Perspectives: Ai Weiwei

Now - April 7, 2013
Pavilion, Street Level

As part of the Perspectives series of contemporary Asian art, this exhibition features works by the prolific and provocative artist Ai Weiwei (b. 1957, China). From  large-scale installations, performances, and architectural design to photography and video, he deftly melds traditional materials and craftsmanship, local histories, and current events to creative incisive commentaries on the individual in today's society. Artworks include the installation Fragments (2005) in which Weiwei effectively subjects fragments from works that began hundreds of years ago to a simultaneously destructive and creative process, highlighting the bewildering reality that we live in the midst of a world undergoing rapid spatial and social transformation. Perspectives: Ai Weiwei is presented in conjunction with the exhibition Ai Weiwei: According to What? (October 4, 2012-February 24, 2013) and Ai Weiwei: Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads (April 19, 2012-February 24, 2013) at the Hirshhorn Museum.

Pronunciation key: Ai Weiwei = Eye Wayway

Art of Darkness: Japanese Mezzotints from the Hitch Collection

Now - July 8, 2012
Sublevel 1

With approximately 20 prints and related copperplates from the collection of Ken and Kiyo Hitch, this exhibition samples the visions of Hamaguchi Yozo (1909–2000) and Hamanishi Katsunori (born 1949). The works highlight the visceral production process and show remarkably innovative uses of the traditional European technique of mezzotint in the hands of Japanese artists.

Ken and Kiyo Hitch, preeminent collectors of modern and contemporary Japanese graphic art, have chosen the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery as the future home for their extensive collection of 20th- and 21st-century Japanese prints. Art of Darkness is the first in a series of exhibitions to celebrate this extraordinary gesture.

Hokusai: Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

Now - June 17, 2012
Sublevel 1

Designed by Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849) in his 70s, Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji was a landmark in Japanese print publishing, with innovative compositions, techniques, and coloration. It established landscape as a new subject for Japanese prints. The exhibition features all 46 images in this series, as well as explores the spiritual meaning and emotional resonance of Mount Fuji in Hokusai's late career.

Masters of Mercy: Buddha's Amazing Disciples

Now - July 8, 2012
Sublevel 1

Reflecting a popular theme in Edo art, Kano Kazunobu's (1816-63) paintings depict the lives and deeds of the Buddhist legendary 500 disciples. On view is a selection from his series of 100 paintings created between 1854 and 1863 for the Zojoji Temple in Edo. Little known and never before displayed outside of Japan, Kazunobu's series shows Buddha's disciples at work in the world, engaging in a range of activities from miraculous acts of compassion to everyday chores.

Goryeo Buddhist Paintings: A Closer Look

Now - May 28, 2012
Sublevel 1, Verver Galleries

Numbering fewer than 150 worldwide, Buddhist paintings created during the late Goryeo dynasty in Korea illustrate hope for peace and good fortune in this world and for salvation in the afterlife. Three rare icons from the Freer and Sackler collections that have never been displayed together are on view. Rendered in rich mineral pigments augmented with gold, the silk surfaces of these complex paintings have darkened with age. Photographic details of the three works taken by Buddhist painting specialist Chung Woothak show the masterly brushwork and superimposed patterns that are difficult to distinguish in the now-darkened originals. The photographs also reveal the materials and techniques that typify this special type of Buddhist icon. These14th-century images epitomize a golden age in Korean Buddhist art.

Feast Your Eyes: A Taste for Luxury in Ancient Iran

Permanent Exhibit
Sublevel 1, Galleries connecting Freer & Sackler Galleries

In celebration of the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery's 25th anniversary, a selection from the Freer and Sackler's extraordinary collection of luxury metalwork from ancient Iran -- an area extending from the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea to present-day Afghanistan -- is on view. This display explores the artistic and technical characteristics of these objects. Featured are works ranging in shape from deep bowls and footed plates to elaborate drinking vessels ending in animal forms, known in Greek as rython, that are largely associated with court ceremonies and rituals. Others, decorated with such royal imagery as hunting or enthronement scenes, were probably intended as gifts to foreign and local dignitaries. Depictions of kings and their royal attributes and pastimes helped define the power and identity of ancient Iranian royalty, whose rule continued well after the arrival of Islam in the 7th century.

Reinventing the Wheel: Japanese Ceramics 1930-2000

Permanent Exhibit
Sublevel 3

The Sackler collection represents significant trends in Japanese ceramics since the 1930s, when traditional workshop masters took on new roles as studio potters alongside artists in other media. Potters at regional kilns revived ancient firing and glazing technology for use in expressive new vessel forms. In postwar Kyoto, ceramic artists departed from conventional ideas of function to create sculptural forms. Today's potters sample at will from these trends, blending meticulous skill with daring reinterpretations of shapes and materials.This installation of highlights works by legendary Living National Treasures to young virtuosos of the present day.

Ancient Iranian Ceramics

Permanent Exhibit
Sublevel 1

Some 3,000 years ago, in the area south of the Caspian Sea in what is now modern Iran, craftsmen developed a distinctive type of pottery. Featuring some of the outstanding treasures in the museum's collection of ancient Iranian ceramics, this small installation celebrates the talents of these ancient Iranian potters and showcases the high quality of their crafted works.

Sculpture of South Asia and the Himalayas

Permanent Exhibit
Sublevel 1

On view are Hindu stone, bronze, brass, and terra-cotta sculptures from South India, dating from the 10th century through the 18th century. Highlights range from a majestic stone image of Shiva Dakshinamurti (Lord of the South) to a fierce gilded bronze of Palden Lhamo, the deity who protects Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. Also on view is the beloved elephant-headed deity Ganesh, who is the god of new beginnings and the remover of obstacles.

The Arts of China

Permanent Exhibit
Sublevel 1

A variety of materials, techniques, and motifs, which span almost six thousand years, are explored in this exhibition of objects highlighting the Sackler Gallery's permanent holdings of Chinese art. Much of the exhibition is dedicated to a comprehensive group of ancient jades and bronzes from the Stone Age to the dawn of China's imperial period. Also on display are works from much later periods -- paintings, calligraphy, and decorative objects that represent the refined tastes of imperial and aristocratic patrons. Early Chinese Buddhist art installation includes wall murals painted for the cave chapels at Kizil, a site in central Asia that participated in the east-west exchanges of the Silk Road .