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 and continuing 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.
Highlights include:
BUDDHIST ART: Claiming special recognition at Sacred Images from Nine Centuries at Arader Galleries, 29 East 72nd Street, is a 15th or 16th century bronze from Tibet. It represents the Bon deity Nampar Gyalwa and mesmerizes with silver and copper inlaid eyes and is very finely cast. The statue is important both because of the rare iconography of Nampar Gyalwa and because of the excellent quality and detail that is unusual in a Bon bronze.
NAYEF HOMSI ANCIENT ART OF ASIA: A superb figure of a 2nd-century Atlas made of gray schist enchants viewers at Nayef Homsi’s Recent Acquisitions, 7 East 75th Street, No. 1A. The figure of the Atlas was part of the Hellenistic influence on Gandharan art, most likely introduced during the 30 years when Alexander the Great’s armies occupied the Gandhara region. The Atlas, of course, supports the world, and in Gandharan art, Atlas figures were carved at the lowest register of a stuppa to literally support the entire stupa complex.
ALAN KENNEDY: Made in 18th century, a longevity woven textile from China engrosses discerning collectors at Chinese and Japanese Paintings and Textiles at the James Goodman Gallery, 41 East 57th Street, 8th Floor. The gallerist knows of only one other related textile, and it is currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum. In both instances, the weavers were able to re-create the look of calligraphic Chinese written characters in spite of the grid-like nature of a woven textile.
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.
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.