JAN/FEB 2012
VOLUME 43 - NUMBER 1
Fittingly for the Year of the Dragon, this issue begins in Hong Kong. Ahead of an exhibition of dragons in Chinese art by The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong, Peter Y. K. Lam traces the origins and evolution of the motif in Yuan dynasty ceramics, while Tina Yee-wan Pang’s article encapsulates the history of the society.
Moving to Europe, Stanley Bremer summarizes the Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam’s evolution from a royal sailing club to an ethnographic museum. The collections of Tibetan and Japanese Buddhist art at the museum, on loan from the Bodhimanda Foundation, are the focus of articles by Erik Bruijn and Michael Henss.
Over in the US, dragons emerge again as the theme of an exhibition of Vietnamese ceramics at the Birmingham Museum of Art, Alabama. John Stevenson and Donald A. Wood present an overview of this distinctive tradition through examples from the museum’s collection.
In other features, Emily Sano and Glenn Vinson pay tribute to textile scholar Mary Hunt Kahlenberg. Mark Schumacher reviews John Rosenfield’s new study of the 12th century Japanese Buddhist monk Chôgen. Jay Xu and Thomas Christensen tell us about recent happenings at the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco, in light of the museum’s rebranding initiative, and we look ahead to the opening of Asia Society Hong Kong’s new centre in February. Finally, Rob Linrothe comments on the rapid pace of change in the former Himalayan kingdom of Zangskar.
FEATURES
Thomas Christensen. Asian Art Museum Directors Gather in San Francisco
Emily J. Sano and M. Glenn Vinson. Obituary: Mary Hunt Kahlenberg (1940-2011)
John Stevenson, with contributions from Donald A. Wood. Dragons and Lotus Blossoms: Vietnamese Ceramics from the Birmingham Museum of Art
Michael Henss. Sacred Spaces and Secret Visions: Tibetan Buddhist Art from the Bodhimanda Foundation
Erik Bruijn. Spirit Embodied: Japanese Esoteric Buddhist Art at the Wereldmuseum Rotterdam
Stanley Bremer. A Short History of the Wereldmuseum, Rotterdam and its Asian Collecltions
Tina Yee-wan Pang. A Passion for Collecting: The Oriental Ceramic Society of Hong Kong
Peter Y. K. Lam. The David Vases Revisited II: The Dragon Bands
PREVIEWS & REVIEWS
Fair Review: Fine Art Asia 2011
Margaret Tao. Asia Week New York Auctions - Autumn 2011
Mark Schumacher. Book Review: Portraits of Chogen: The Transformation of Buddhist Art in Early Medieval Japan (Japanese Visual Culture Series, volume 1) by John M. Rosenfield, Brill, Leiden, 2011
INTERVIEWS
A New Identity - Interview with Jay Xu
NEWS
Asia Society Opens New Hong Kong Home
COMMENTARY
Rob Linrothe. Commentary: Zangskar State of Mind