Katsushika Hokusai’s masterpiece Great Wave is coming to Christie’s because there’s somehow never not a Great Wave headlining the Asia Week New York auctions. This year’s, which will go on the block in the auction house’s live Japanese and Korean Art sale on March 18, has a high estimate of $600,000, trailing by a wide margin an 18th-century Moon Jar with a high estimate of $2.5 million. Much more accessible is a pleasantly moody Hasui Kawase print, Evening Snow at Terashima, which is expected to sell for between $12,000 and $22,000.
Sidenote: Exhibitions focused on the arts and culture of Korea, like “Lineages” at the Met, often include Moon Jars, which have become an icon of Korean minimalism and Confucian values. Known as dal-hang-ari in Korean, Moon Jars from the Joseon dynasty (1392-1897) are exceptionally rare. Very few examples of authentic originals have survived, which is why Joseon Moon Jars sell for millions at auction, with one record-setting piece hammering for more than $4 million at Christie’s during the 2023 Asian Art Week auctions.
One of the nicest things about Asia Week New York is that there’s something for everyone, both in the sales and in the shows. For example, if you love classic woodblock prints but aren’t looking to buy, The Art of Japan is back in the city at The Mark Hotel from March 14 through March 16 with “250 Years of Japanese Woodblock Prints,” which showcases work by Hiroshi Yoshida, Takahashi Hiroaki, Kitagawa Utamaro and yes, Hokusai. But if it’s contemporary Asian art you’re hoping to see, you’re in luck. Ippodo Gallery will inaugurate its new Tribeca flagship with “Light and Abundance: Gold in Japanese Art,” opening March 13. In it, fourteen emerging kogei artists will show work that incorporates the material in innovative ways.
Among other highlights, Alisan Fine Arts will present the ink art of Gu Gan, Lee Chun-yi and Wucius Wong in “Reconstructed Realities,” HK Art and Antiques is showing works by Bohnchang Koo and Geejo Lee in conversation in “Elegance and Simplicity” and Fu Qiumeng Fine Art will explore classical and contemporary Chinese ink traditions in “Fluid Strength: The Art of Ink.” London gallery Francesca Galloway will bring “India’s Fascination with the Natural World: Mughal, Rajput and Company School Paintings” to Les Enluminures.
In all, twenty-seven dealers and galleries are mounting shows this year, showcasing a wide variety of porcelain, textiles, sculpture, bronzes, paintings, prints and more, representing 5,000 years of history. While most of the Asia Week New York shows open on or around March 13, Fu Qiumeng Fine Art is hosting a talk and demonstration by artist Brandon Sadler on March 1 in conjunction with the solo exhibition that marks his New York debut: “Along The Way: Transforming the Traditional.”
Outside the galleries, Japan Society is presenting “Kotobuki: Auspicious Celebrations of Japanese Art from New York Private Collections,” a showcase of rarely-seen objects with celebratory themes curated by Dr. Miyeko Murase. Asia Society is showing “Imperial Treasures: Chinese Ceramics of the Yuan and Ming Dynasties from the Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection,” which needs no explanation thanks to its mouthful of a title. The Korea Society is hosting (by appointment) “Cho In Ho | In the Manner of Magnificence,” with works by the artist that reinterpret the landscape from multiple perspectives, and Asian art fans likely already know that the Met is showing “Recasting the Past: The Art of Chinese Bronzes, 1100–1900” through September 28, 2025. For Asia Week New York, the museum is hosting a curator talk, Beyond Emulation: Rethinking Chinese Archaistic Bronzes, 1100–1900, with Pengliang Lu on March 11.
Notably, several institutions outside of the city will have related programming for Asia Week New York, including the Art Institute of Chicago (“Modern Japanese Portraits in Print”), the Denver Art Museum (“Lunar Phases: Korean Moon Jars”) and the San Antonio Museum of Art (“Envisioning the Hindu Divine: Expanding Darshan and Manjari Sharma”).
On the selling side, Christie’s, Sotheby’s, Bonhams and several other auction houses have put together sales for Asia Week New York. Asia Week at Bonhams comprises eight auctions, four of which are live sales: Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, which includes part one of the Bernard and Francine Wald Collection of Snuff Bottles sale; Classical and Modern Chinese Paintings; Indian and Himalayan Art; and Fine Japanese and Korean Art. Meanwhile, Heritage Auctions is selling Japanese Prints from the Nelkin Collection in a sale that, yes, includes another Great Wave.
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Sotheby’s will kick off its Asia Week New York offerings with the Modern & Contemporary South Asian Art auction, led by a massive Jagdish Swaminathan triptych, Homage to Solzhenitsyn, with a high estimate of $2 million. Other highlights include works by Jehangir Sabavala, Francis Newton Souza, Maqbool Fida Husain, Ganesh Pyne, George Keyt and Zubeida Agha. Next is the Chinese Art sale led by a monumental famille rose vase from the Qianlong period with a high estimate of $1.2 million and the Indian and Himalayan Art auction, which will feature classical Indian paintings from an important New York collection and works from the collection of financier and scholar Kevin R. Brine. Online, the auction house will offer Important Japanese Swords and Armour from the Paul L. Davidson Collection.
Meanwhile, Christie’s other Asian Art Week offerings include the South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art sale featuring a 1954 painting by Maqbool Fida Husain: Untitled (Gram Yatra) (high estimate: $3.5 million) that has not been exhibited since the year it was painted and the Important Chinese Furniture and Works of Art auction. Online, the auction house is hosting its South Asian Modern + Contemporary Art, Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Works of Art and Arts of Asia Online sales.
It’s a lot to take in, but as overwhelming as the Asia Week New York programming can be, it’s always nice when a few days of fairly relaxed gallery hopping can take you from nation to nation and through several thousand years of art history. If, as is the case here, you can also dive deep into diverse cultural heritages, all the better.
The Spring 2025 edition of Asia Week New York will take place from March 13 through March 21, 2025.
