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The Met Museum Celebrates Asian Art With 19 Exhibitions

By: Mar. 18, 2015
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2015 marks the centennial of the Metropolitan Museum's Department of Asian Art. In the Year of the Ram, which officially began during Lunar New Year in February 2015, the department will present 19 exhibitions and installations organized for a one-year celebration of its formidable holdings of art from across Asia. The department today oversees more than 50 galleries and one of the most comprehensive collections of Asian art anywhere in the world.

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LIST OF EXHIBITIONS & INSTALLATIONS

  • Celebration of the Year of the Ram (through April 19)
  • Innovation and Spectacle: Chinese Ritual Bronzes
    (October 18, 2014-March 22, 2015)
  • The Art of the Chinese Album (through March 29)
  • Sacred Traditions of the Himalayas (through June 14)
  • Painting with Thread: Chinese Tapestry and Embroidery, 12th-19th Century
    (through August 16)
  • Sumptuous: East Asian Lacquer 14th-20th Century (through August 16)
  • Korea: 100 Years of Collecting at the Met (through March 27, 2016)
  • Discovering Japanese Art: American Collectors and the Met (through September 27)
  • The Arts of Nepal and Tibet (reopens March 13)
  • A Passion for Jade: The Heber Bishop Collection
    (March 14, 2015-June 19, 2016)
  • China: Through the Looking Glass (May 7-August 16)
  • The Royal Hunt: Courtly Pursuits in Indian Art (June 20-December 13)
  • The Arts of South Asia (Opening Fall 2015)
  • Asian Art at 100: A History in Photographs (September 5, 2015-May 22, 2016)
  • Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection
    (September 12, 2015-April 24, 2016)
  • Chinese Textiles: Eight Centuries of Masterpieces from the Met Collection(September 12, 2015-June 19, 2016)
  • Chinese Lacquer: Treasures from the Irving Collection, 12th-18th Century(September 12, 2015-June 19, 2016)
  • Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection
    (October 20, 2015-July 31, 2016)
  • Encountering Vishnu: The Lion Avatar in Indian Temple Drama
    (December 19, 2015-June 5, 2016)

ABOUT THE EXHIBITIONS & INSTALLATIONS

Celebration of the Year of the Ram
Through April 19, 2015
In celebration of the Year of the Ram, the Metropolitan Museum will present a selection of remarkable works drawn exclusively from the Museum's permanent collection. These include lively sculptures of, jade, rock crystal, and ceramic, along with a charming painting of grazing goats by an 18th-century master.
#YearoftheRam

The Art of the Chinese Album
Through March 29, 2015
This exhibition showcases the album, one of the most intimate of Chinese painting formats. The special structure of the album, in which each turn of the page is an opportunity to remake the world anew, presents unique possibilities and challenges for artists. For Dai Benxiao (1621-1693), the album was a chance to plumb the depths of a single style, like a jazz improviser testing the limits of a single musical mode. For Shitao (1642-1707), the album provided the opportunity to shock and surprise the viewer with radical shifts in perspective and subject from page to page. For Dong Qichang (1555-1636) and his followers, the album was a stage on which to display their art historical knowledge by devoting each leaf to the style of a different old master. The exhibition explores these and other ways that artists have used the format of the album from the 12th century to the present.
The exhibition is made possible by the Joseph Hotung Fund.
#AsianArt100

Sacred Traditions of the Himalayas
Through June 14, 2015
This installation features elaborate mandalas, embroidered tangkas, devotional sculpture, and jewelry for the gods. A highlight of the display will be ritual costumes used by masked dancers who reenacted divine conflicts to ensure abundance and ward off malicious forces. All the objects on display served as visually pleasing tools that allowed individuals to reach toward the elusive idea of transcendence.
The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Fund.
#SacredTraditions

