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Asian art

Curator's Corner

Do Not Deface! Historic Sites to Visit Respectfully

Monday, July 24, 2023 | Karl Cole

As an art historian and artist, I am appalled by recent incidents of tourists defacing the Colosseum (72–80 CE) in Rome and Toshodai-ji (founded 759 CE) in Nara, Japan, with their initials. It i ...

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Curator's Corner

AAPI Heritage Month 2023: Chan Chao

Tuesday, May 30, 2023 | Karl Cole

Photography was a groundbreaking art form when it was first introduced. Quite soon after its development, numerous Western photographers explored photography for documentary and journalistic purposes. ...

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Curator's Corner

AAPI Heritage Month 2023: Walasse Ting

Monday, May 22, 2023 | Karl Cole

One of the great things about America is the fact that, since colonial times, awesome artists from all over the world have come here and made amazing contributions to American art history. As time has ...

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Curator's Corner

Gems of the Month: Contemporary Japanese Tea Bowls

Monday, May 8, 2023 | Karl Cole

This month’s gems are contemporary artworks that serve the ages-old Japanese tea ceremony (chanoyu or sado). Tea drinking was first introduced in Japan during the Nara period (710–794) aft ...

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Curator's Corner

A Young Wheat Plant for Spring: Hamada Shōji

Monday, April 17, 2023 | Karl Cole

As an avid learner of the thousands of years of Japanese ceramic arts history, I am always excited to contemplate an artist’s work that I had never studied carefully before. Shōji Hama ...

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Curator's Corner

World Landscape Architecture Month: Ginkakuji Temple

Monday, April 3, 2023 | Karl Cole

Landscape architects around the world make works of art out of the natural environment. Every culture has aesthetics that guide this work. In the case of traditional dry gardens in Japan, Zen Buddhist ...

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Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Lotus Ten-Panel Screen

Monday, January 23, 2023 | Karl Cole

In observance of National Korean American Day, which occurred on Friday, January 13th, I dedicate the January Gem of the Month to the singular beauty of Korean art through the centuries. Korean art co ...

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Curator's Corner

Happy New Year 2023: Totoya Hokkei

Tuesday, January 3, 2023 | Karl Cole

Mekari Shinji at the Mekari Shrine in Japan is an annual ritual of cutting wakame seaweed—symbolizing wealth and good fortune—from the ocean at low tide on New Year’s day of the old ...

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Curator's Corner

Sleigh Rides and Christmas Carols: Hattie Brunner

Monday, December 19, 2022 | Karl Cole

Some artists have a knack for setting a mood in a genre scene (scene of everyday life). Such is the case with Visionary artist Hattie Brunner, the so-called “Pennsylvania-German Grandma Moses.&r ...

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Curator's Corner

Autumn Color: Chung Hae-Cho

Monday, November 14, 2022 | Karl Cole

There have been some gorgeous arrays of color in Massachusetts foliage this autumn. I am particularly amazed at the palette of reds, especially when contrasted with any leaves that are still green. Th ...

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Curator's Corner

A Visual Tribute to Labor Day Week 2022

Monday, September 5, 2022 | Karl Cole

Aside from the myth of Sunday as a “day of rest” in the West, it’s interesting to me that there is only one day a year that celebrates “labor” in the U.S. The movement to ...

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Curator's Corner

Rain, Rain Go Away?: Tanya Goel

Monday, August 29, 2022 | Karl Cole

Some parts of the U.S. are experiencing too much rain, while others are in drought situations (as we are in Massachusetts). Well, the extremely hot weather worldwide, linked with the combined bamboozl ...

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Curator's Corner

Gem of the Month: Wang Zhen

Monday, July 25, 2022 | Karl Cole

This beautiful still life is representative of a period in Chinese art when Chinese artists began to be influenced by elements of Western art, before the Communist government was established. Man ...

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Curator's Corner

Disability Pride Month 2022: Yayoi Kusama

Monday, July 18, 2022 | Karl Cole

During her long and distinguished artistic career, artist Yayoi Kusama has explored painting, sculpture, conceptual art, performance art, and installation with sound. She has created a truly unique ae ...

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Curator's Corner

AAPI Heritage Month 2022: I. M. Pei

Monday, May 16, 2022 | Karl Cole

I. M. (Ieoh Ming) Pei was a pioneering American architect renowned in the International Style. He conceived of many of his building designs as a form of sculpture. ...

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Curator's Corner

AAPI Heritage Month: Yasuo Kuniyoshi

Monday, May 9, 2022 | Karl Cole

Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month continues with the work of Yasuo Kuniyoshi. Kuniyoshi applied modernist compositional principles to works that are solidly grounded in the object. Hi ...

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