ASIA WEEK

John Thomson, Portrait of a Woman, albumen silver print, c.1870

Sun and Silver: Early Photographs of China by Lai Fong and John Thomson
Through June 10, 2025
10 West 18th Street, 7th Floor
Open by appointment

The Loewentheil Photography of China Collection is pleased to announce the extended run of Sun and Silver: Early Photographs of China by Lai Fong and John Thomson, now on view through June 10. This landmark exhibition unites masterworks by two towering figures in 19th-century photography of China. Lai Fong, the most celebrated early Chinese photographer, and John Thomson, his prominent foreign contemporary, each played a pivotal role in shaping the early artistic and technical development of photography in China. This major exhibition gives viewers the opportunity to compare and contrast Lai Fong’s expressive artistry and technical ingenuity alongside Thomson’s stylistic virtuosity. This show reveals the intricate and fascinating relationship between the works of these two photographers who crossed paths, competed for patrons, and had a meaningful influence on one another and the art of photography.

Sun and Silver: Early Photographs of China by Lai Fong and John Thomson spans the careers of both artists through the finest examples of vintage prints, all dating to the 1860s and 1870s. It also presents works by other 19th-century photography studios in China that share the themes and subjects of Lai Fong’s and Thomson’s photographs. The exhibition suggests new ways of looking at the origins of photography in China.

This exhibition presents a tiny sliver of the holdings of the Loewentheil Collection, the most important collection of early China photographs in the world.

To learn more and schedule an appointment, click here.

Group of Flower vases by Yanagihara Mutsuo, 2023-24

Breathing Vessels: Contemporary Ceramics by Yanagihara Mutsuo
May 15 – 30, 2025
Open House Weekend: Saturday & Sunday, May 17-18, 11am-5pm
18 East 64th Street, Ste 1F, NYC

Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd. is honored to present a solo exhibition of works by the acclaimed artist Yanagihara Mutsuo, celebrating a career spanning over six decades of contemporary ceramics. To mark this special occasion, they invite you to join them for a celebratory open house weekend, May 17-18. Come experience the remarkable work of Yanagihara Mutsuo and explore the legacy of a true master of ceramic art.

From his Silver Oribe works (Gin Oribe) and his Flower-eating vessels (Kashoku) to his most recent abstraction series titled Exhalation and Inhalation (Kōki kyūki), this exhibition brings together Yanagihara’s ceramic works that explore the visual languages of botany, anthropomorphism, and abstraction with striking clarity.

Yanagihara Mutsuo (b. 1934, Uwajima, Ehime Prefecture) is a pioneering Japanese ceramic artist celebrated for his inventive forms and playful approach to clay. Raised in a family of medical doctors in Kōchi City, his early fascination with botany and the human body later influenced his sculptural ceramics. He studied at Kyoto City University of Arts under modern masters Tomimoto Kenkichi, Kondō Yūzō, and Fujimoto Yoshimichi, graduating in 1960.

Yanagihara’s career has been shaped by his exposure to international influences, particularly during his time in the United States. Teaching at Alfred University and Scripps College in the 1970s introduced him to the American studio craft movement, reinforcing his experimental and conceptual approach to ceramics. Rejecting traditional affiliations, he remained independent, allowing him to develop a unique artistic voice that blends Japanese craftsmanship with modernist and abstract principles. Now at 90, Yanagihara continues to innovate with recent series such as Exhalation and Inhalation (Koki kyūki). Throughout his career, he has embraced the tension between sculpture and function, creating works that are at once playful, imaginative, and rooted in ceramic form and tradition.

They extend their gratitude to Dr. Andreas Marks, curator of Japanese and Korean art and director of the Clark Center at the Minneapolis Institute of Art, for his retrospective article on Yanagihara Mutsuo’s career, which is featured in the accompanying exhibition catalog.

To learn more about the exhibition, click here.