Painting with Thread: Chinese Tapestry and Embroidery, 12th-19th Century
Through August 16, 2015
The thinness and strength of silk makes it the ideal material for weaving or embroidering elegant painting-like images characterized by fluent outlines, rich colors, and even the addition of calligraphic inscriptions and seals. Drawn from the Metropolitan's superb holdings of Chinese tapestries and embroideries, this installation presents dramatic landscapes, flowers and birds, famous immortals, and stunning examples of calligraphy, showcasing the artistic imagination and technical sophistication of China's textile artists.
The exhibition is made possible by the Joseph Hotung Fund.
#AsianArtl00

Sumptuous: East Asian Lacquer, 14th-20th Century
Through August 16, 2015
For more than two millennia, lacquer has been a primary medium in the arts of East Asia. This installation explores the many ways in which this material has been manipulated to create designs by painting, carving, or by inlaying precious materials such as gold or mother-of-pearl. Drawn entirely from the permanent collection, this display celebrates the artistry and creativity needed to work this demanding material while also illustrating both the similarities and the differences found in the lacquer arts of China, Korea, and Japan.
#AsianArt100

Korea: 100 Years of Collecting at the Met
February 7, 2015-March 27, 2016
In celebration of the Asian Art Department's Centennial, the installation traces how the Korean art collection at the Met was formed, and how the Western perception and appreciation of Korea has evolved over the past century as it has transformed from the "Hermit Kingdom" of the late 19th century to the trend-setting contemporary culture of "K-pop."
The exhibition is made possible by Samsung.
#MetKoreanArt

Discovering Japanese Art: American Collectors and the Met
February 14-September 27, 2015 (first rotation: February 14-May 31, 2015; second rotation: June 13-September 27, 2015)
This exhibition tells the story of how the Met has built its comprehensive collection of Japanese art since the early 1880s, when the Museum owned just a small, eclectic array of Japanese decorative arts. Highlighting masterworks from ancient to modern times, it explores the trends that shaped art collecting and the reception of Japanese art in America. It also sheds light on key American collectors and curators whose passion for Japanese art helped the Museum build its now world-renowned collection. Works on view in the first rotation include Hokusai's Great Wave, Ogata Karin's Irises at Yatsuhashi, Suzuki Kiitsu's Morning Glories, and sliding-door paintings that once belonged to the Zen temple Ryoanji in Kyoto.
The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Fund.
#DiscoveringJapaneseArt

A Passion for Jade: The Heber Bishop Collection
March 14, 2015-June 19, 2016
Heber R. Bishop's collection of carved jades was formed in the last quarter of the 19th century and bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum in 1902. Consisting of over 1,000 pieces-primarily Chinese jades of the 18th and 19th centuries, and jades from Mughal India-it was the first major collection of its kind in the country. This exhibition features a selection of the finest examples from this renowned collection.
The exhibition is made possible by the Joseph Hotung Fund.
#Bishopjades

China: Through the Looking Glass
May 7-August 16, 2015
The Costume Institute's spring 2015 exhibition, presented in the Museum's ChineseGalleries and Anna Wintour Costume Center, will explore how China has fueled the fashionable imagination for centuries, resulting in highly creative distortions of cultural realities. High fashion will be juxtaposed with Chinese costumes, paintings, porcelains, and other art, as well as films, to reveal enchanting reflections of Chinese imagery. From the earliest period of European contact with China in the 16th century, the West has been fascinated with enigmatic objects from the East, providing inspiration for fashion designers from Paul Poiret to Yves Saint Laurent, whose fashions are infused with romance, nostalgia, and make-believe. Through the looking glass of fashion, designers conjoin disparate stylistic references into a pastiche of Chinese aesthetic and cultural traditions.
The exhibition is made possible by Yahoo.
Additional support is provided by Condé Nast and several generous Chinese donors.
#ChinaLookingGlass

The Royal Hunt: Courtly Pursuits in Indian Art
June 20-December 13, 2015
Expressions of imperial authority are universally embodied in royal imagery of the hunt, rulers pursuing prey as metaphors for power and martial prowess. This theme is celebrated throughout the history of Indian painting, most notably in the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar, and became ubiquitous in later Rajput painting. The installation will combine works from the Asian art department with loans from the departments of Islamic Art and Arms & Armor, as well as from New York private collections.

