Asia Week New York opens with Ancient/and or Contemporary Japanese Art
Installation shot of @giuseppe_piva_japanese_art exhibition of Japanese art and antiques for #AsiaWeekNY.
NEW YORK, NY.- March 10th kicks off Asia Week New York, the extraordinary ten-day extravaganza that animates New York with a glorious array of prized Asian works of art.
Originating from every corner of the Asian continent, the artworks will be shown throughout Manhattan by international Asian art specialists starting March 10 through March 19. In the museum-quality presentations by 45 galleries, art lovers can take in the rarest and finest examples of painting, sculpture, bronzes, ceramics, jewelry, jade, textiles, prints and photographs from all over Asia.
"Each year at this time, just as the flavor of spring arrives in the air, another phenomenon electrifies the atmosphere of New York: Asia Week!" exclaims Lark Mason, Chairman of Asia Week New York 2016 and owner and founder of iGavel Auctions. "And each year, in-the-know aficionados look forward to this 10-day event with great expectation. And why shouldn't they? Asia Week, now celebrating its seventh anniversary, is more exciting than ever."
Organized by category and region, here is a roundup of the not-to-be-missed exhibitions by the participating galleries:
Detail from pair of 17th century Japanese 6-fold screen, "Chinese Children at Play" (Anonymous Kano School). On view at Kaikodo LLC during #AsiaWeekNY 2016.
BACHMANNECKENSTEIN JAPANESEART
A collaboration of Ikeno Taiga(1723-1776) and his wife Gyokuran (1727-1784) produced a breathtaking vertical summer mountain landscape, in ink and color on paper. The limited use of color gives warmth to the roughness of the mountain landscape, and it is a key element of Japanese Art-Pre-Modern and Beyond at Gallery Schlesinger, 24 East 73rd Street, 2nd Floor.
Ikeno Taiga and Gyokuran, Landscape. Ink and color on paper, 51 x 10 ¾ inches. BachmannEckenstein JapaneseArt (Basel, Switzerland)
CAROLE DAVENPORT
An early Japanese Gigaku mask of the drunken Suikoju from 8th-10th century Nara, carved of paulownia wood with remnants of original gesso and pigments, commands attention at Carole Davenport's exhibition of Iconic Masterworks/Japan & Asia at 22 East 80th Street at the fifth-floor gallery of Leigh Morse. Very few masks of this vintage exist in Western collections, but they do populate Japanese museums. Gigaku is the earliest Japanese comic dance drama, one that was transplanted from China and Korea in the 7th century. Its popularity waned by the 12th century to be supplanted by the Bugaku theater.
Nara Period Gigaku Mask of Suikoju, Japan, 8th century. Wood with gesso, pigments, lacquer. Height: 10 inches. Carole Davenport (New York, NY)
DAI ICHI ARTS, LTD.
In Seductive Beauty: Masterpieces from Japan, 18 East 64th Street, a tall stoneware Oribe vase covered with spirals that call to mind early spring young buds is the star attraction. It was created in 2002 by 75-year-old Suzuki Goro, who has been likened to Picasso by more than one critic in Japan.
SUZUKI Goro (1941- ), Oribe Vase, 2002, Stoneware. Dai Ichi Arts, Ltd. (New York, NY)
GALLERY JAPONESQUE
For more than a quarter century Masatoshi Izumi was Isamu Noguchi's right-hand man. Kyusoku ("Rest"), a mixed-media 2010 sculpture, presented by Mr. Izumi, provides a setting for looking upon spaces between the seven pieces of broken Japanese granite while sitting upon old black pine beams. Experience the power of stones and this possible 21st century transferable meditation garden of Kyoto's Ryoanji, at Koichi Hara's gallery exhibition, Word of Mouth for 35 Years, on view at the Tambaran Gallery, 5 East 82nd Street, Ground Floor.