Yui Tsujimura, Natural Ash Glaze Short-Neck Jar 自然釉短頸壺, ceramic, H15 x W17 3/8 x D17 3/8 in (H38 x W44 x D44 cm)

Craft Garden: Landscape of Japanese Art
May 15 – June 28, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 15, 5-8pm
35 N Moore Street, NYC

Ippodo Gallery is pleased to present Craft Garden: Landscape of Japanese Art featuring around twenty living artists who envision the philosophy of the Japanese garden in ceramics, lacquer, bamboo & plant fibers, glass, metal, wood, and painting opening May 15.

The Japanese garden, amongst the pond, trees, rocks, and moss, is a place to discover the fundamental attitude of coexistence between nature and humans. In the face of common natural disasters, this relationship defines the harmonious, yet resilient, Japanese lifestyle. Classical architecture such as the sitting veranda engawa connects inside and outside spaces. There is a closeness to nature; at a low viewing angle, aromas are most fragrant, shadows create beautiful vignettes, and sounds of the river current are peaceful. From this vantage, the sensory experience draws focus to craftsmanship where a glaze holds an entire cosmos.

The passage of time and change of the four seasons transpire with imperfection. A unique character emerges with appreciation for decay, weathering, asymmetry, or the ‘kiln-effect.’ The inextricable link between fine art craft and the garden is articulated as the transient wabi-sabi aesthetic; these artists exemplify this through different approaches.

They welcome you to experience the unique cultural viewpoint of today’s master craftsmanship!

To learn more, click here.

(L): Amulet in the Form of a Seated Figure with Bovine Head, c. 4700–2920 BCE. Northeast China, Neolithic period, probably Hongshan culture (4700–2920 BCE).; (R): Disc (bi) with Imperial Poem in Seal Script (zhuanshu) by the Qianlong Emperor, 1736–95. China, Qing dynasty (1644–1911), Qianlong reign (1736–95)

Materiality and Mystery in Chinese Art
Saturday, May 10, 2025 from 10am-12pm
John C. and Sally S. Morley Family Foundation Lecture Hall
Free; Ticket required

The Cleveland Museum of Art is delighted to present two compelling programs on May 10, celebrating the richness and depth of Chinese art. The day begins with a morning workshop, Materiality and Mystery in Chinese Art, featuring thought-provoking presentations and discussions led by scholars Dr. Lukas Nickel, Professor of Art History of East Asia at the University of Vienna, and Dr. Jenny F. So, former Senior Curator of Ancient Chinese Art at the National Museum of Asian Art, Washington, DC.

To learn more and register, click here.

Jade: China’s Enduring Obsession
Saturday, May 10, 2025  from 2-3pm
Suzanne and Paul Westlake Performing Arts Center
Free; Ticket required

In the afternoon, they will  present their annual Distinguished Lecture in Chinese Art, delivered by Dr. Jenny F. So. Her lecture will trace jade’s rise to prominence in Chinese culture—from the mysterious jades buried over 5,000 years ago, to royal burials featuring jade suits and jade-inlaid coffins, to the symbolic jade medals awarded during the 2008 Olympic Games.

To learn more and register, click here.

Park Seo-Bo (left) and Kim Tschang-Yeul (right) at a photo studio in Anguk-dong, Seoul in 1958. Photo courtesy PARKSEOBO FOUNDATION

The Making of Modern Korean Art
The Letters of Kim Tschang-Yeul, Kim Whanki, Lee Ufan, and Park Seo-Bo, 1961–1982
Friday, May 9, 2025 from 6-7:30pm
725 Park Avenue, NYC

On the occasion of the new publication, The Making of Modern Korean Art: The Letters of Kim Tschang-Yeul, Kim Whanki, Lee Ufan, and Park Seo-Bo, 1961–1982, Asia Society brings together the contributors of this seminal book to share new scholarship on the role four pioneering artists played in the building of a modern identity of a nation through their artistic and intellectual exchanges, in the wake of a series of tumultuous historical events. This program is co-presented with Tina Kim Gallery.

