Events

This autumn, The Hepworth Wakefield will present the first major museum exhibition of Kim Lim’s work since 1999, offering unparalleled insight into the artist’s life and work. Space, Rhythm & Light will display over 100 artworks created over four decades by Lim, alongside extensive archive material, most of which has never been seen publicly before, to show the full breadth of Lim’s work.

From influential superpower to repressive regime, Myanmar – also known as Burma – has seen dramatic fluctuations in fortune over the past 1,500 years.

Experiencing decades of civil war and now ruled again by a military dictatorship, Myanmar is an isolated figure on the world stage today, and its story is relatively little known in the West. However, the extraordinary artistic output of its peoples, over more than a millennium of cultural and political change, attests to its pivotal role at the crossroads of Asia. 

Take an exciting and atmospheric trip through Japanese history – and explore how landscape and folklore have influenced Japan’s culture, technology and design.

We are thrilled to share the news that ‘Fang Lijun: Portraits and Porcelain’ will be on exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum opening on 15^th October 2023!

As one of the leading artists of the 1990s Cynical Realism movement in China, Fang Lijun has gained international recognition for his large-scale paintings of figures with shaven heads and exaggerated facial features. Fang returned to porcelain for the first time in recent years having graduated from the ceramic department of Hebei School of Light Industry in the 1980s. 

Including exquisite historic works drawn from major collections including the Royal Collection, Tate, The Ashmolean Museum and National Museums Scotland, many of which can rarely be displayed due to their fragility, Beyond the Page will explore how the traditions of South Asian miniature paintings have been reclaimed and reinvented by modern and contemporary artists.

In collaboration with the Royal Academy, Hanga Ten presents a selection of prints celebrating the works of contemporary Japanese printmakers. The works of artists Katsunori Hamanishi, Kazuyuki Ohtsu, Ray Morimura, Nana Shiomi and Hiromitsu Takahashi are on display at the Burlington Gardens Shop and Entrance, as well as the RA Shop Website during the RA’s exhibition “Kyosai: The Israel Goldman Collection”

Open 7 Feb–26 Jun 2022

Gallery 8

Admission is FREE, but a free Museum ticket is required

This exhibition is informed by the time Ali Kazim, one of the most exciting artists working in Pakistan today, spent in the Ashmolean.

During a residency in 2019, Kazim spent days browsing through the Museum’s South Asian collection, examining several objects up close. Kazim’s engagement with the material and visual traditions – for example, how a small clay sculpture or a fingerprint can connect us, directly and viscerally, to the people who originally made and used them – encourages us in turn to reflect on how the past informs and influences the present.

Curated by Dr Mallica Kumbera Landrus, Keeper of the Department of Eastern Art and Senior Curator of Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art, in collaboration with the artist, the exhibition will feature Ashmolean objects alongside paintings, sculptures and installations by Kazim. The exhibition coinsides with the 75^th anniversary of Pakistan’s creation.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue supported by the Elie Khouri Art Foundation.

All Images: © Ali Kazim, Courtesy Jhaveri Contemporary

Open until 2 May 2022

Gallery 29

Admission is FREE, but a free Museum ticket is required

Over many decades, artist Naoko Matsubara (b. 1937) has been working on a series of woodcuts exploring the human hand — engaged in sport, dance, music, prayer or a variety of creative acts.

This exhibition celebrates an artistic collaboration between Naoko Matsubara and prize-winning poet Penny Boxall, who has responded to the woodcuts in a series of short poems, and is accompanied by a publication.

Komai Tetsuro (1920–1976), Vision of a Moment, etching, 1950

Gallery 11

Admission is FREE, but a free Museum ticket is required

In 1961 the Japanese government presented the Ashmolean Museum with a set of forty works by Japan’s leading contemporary print artists. The gift was part of a cultural exchange between the UK and Japan, and also celebrated the establishment of a new Eastern Art Department in the museum.

This exhibition commemorates the 60th anniversary of this extraordinary gift and of the founding of the Eastern Art Department. It includes a range of abstract and figurative works, including woodblock prints, mezzotints and lithographs – all examples of sōsaku hanga ‘Creative Prints’, made by artists who embraced modernist ideals of artistic self-expression.

While Creative Print artists had begun transforming Japanese printmaking in the first decades of the twentieth century, it was in the 1950s that they first achieved widespread international acclaim. ‘Vision of a Moment’ presents a snapshot of the art of Japanese printmaking at this golden moment in its history.

Image: Komai Tetsuro (1920–1976), Vision of a Moment, etching, 1950

For the first time, 75 netsuke from Bristol’s collection will go on display in the Eastern Art Gallery.

These finely carved miniature sculptures were Japan’s solution to a lack of pockets in men’s kimono and other clothing.

Each one is unique and they depict a huge range of subjects from Japanese popular culture – animals, mythical creatures and people as well legendary gods and heroes. Marvel at the breathtaking carving skills and the huge range of stories they tell.

During the Edo Period (1603-1868), men would hang small personal items on woven silk cords and tuck them into their sashes at the waist. Netsuke acted as toggles to stop the suspended objects from slipping.

When western clothing with pockets became increasingly fashionable in the Meiji Period (1868-1912), there was a declining demand for them. Carvers turned their skills toward intricate ornamental carvings called okimono. As purely decorative items, okimono usually have more delicate parts and are slightly larger than netsuke.

Both netsuke and okimono offer a fascinating glimpse into popular Japanese culture.