Masatoshi IZUMI, Kyusoku—Rest (2010). Mixed media sculpture of Japanese Granite and old Black Pine timbers. L. 27 feet. Gallery Japonesque (San Francisco, CA)
Koichi Hara. Hidden Light. USA, 2013. Wood is circa 18th century. Cabinet: Bronze, copper, gold leaf, glass, and wood. 76 x 37 x 22 inches (183 x 94 x 56 cm). Gallery Japonesque (San Francisco, CA)
Akihiro Isogai. Fountain 1568. Japan, 2015. Glasswork. 9.5 x 16 x 16 inches, 118 lbs. Gallery Japonesque (San Francisco, CA)
Masatoshi Izumi. Yohaku (Breathing Space). Japan. 2012. Aji Granite. Left piece: 16 x 39 x 29 inches, 1100 lbs. Right piece: 14 x 43 x 25 inches, 660 lbs. Gallery Japonesque (San Francisco, CA)
LAURENCE MILLER GALLERY
A beautiful distillation of a uniquely Asian viewpoint, Toshio Shibata's Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, 2013, at first seems to break from the tradition of his photographs of evolving and altered landscapes. A visit to Contemporary Photography Asian Perspectives, 20 West 57th Street, Third Floor, will affirm that this striking photograph still embodies the Japanese aesthetic of wabi-sabi and that Shibata reveals a visual grace in structures that are commonly considered inelegant, and in so doing changes the way we view our everyday world.
Toshio Shibata, Nikko City, Tochigi Prefecture, 2013, 32x40 inch type c-print. Edition of 10. Laurence Miller Gallery (New York, NY)
Yoko Iked, Limited edition prints, 20 x 24 inches. Laurence Miller Gallery (New York, NY)
Toshio Shibata. Okawa Village, Japan. Japan, 2007. Type-C Color Photograph. 20 x 24 inches. Laurence Miller Gallery (New York, NY)
Guangxi, ca. 1970. 5 x 6" gelatin silver print. Xinhua News Agency Archive. Laurence Miller Gallery (New York, NY)
JOAN B. MIRVISS, LTD.
Ono Hakuko, an artist who lived from 1915 to 1996, created Kinrande, a floral-patterned covered porcelain water jar around 1985. Hakuko paved the path for Japanese women ceramists with her mastery of gold leaf on porcelain. It is only one masterpiece among nearly fifty vessels by over thirty artists included in A Palette for Genius: Japanese Water Jars for the Tea Ceremony, 39 East 78th Street, 4th Floor.
Ono Hakuko (1915-1996), Kinrande floral-patterned covered porcelain water jar, Japan, ca. 1985, 5 3/8 x 7 3/8 in. Image Courtesy of Joan B Mirviss LTD. Photography by Richard Goodbody
ONISHI GALLERY
Crafted by the youngest artist in Japan to become a Living National Treasure (at the age of 51, in 2014), Imaizumi Imaemon XIV painted a covered porcelain jar with grapes and flowers, which embrace bold graphic renderings of allegorical iconography. The work also shows off the traditional techniques developed by his family over generations. It can be seen at Kōgei: Contemporary Japanese Art at Dalva Brothers, Inc., 53 East 77th Street.
Imaizumi Imaemon XIV (1962- ), Covered jar with grapes and flowers, 2014. Porcelain with iro-e polychrome enamel painting with light sumi and sumi-hajiki, h. 19 x w. 12 x d. 11 1/4 in. (48.3 x 30.5 x 28.5 cm). Onishi Gallery (New York, NY)
Imaizumi Imaemon XIV. Vase with Zuika (Mullein) flower patterns. Japan, 2013. Porcelain with iro-e polychrome enamel painting with light sumi and sumi-hajiki. 14 1/2 x 12 1/4 inches (36.6 x 31.2 cm). Onishi Gallery (New York, NY)
Tokuda Yasokichi IV (b. 1961). Time and Space. 2015. porcelain with colored glaze. 4 x 26 inches (10 x 66 cm). Onishi Gallery (New York, NY)
Osumi Yukie (b. 1945). High Tide Comes In. 2007. Hammered silver with nunomezogan (textile imprint inlay) decoration in lead and gold. 9.5 x 9 inches (24 x 23 cm). Onishi Gallery (New York, NY)
SCHOLTEN JAPANESE ART
In their exhibition Ukiyo-e Tales: Stories from the Floating World at 145 West 58th Street, Suite 6D, Scholten Japanese Art is showcasing woodblock prints from the 18th and 19th centuries and calling special attention to an exceptional work by Suzuki Harunobu (circa 1724-70), who is credited with bringing together all of the elements that launched what we recognize today as ukiyo-e. One of the finest Harunobu prints in this show, Fashionable Snow, Moon and Flowers: Snow, circa 1768, depicts an elegant courtesan accompanied by her two kamuro (young girl attendants) and a male servant holding a large umbrella sheltering her from falling snow.