The book includes newly translated, previously unpublished correspondences among the four titular artists, co-edited by Dr. Yeon Shim Chung, Professor of Art History and Theory at Hongik University, Seoul; and Doryun Chong, Artistic Director and Chief Curator at M+, Hong Kong. Kyung An, Curator of Asian Art at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, also contributes to this title. Published by Gregory R. Miller & Co, the title is a new milestone in the field of modern and contemporary Asian art, providing a comprehensive English-language survey of Korean abstraction that further contextualizes the best-known Dansaekhwa as one part of diverse and robust postwar Korean art movements. All three contributors will be speaking at the Asia Society program, along with the artist Lee Ufan, moderated by Yasufumi Nakamori, Vice President of Arts & Culture and Director of Asia Society Museum, and Andrew Russeth, Editor of Artnet News Pro.

Limited copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event, after the conversation.

The Making of Modern Korean Art sets up the scene in the aftermath of the Korean War (1950–1953), when Korean artists were redefining their cultural identity while articulating their collective trauma and existential dislocation. Many turned to abstraction when forging a distinctly Korean modernity.

To learn more and register, click here.

Installation view, Kotobuki: Auspicious Celebrations of Japanese Art from New York Private Collections

Kotobuki: Auspicious Celebrations of Japanese Art from New York Private Collections
Members-only Tea & Tour of Kotobuki: Thursday, May 8 at 4pm (free; RSVP required)
Closing Sunday, May 11, 2025
333 East 47th Street, NYC

This is the final week of Kotobuki: Auspicious Celebrations of Japanese Art from New York Private Collections at Japan Society before it closes on May 11. Explore the auspicious theme of kotobuki, or “celebration,” through an inspired selection of paintings, calligraphy, surimono, textiles, ceramics, and baskets dating from the 12th-21st centuries. Curated by Dr. Miyeko Murase, Takeo and Itsuko Atsumi Professor Emerita of Japanese Art History at Columbia University, this joyful exhibition offers a unique opportunity to view important but rarely displayed works from significant private collections in the New York City area.

They aslo cordially invite their members to join for a quiet afternoon tea on Thursday, May 8 as Dr. Michele Bambling, Senior Director, Japan Society Gallery, provides an exclusive private tour to appreciate these celebratory masterworks with her illuminating commentary. Share in the festivities with fellow art enthusiasts over tea and light refreshments. This event is free for members, RSVP required.

To learn more, click here.

Works by Sawada Hayato (b.1978); Photography by Ōtani Kenji; Courtesy Joan B Mirviss LTD

Giving Form to Color: New Work by Sawada Hayato
May 8 – June 2025
39 East 78th Street, Suite 401

Joan B Mirviss LTD is excited to present the long-anticipated international solo debut for artist Sawada Hayato, Giving Form to Color, featuring exciting new works created exclusively for this exhibition. Hailing from Kasama, Ibaraki, just north of Tokyo, Sawada creates ceramic vessels in the tradition of the Kantō region’s most renowned past ceramic masters, Kamoda Shōji and Wada Morihiro. Although Sawada never met either Kamoda or Wada, he shares these seminal figures’ unique approach to the unity of pattern, form, and material, leading some art critics to describe the three artists as forming an exciting new Kantō ceramic lineage.

Sawada’s unique forms—which can be angular and multi-planar or rounded and curvilinear—are further highlighted by the application of boldly contrasting surface patterns, which are themselves richly textured. The process for creating these works is incredibly precise and time-consuming. Sawada hand-builds his ceramic forms before slip-glazing unmasked areas and incising their surfaces. He employs a technique that he calls nama-zōgan, or “raw inlay,” in which he inlays his vessels with black slip prior to bisque firing. He then masks the surface and applies layers of glaze and slip-glaze. Occasionally, he employs an unctuous feldspathic glaze, which develops an organic, crevassed texture when fired. Each vessel requires multiple firings at specifically calibrated temperatures. Once completed, Sawada’s vessels come to life as three-dimensional abstract paintings.

In describing his approach to ceramic art, Sawada uses the language of classical music, another passion of his. Just as musicians bring centuries-old scores to life by infusing the music with their own contemporary sensibilities, Sawada creates ceramics that exude modernity while employing the ancient techniques of hand-building, slip glazing, and inlay, Sawada’s ceramics nevertheless exude modernity. Through the form, pattern, and texture of his ceramic vessels, Sawada seeks to create narrative unity: “The philosophy at the core of my ceramics is storytelling. The vessels that emerge from there, that spring forth from that seed… I invite you to experience the textures and colors that can only be achieved in fired clay.”