Asian Art at 100: A History in Photographs
September 5, 2015-May 22, 2016
A selection of archival photographs of galleries and installations dating from 1907 to 1945 documenting the changing face of Asian art at the Metropolitan Museum. Complementing the display will be a wall-mounted timeline with images of the building and floor plans, along with small versions of these historic photos to place them in the context of the larger museum.

Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan's Collection
September 12, 2015-April 24, 2016 (first rotation: September 12, 2015-January 24, 2016; second rotation: February 6-April 24, 2016)
During the last 40 years, the Metropolitan's collection of Chinese painting and calligraphy has grown to be one of the greatest in the world. Replete with masterpieces dating from the Tang dynasty (608-917) to the present, the collection encompasses the vast historical sweep of the brush arts of China, from serene Buddhist scriptures to bombastic court portraits to lyrical scholars' paintings. Presented in two rotations, this exhibition highlights the gems of the permanent collection in a chronological display, with an emphasis on works from the Song (960-1279) and Yuan (1271-1368) dynasties.
The exhibition is made possible by the Joseph Hotung Fund.

Chinese Textiles: Eight Centuries of Masterpieces from the Met Collection
September 12, 2015-June 19, 2016
Showcasing some of the most important and unusual textiles in the Museum's collection, this installation explores the cultural importance of silk in China. In addition to three rare pieces dating from the Tang dynasty ( 618-906), it includes 11th and 12th century tapestries from Central Asia, spectacular embroideries, and a monumental late-17th- or early-18th-century panel showing phoenixes in a garden.

Chinese Lacquer: Treasures from the Irving Collection, 12th-18th Century
September 12, 2015-June 19, 2016
Featuring many of the most important examples of Chinese lacquer in the Museum's collection, the installation explores the laborious techniques used to embellish lacquer objects with scenes derived from history or literature, images of popular gods, and representations of animals-real and mythical-landscapes, flowers, and birds.

Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection
October 20, 2015-July 31, 2016 (first rotation: October 20, 2015-February 21, 2016; second rotation: March 5-July 31, 2016)
Over the course of five decades, Mary Griggs Burke (1916-2012), a New York based collector of Asian art, built one of the finest and most comprehensive private collections of Japanese art outside of Japan. Over 300 masterworks, including many of the most outstanding examples, were bequeathed to the Metropolitan Museum. This exhibition, which serves as a tribute to a great collector, reveals the distinctive features of Japanese art as viewed through the lens of 50 years of collecting: the sublime spirituality of Buddhist and Shinto art; the boldness of Zen ink painting; the imaginary world conjured up by the Tale of Genji and classical Japanese literature; the sumptuous colors of bird-and-flower painting; the subtlety of poetry, calligraphy and literati themes; the aestheticized accoutrements of the tea ceremony; and the charming portraiture of courtesans from the "floating world" (ukiyo-e).
The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Fund.

Encountering Vishnu: The Lion Avatar in Indian Temple Drama
December 19, 2015-June 5, 2016
Dramas presented during religious festivals in southern India are an important aspect of popular Hindu celebration. This exhibition highlights five rare wooden sculptural masks that represent a largely unrecorded category of late medieval Indian devotional art. The masks depict the protagonists in a deadly battle between Vishnu in his man-lion avatar, Narasimha, and an evil king whose destruction was essential for the restoration of order in the universe.

NEW GALLERIES

Chinese Treasury
Opened May 19, 2014
This gallery, which recreates the type of collecting and display found in 18th-century treasure cabinets (duobaoge), features some of the Museum's most precious works of Chinese art including sculptures and vessels of ivory, rhinoceros horn, glass, porcelain, and jade. Touchpads allow viewers to read introductory texts for all of the objects as well as to explore further by grouping the works of art digitally by material and by theme.

The Arts of Nepal and Tibet
Reopened March 13, 2015
These newly reinstalled galleries for Nepalese and Tibetan arts display some 100 sculptures, paintings, and textiles from the 9th to the 19th century, showcasing the 14 masterpieces acquired recently from the Zimmerman Family Collection.

