Just as the historian Edward Gibbon could imagine a Europe shaped by Islam, Asia could also have developed very differently. Gibbon saw a battle in central France in 732 as being the factor that prevented Muslims from eventually taking over… Continue reading
Willow Weilan Hai, Director, China Institute Gallery, and chief curator of the exhibition commented that recent excavations in China due to an unprecedented building boom have been an amazing gift to the archeological community, adding greatly to our knowledge of… Continue reading
UNTIL THE master potter Iskandar Jalil (b 1940, Singapore) came along, the making of pottery languished in relative obscurity as a minor craft in his birthplace. During a 40-year career, he worked to give it the recognition it deserved. Iskandar’s… Continue reading
‘Architecture is deeply connected to our impression and experience of places. While we may never visit these sites ourselves, we often become acquainted with them through encounters with images on postcards, souvenirs, and various forms of media. In Lhasa, Buddhist… Continue reading
The inspiration for this major exhibition on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Cleveland Museum of Art was the December 2013 acquisition of works from the Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection of Mughal and Deccan Paintings.… Continue reading
The Institut du Monde Arabe has designed a wonderful exhibition in five parts that retraces the history of gardens of the Orient from earliest antiquity to the most contemporary innovations, from the Iberian Peninsula to the Indian subcontinent. The intstitue… Continue reading
On my visit to Huang Rui’s Huantie studio on the northern outskirts of Beijing late last year, the artist without whom contemporary art in China would not be what it is today made a startling revelation. ‘I am thinking about… Continue reading
In January 2016, University of Florida’s resident museum – The Samuel P Harn Museum of Art – completed the restoration of seven paintings by the prolific Indian artist Jamini Roy. A US$50,000 grant award from the E Rhodes and Leona… Continue reading