Although his father is also a ceramist, Sawada was first inspired to take up the medium of clay out of a desire to make something radically different. He is largely self-trained, having never formally apprenticed or trained in ceramics in a university setting. Still early in his career, Sawada’s work can be found in the collection of the Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, CA in the United States and the Ibaraki Ceramic Art Museum in Japan.

The exhibition will feature over thirty works created exclusively for this show.

To learn more, click here.

Chang Ucchin, A Family Portrait, 1972, oil on canvas, 2.95 x 5.83 inches

Chang Ucchin: The Eternal Home
May 7 – July 19, 2025
Opening Reception: Wednesday, May 7, 6-8pm (kindly RSVP)
122 E 32nd Street

The Korean Cultural Center New York is proud to present Chang Ucchin: The Eternal Home, the first dedicated New York exhibition of one of Korea’s most beloved modern artists. A pioneering figure in Korean modernism, Chang Ucchin (1917–1990) developed a singular visual language defined by simplicity, playfulness, and a deep reverence for nature and home.

Through elemental motifs—trees, birds, the sun, the moon—Chang created poetic worlds of warmth and serenity. For him, the home was more than a structure: it was a spiritual sanctuary, where humanity and nature exist in perfect harmony.

A centerpiece of this exhibition is Golden Ark (1992), an exclusive collection published by the Limited Editions Club (LEC) of New York. Recognizing Chang as a profound representative of Korean culture, LEC collaborated with him to select 12 paintings from over 730 oil works he created. Meticulously reproduced to match the scale and color of the originals, Golden Ark preserves the essence of Chang’s vision. Its title metaphorically likens his legacy to a vessel of gold—precious, enduring, and guiding.

In today’s rapidly shifting world, Chang Ucchin’s work offers a quiet refuge. His paintings invite us to rediscover the warmth of home, the comfort of nature, and the possibility of joy in life’s simplest moments. By dissolving the boundaries between reality and the ideal, The Eternal Home allows us to enter the world he imagined—one of purity, balance, and enduring artistic resonance.

To learn more and RSVP, click here.

Images courtesy Kyungmin Park, Jinsik Yoo and The Korea Society

Sculpted Voices: Kyungmin Park & Jinsik Yoo
May 8 – July 31, 2025
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 8, 5-7pm (kindly RSVP)
350 Madison Avenue, 24th Fl

The Korea Society is excited to present their upcoming exhibition, Sculpted Voices: Kyungmin Park & Jinsik Yoo, opening May 8! Through figurative sculpture, these two Korean-born artists transcend language and cultural barriers to tell their personal stories and express emotions that resonate universally. By sharing their unique perspectives and introspection, they offer alternative interpretations and an opportunity for a more comprehensive understanding of ourselves and the world around us.

Kyungmin Park’s artistic vision was inspired by her experience as an immigrant in the U.S., where she had to learn a new language and customs. This process of adaptation reminded her of the experience of being a child, which led her to explore a childlike state, characterized by freedom, creativity, and the ability to embrace new experiences without restraint. Park’s ceramic sculptures often feature childlike figures with expressive faces that convey a range of human emotions and experiences. Amorphous forms symbolize the boundless imagination of childhood, while the lines and colors represent the societal expectations and constraints of adulthood.

Jinsik Yoo works with clay to create abstract representations of bodily forms, sculptures that embody the layered nature of existence. Through his artistic practices, Yoo expands, alters, intensifies, and ambiguates features so that his sculptures resonate beyond the physical and depict social, emotional, and psychological complexity. Ambiguity in his sculptures challenges viewers to engage with the art on a deeper level, prompting them to ask questions about themselves and their own inner worlds. Yoo’s artistic inquiry centers less on offering definitive conclusions and more on exploratory thinking and questioning.

To learn more and RSVP to the opening reception, click here.