: Ancient Jun ware from the Yip Collection
The University Museum and Art Gallery of The University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Until 12 October 2008
An exhibition of ancient Jun ware ceramics from the Yip Collection which focuses on vessels dating from the late Northern Song to the Yuan periods to show the unique artistic innovations that the ware represents. During the Song dynasty, there was a general interest in nature that saw potters keen to experiment with the mineral components, firing temperatures, and kiln atmospheres to produce different blue tone effects and coloured splashes. This naturalistic approach was also reflected in organic ceramic forms that could be produced using the wheel, such as double-gourd-shaped, meiping or pear-shaped vases. An interest in antiquarianism among the educated also made archaistic metal forms popular in ceramic, such as tripod censers, handled altar vases or a tripod narcissus basin in the exhibition. The exhibition thus is a unique and comprehensive survey showing the evolution Jun ware from the exquisite craftsmanship of the Song and Jin periods to the monumental forms of the Yuan dynasty with their use of applique designs. A fully-illustrated catalogue will be available from the Museum in September 2008.

The Exotic Spirit – The Art of Chiu Sai-kwong
Hong Kong Heritage Museum
Hong Kong
Until 17 November 2008
An exhibition to study the ways in which features of the Lingnan School have been carried on in the works of students of Chao Shao-an and how innovations have been introduced by the individual artists. After fighting in the Sino-Japanese War, Chiu Sai-kwong became an educator and artist. As one of Chao's earliest students, he helped set up several art groups and promoted the development of art and art education in Hong Kong and the mainland for many years.
Known as an innovator in both subject matter and technique, he excelled in exploring new themes that served as a mirror for contemporary society. The coral fish, tropical orchids, birds of paradise and many other exotic plants and animals in his works expanded the creative scope of the Lingnan School, while the vivid colours, unique compositions and modelling effects that he used reflect his energetic and enthusiastic spirit. Featuring over forty of his paintings, this exhibition showcases the artist's genuine feeling for the exotic in our world.

The History of Tea: The K S Lo Collection of the Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware
Flagstaff House Museum of Tea Ware Hong Kong
Until 17 November 2008
The exhibition will show the development of the art of tea drinking in China from the Tang dynasty to the 20th century through more than 100 pieces of refined tea ware in different styles for both local use and export.

China's 1911 Revolution: Francis Stafford's Photo Exhibition
Dr Sun Yat-sen Museum
Hong Kong
Until 19 November 2008
About 60 historical photos, which record not only the daily lives of ordinary Chinese in the late Qing dynasty, but also important historical events and figures in modern Chinese history are on display. Francis Stafford was born in Colorado, US. In 1909, he took his wife and son to Shanghai, where he worked as a photographer for the head office of Commercial Press. By virtue of his profession, Stafford gained access to many different parts of China. During the 1911 Revolution, he took many pictures of historical scenes from Wuhan to Shanghai, including the establishment of the Hubei Military Government, the confrontation between revolutionary and imperial troops, the burning of Hankou, the peace conference between the Qing Government and the independent provinces, as well as Dr Sun Yat-sen leaving Shanghai for Nanjing to assume the provisional presidency. The selected photos on display document the fighting between the revolutionary and imperial armies at Hankou and Hanyang, which lasted more than 40 days, making this exhibition a valuable visual account of the 1911 Revolution. Viewers can also get a rare glimpse of the daily lives of ordinary Chinese in the late Qing dynasty from the exhibition.

Story of the Horse
Hong Kong Museum of Art
Hong Kong
Until 28 December 2008
With the horse as the central theme, the exhibition celebrates Hong Kong's co-hosting of the Equestrian Events of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. 40 works have been selected from the museum's collection, including Chinese pottery, bronzes, bamboo carvings, Chinese calligraphy and painting, historical pictures, and modern art. These works of different eras and in various media are presented in four sections: the function of the horse in ancient China, the Chinese literati's taste in paintings of horses, the horse motif and its symbolic meanings, and the horse in modern art. It will review the value of the horse and how its artistic representation evolved over time.
Highlight include a horse in sancai glaze of the Tang dynasty, an engraving `Forcing the Encampment at G<132>d<132>n-Ola’ by Giuseppe Castiglione, a K/angxi period bamboo carving of a m onkey on a horse and an ink painting Horse under a Tree by Zhang Mu. In addition, horse paintings by Gao Qifeng and by Xu Beihong will also be on display.

AAA Talk & Screening: Navin Rawanchaikul
Asia Art Archive
at KEE Club, 6/F, 32 Wellington Stree, Central, Hong Kong
16 July 2008 at 6.30-8 pm
The artist will introduce his diverse and vast body of work, and talk about what inspires and helps to shape it. The screening will present a recent video-work that borrows from the recognisable aesthetics of Bollywood. Known for his collaborative community projects and multifaceted exhibitions, Navin develops projects involving community participation and connectivity. His works, often taking the form of comic books, interactive board games and other site-specific merchandising, borrow from commonly used mass communication and pop culture to bridge the divide between high and mass art and to facilitate the communication of life and art by means of reality.

Heavenly Horse - The Horse in Chinese Art and Culture
Hong Kong Museum of History
Hong Kong, China
16 July - 13 October 2008
Held to coincide with Hong Kong's hosting of the equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games, this exhibition brings together a variety of artefacts from a number of mainland museums and offers visitors a rare opportunity to see them all under one roof.
The exhibition features approximately 60 artefacts from 28 heritage institutes in 14 provinces and autonomous regions. This is the first time that many of the artefacts will have been exhibited in Hong Kong, for example the Qin terracotta saddled horse, the gilt bronze steed and the post station pass from the Yuan dynasty. Paintings include Zhao Mengfu's Yinma Tu and Giuseppe Castiglione’s Yingjizi. The Qing dynasty bronze horse head from Yuanmingyuan will also be exhibited.

`Hong Kong Art: Open Dialogue’ Exhibition Series II: New Ink Art: Innovation and Beyond
Hong Kong Museum of Art
Hong Kong
22 August – 26 October 2008
Guest curated by Alice King, this exhibition aims to raise the question of how ink painting with it 3000 years of history has evolved through time to become an art form that is contemporary yet strongly rooted in tradition. Included are works by early masters such as Lui Shou-kwan, Luis Chan and Liu Guosong to highlight the development of and changes in ink paintings in Hong Kong under the influence of the city’s unique culture. The focus is on the development of ink art in Hong Kong and strives to understand `ink’ in its broadest sense, seeing it not merely as a medium but rather to highlight its aesthetics and essence. Divided into six themes: Innovators to be Remembered, Beyond Tradition, Evolving City Life, Transformed Text, New Frontier & Is it Ink Art to infinite possibilities for the future development of ink art.

MACAO

Shiwan Ceramics Exhibition
Macao Museum of Art
Macao
Until 3 August 2008
Shiwan ceramic sculptures are highly representative of the architectural folk art of Lingnan in the late Qing dynasty. Historical stories, myths, legends and popular Cantonese operas of the times often served as inspiration and were often embodied in the form of three-dimensional sculptures or high relief ceramics on the ridges of the roofs of buildings. They are rich in the folk tradition of Lingnan. In this exhibition, a wide range of ceramics will be displayed including a roof ridge of characters in a Cantonese opera over seven me