WHILE EXPLORING Japan’s traditional arts it does not take long to realise that the Tea-ceremony and its utensils are central; epitomising the expression of Zen ideals in every-day life and providing a milieu for profound artistic exploration that owes much… Continue reading
TODAY, FEW ARTISTS rely on installation work as their primary means of expression, however, Asim Waqif (b. 1978 in India) is one of these rare artists. Besides working with installation, he also has a more ambitious agenda than solely to… Continue reading
WE HAVE become used to seeing contemporary art from Kazakhstan and from other Central Asian countries in such events as biennials, but more rarely in galleries or museums. This makes it all the more remarkable that the exhibition, Life is… Continue reading
IN 1923, the Belgian missionary, Father Rafael Verbois then resident in Inner Mongolia, was offered 54 paintings by a monk at the imperial monastery of Wangzimiao in the former province of Jehol. More than 50 years later, the paintings were… Continue reading
IN 1998, an Arab dhow carrying goods from Tang-dynasty China was discovered in the Indian Ocean off Belitung Island, Indonesia. Dating from the 9th century, the shipwreck is the earliest Arab vessel of this period to be found with a… Continue reading
THE JAPANESE POTTER Hamanaka Gesson (b.1943, Kishiwada, Osaka), who is based in Hagi, western Honshu, is known as the ‘Master of Hagi pottery’. Hagi pottery have a 500 year-old Korean-inspired tradition which originally sustained the tea ceremony, and were crafted… Continue reading
IN THE CENTURY and a half that has passed since Utagawa Hiroshige’s death, his name has become synonymous with ukiyo-e print-making, to which he devoted his life. The Meiji Restoration of 1868 – a mere decade after Hiroshige’s demise –… Continue reading
THIS EXHIBITION, curated by Tomoko Nagakura, a curator and professor of Japanese art and currently a Research Fellow for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, could not have been possible without the gracious cooperation of Carol and Jeffrey Horvitz by… Continue reading
IT HAS BEEN 24 years since the Idemitsu Museum has presented an exhibition on a similar theme, monogatari-e, and for this current show about 30 paintings in various formats have been chosen. 2014 was the commemorative 400th year of the… Continue reading
THE MUSEE GUIMET commemorates the 50th anniversary (1964-2014) of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the French Republic and the People’s Republic of China by hosting this monumental exhibition of Han-dynasty treasures. Over the last half century, scholarship of an… Continue reading