Resources

The Tosa school, which originated in Kyoto during the Muromachi period (1392–1573), traditionally painted for the imperial family and nobility. They took as their subjects classical Japanese literature, such as the Tale of Genji and the Tales of Ise. Learn more.

Learn about the Rinpa (or Rimpa) school of Japanese painting during the Edo period of Japan.

Lewis Lancaster of UC Berkeley gives an overview of Japanese Buddhism.

European art and culture had a significant impact in Japan, both before and during the period of self-imposed isolation.

New Delhi-based artist Jagannath Panda lives in the burgeoning city of Gurgaon, which is one of India’s major outsourcing hubs and bases of operation for global corporations. His works illustrate the city’s tensions, as overdevelopment threatens natural habitats and infrastructures collapse before they are completed. Panda’s mix of mythology and realism points to the evolving nature of Indian identity and experience today.

If one had the money, one could acquire an ever-increasing quantity and variety of European goods and luxury wares in 17th-century Isfahan, including Italian velvet, London cloth and handbags, faux pearls and gold clocks. How were these European imports worn and displayed? What did they signify in the increasingly cosmopolitan city of Isfahan, a city referred to as “half the world” by its inhabitants? Dr. Amy Landau will delve into these questions about the social context of European luxury objects in 17 century Persia.

Sneak a peek behind the scenes of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco as staff and Ship Art employees install a colossal statue of a man in the museum for the Roads of Arabia exhibition.

Artist, Jakkai Siributr, discusses his work. Here/Not Here: Buddha Presence in Eight Recent Works brings together recent art by Jakkai Siributr, Sopheap Pich, and Pinaree Sanpitak, three artists who use traditional Buddhist ideas and imagery to comment on contemporary life. On view at the Asian Art Museum (April 1–October 23, 2011).

Melinda Takeuchi, Professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures and the Department of Art History at Stanford University, discusses the coded meanings behind a woodblock print in the Asian Art Museum’s collection.

Born in Hong Kong and raised in Nigeria and Ontario, Howie Tsui’s influences include ghost stories, Buddhist hell scrolls, Japanese monster culture, and Hong Kong vampire films. As part of his Horror Fables series, Tsui contributes to Phantoms of Asia: Contemporary Awakens the Past (on view at the Asian Art Museum from May 18-September 2, 2012) intricately drawn human-monster hybrids that combine imagery from traditional Asian folklore with contemporary pop culture.