Suzuki Harunobu (ca. 1724-70), Fashionable Snow, Moon and Flowers: Snow, ca. 1768-69, woodblock print, 11 by 8 in. (27.8 by 20.3 cm). Scholten Japanese Art (New York, NY)
Suzuki Harunobu (ca. 1724-1770). Courtesan and Customer at the Ibarakiya House. Japan, circa 1767. Woodblock print. Scholten Japanese Art (New York, NY)
GIUSEPPE PIVA JAPANESE ART
The pine tree (matsu) occurs frequently in Japanese art and is symbolic of longevity and stability of character. It is also thought of as a good omen and is associated with fidelity and loyalty in friendship. A beautiful writing box decorated with a moon behind a pine tree from the 19th century steals the show as part of Japanese Art and Antiques at Adam Williams Fine Art Ltd, 24 East 80th Street.
Suzuribako. Writing Box decorated with a moon behind a pine tree, 19th century . Takamaki-e lacquer on roiro ground; details in gold and silver hiramaki-e, uchikomi, kirikane, ohirame, kimpun and mura nashiji; Rims in fundame; silver and shakudo mizuire in the shape of a mussel shell with clams. 17.6 x 12.9 x 2.2 cm. Giuseppe Piva Japanese Art (Milan, Italy)
ERIK THOMSEN
Yoshio Okada is the Japanese contemporary lacquer artist who best combines traditional craftsmanship with an original contemporary aesthetic, and his work is highly sought-after by private collectors and museums. A dry-lacquer box with maki-e gold lacquer decor and inlays of gold foil and abalone shell, entitled Box with Moon and Clouds, is one of his foremost triumphs to be experienced at Taisho Screens and Contemporary Lacquer, 23 East 67th Street, 4th Floor.
Yoshio Okada (b. 1977), Box with Moon and Clouds, 2016, Japan. Dry-lacquer box with maki-e gold lacquer decor and inlays of gold foil and abalone shell, 5.75 x 4.25 inches (14.5 x 11.1 cm). Erik Thomsen (New York, NY)
Yoshio Okada (b. 1977). Moving Clouds and the Moon Spirit. Japan, 2009. Dry-lacquer box with maki-e decor and inlays of gold foil and abalone shell. 5.75 x 4.25 inches (14.5 x 11.1 cm). Erik Thomsen (New York, NY)
Mizuuchi Kyōhei (1909-2001), Gourd Tea Caddy, Showa era (1912-1989), 1960s. H 2-3/4 x D 2-3/4 in. Erik Thomsen (New York, NY)
Kiyose Ikkō II (b. 1942). Pine Trees Tea Caddy. Japan, Heisei era (1989-present), 1990s. 3 x 3 inches. Erik Thomsen (New York, NY)
Kajino Genzan (1868-1939). Flowers of the Four Seasons (detail). Taisho or Showa era, 1920s, Japan. Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, mineral colors, and gofun (white powdered shell) on paper with gold leaf. Each 66 3/4 x 147 1/2 inches (169.5 x 374.5 cm). Erik Thomsen (New York, NY)
HIROSHI YANAGI ORIENTAL ART
Both hands of a striking standing sculpture that is a part of Recent Acquisitions at Arader Galleries, 1016 Madison Avenue, have thumb and index figures adjoined in forming the raigōmudra. This iconographic feature identifies the work as a depiction of Amida Nyorai. The elongated, slender eyes, as well as the small nose and mouth imbue the sculpture with an intensity and forcefulness that make this an artwork not to be missed.
Standing Amida Nyorai, 11th-12th century. Height: 58.5 cm (1.9 shaku). Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art (Kyoto, Japan)
Maruyama Okyo. Pair of hanging scrolls of carps. Japan, Edo Period, dated 1777. Ink and color on silk. Each scroll 20.25 x 46.75 inches (51.5 x 119 cm). Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art (Kyoto, Japan)
Japanese Wooden Statue of Nyoirin Kan'non. 14th century. Height: 36 cm. Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art (Kyoto, Japan)
Japanese Raku Pottery Dog (Hand Warmer). 19th century. Height: 27 cm. Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art (Kyoto, Japan)