The Arts of South Asia
Opening Fall 2015
This reinstallation represents the first reconfiguration and reinterpretation of the galleries for the art of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan since they were first opened in 1994. Encompassing works dating from the second century B.C. to the 14th century, the new installation features some 150 choice examples of early Hindu, Buddhist and Jain sculpture and ritual objects. These galleries encompass the early temple arts of the Shunga, Kushan and Gupta eras of early northern India, the Gandharan regions of the northwest, and the medieval arts of Kashmir and the Pala­ Sena dynasties of eastern India.

PROGRAMS & EVENTS

LECTURES AND PANELS

  • Friday Focus-Collecting Japan for the Met in the Late 19th Century
    Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, The British Museum, and Monika Bincsik, Assistant Curator, Met's Department of Asian Art, April 10, 4 p.m., Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall
    * In conjunction with Discovering Japanese Art: American Collectors and the Met.
  • Friday Focus-Dressing the Divine in Himalayan Art
    Katherine Anne Paul, Curator of Arts of Asia, Newark Museum, March 27, 4 p.m. Bonnie J. Sacerdote Lecture Hall
    * In conjunction with Sacred Traditions of the Himalayas.

DROP-IN DRAWING

  • Compositions: Asian Painting
    April 17, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
    Draw inspiration from original works of art. Join talented art instructors in the galleries for informal sketching fun. Materials are provided, but you may bring your own sketchbook; pencils only. Instruction provided every thirty minutes. Come and go as you like between each session. Gallery 227

PERFORMANCES & TALKS

  • Paradise Interrupted
    March 21, 3:00 & 7:00p.m., The Temple of Dendur in The Sackler Wing
    A new work by artist Jennifer Wen Ma and composer Huang Ruo, and starring Qian Yi. An excerpt from the eagerly awaited opera will be staged at the glorious Temple of Dendur. This performance is presented in conjunction with the exhibition China: Through the Looking: Glass, on view May 7-August 16, 2015. Tickets start at $54- Bring the Kids for $1 tickets are available.
    This performance, inspired by the exhibition China: Through the Looking Glass, is made possible by Adrian Cheng. Additional funding is provided by Sarah Solomon Billinghurst.
    Paradise Interrupted is co-commissioned and co-produced by Spoleto Festival USA and Lincoln Center Festival.
  • Lang Lang at the Met
    May 14, 8:00 p.m., the Great Hall
    Lang Lang performs in the grand setting of the Met's Great Hall.
    This program is presented in conjunction with the exhibition China: Through the Looking· Glass. Tickets start at $100.
    This performance, inspired by the exhibition, China: Through the Looking Glass, is made possible by Adrian Cheng.
  • The Great Wave: Japanese Art at the Met
    March 12, 19 & 31, 11:00 a.m., The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
    One of the great masterpieces of world art, Katsushika Hokusai's Under the Wave off Kanagawa (ca. 1830-32)-better known as the "Great Wave"-is said to have inspired Debussy's La Mer (The Sea) and Rilke's Der Berg (The Mountain). In this three-part series, Met curator John Carpenter examines the three critical elements of Hokusai's thundering seascape to lead viewers on a larger discovery of the Met's extraordinary collection of Japanese art, from historical, to classical, to contemporary works. Tickets start at $30 for one talk; $75 for all three

    "Turbulent Waves: Images of Seas and Streams"
    March 12, 11:00 a.m.
    "Eternal Mountains: Landscape Paintings and Prints"
    March 19, 11:00 a.m.
    "People at Work and Play: Genre Scenes"
    March 31, 11:00 a.m.
  • CONTACT!
    June 5, 7:00 p.m., The Grace Rainey Rogers Auditorium
    The New York Philharmonic performs a Japan-focused program with works by Takemitsu, Messiaen, and Dai Fujikura, as well as the U.S. premiere of Misato Mochizuki's Si blue, si calme. It will be conducted by Jeffrey Milarsky, one of the leading conductors of contemporary music today.
    Tickets start at $25-Bring the Kids for $1 tickets are available for this performance.



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