Chinamania: Whistler and the Victorian Craze for Blue-and-White (new title)

August 7, 2010 - August 7, 2011 (new opening and closing dates)
Ground Floor
Chinamania discusses the significance of Chinese export porcelain in Whistler's England, where it was first an object of serious aesthetic inspiration but soon proliferated as an aspirational commodity. Whistler himself was an early collector of the wares and depicted them in his paintings, stimulating the craze for blue-and-white porcelain that swept London in the 1870s and that the British press mockingly dubbed "Chinamania."

The exhibition features 23 works of art; a group of 8 wash drawings of Kangxi porcelain produced by Whistler for a collector's catalogue; related examples of blue and white from the Peacock Room; and several paintings, pastels, and etchings inspired by Whistler's interest in porcelain.

Masterpieces of Chinese Painting

June 12, 2010 - November 28, 2010
Gallery 13 (Chinese Art)
Some of the finest Chinese paintings in the Freer Gallery's collection are on view, including several by well-known Chinese artists that have not been displayed in years. Diverse traditional categories are represented, such as religious and secular portraits from the Northern Song dynasty (960-1127), landscapes from the Southern Song dynasty (1127-1279), paintings of literati during the Yuan dynasty (1279-1368), artworks produced in the Zhe and Wu schools of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), and images of orthodox and individual painters of the early Qing dynasty (1644-1911). Together these exceptional works trace the development of Chinese painting over generations.

Ancient Near Eastern Art

- Indefinitely
West Corridor
Text to come.

Cornucopia: Ceramics from Southern Japan

December 19, 2009 - January 9, 2011
Galleries 6a, 6, & 7 (Japanese Art)
This exhibition illuminates the engaging variety of local styles of glazing and decoration invented by Kyushu potters over three centuries. Around the year 1600, a heightened fascination with the design and uses of ceramics combined with new access to advanced technology launched an era of extraordinarily diverse and accomplished ceramic production. Southern Japan -- in particular, the island of Kyushu -- was the center for this efflorescence, which included both stoneware coated in muted glazes and porcelain ornamented with cobalt blue or multicolored enamels. Hundreds of kilns produced vessels for the domestic market (with a focus on utensils for dining and for the tea ceremony) and also for export to Europe and Southeast Asia.

See "Around the Mall: What's Up" in the January 2010 Smithsonian magazine: page 26.

Freer & Whistler: Points of Contact

- Indefinitely
Galleries 10 & 11 (American Art)
Some 23 oil paintings represent a choice selection of the more than 1,300 paintings, prints, and drawings by Whistler in the gallery's collection. The works on view were chosen to exemplify both Freer's philosophy of collecting and Whistler's own self-conscious synthesis of western and Asian artistic traditions. Highlights include a sequence of views of the Thames from Whistler's Chelsea residence; an ensemble of Nocturnes (Whistler's term for his paintings of the moonlit urban landscape), and a pair of full-length portraits, including the magnificent Arrangement in Black: Portrait of F.R. Leyland, which depicts the patron of the renowned Peacock Room, adjacent to this exhibition.

Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas

- Indefinitely
Galleries 1 & 2 (South Asian Art)
To show the cultural and religious diversity of the Indian subcontinent and the Tibetan plateau, this new long-term rotating exhibition currently features 39 artifacts, including Hindu, Buddhist, and Jain sculptures, as well as rarely exhibited paintings and luxury arts from the Mughal, Rajput, and Deccani courts.

The Religious Art of Japan (rotating)

- Indefinitely
Gallery 8 (Japanese Art)
Important works from the Freer's collection of Japanese religious art are exhibited in several thematic rotations over a period of several years.

Overview: Important works from the Freer's collection of Japanese religious art are exhibited in several thematic rotations over a period of several years. Buddhist iconography was first introduced to Japan from the Asian mainland in the 6th century and the complex belief systems and sacred cosmologies of diverse Buddhist sects have since continued to influence Japanese art. Internationally noted works of Buddhist sculpture on view include delightfully animated representations of the Guardians of the Four Directions and a serenely poised image of a bodhisattva. Paintings include complex, geometric mandala forms, imagined visions of heavenly beings and the austere ink-monochrome visual meditations of Zen masters. Shinto sculpture and paintings are also on view.

Charles Lang Freer and Egypt

- Indefinitely
Gallery 16
Some 70 small glass vessels, bronzes, amulets, and sculptures from the New Kingdom (1550-1070 B.C.) to the Roman Period (30 B.C.-A.D. 395) are on view from Freer's eclectic collection of Egyptian artifacts. These objects illustrate many features of this ancient civilization, including deities, scripts, and materials and techniques of manufacture. Gallery founder Charles Lang Freer (1856-1919) visited Egypt on three separate occasions between 1906 and 1909. He was deeply attracted to the rich blue and green colors of Egyptian glass and glazes and their often luminous appearance.

Arts of the Islamic World

- Indefinitely
Galleries 3 & 4 (Islamic Art)
The arts of the Islamic world flourished in a vast geographic area extending from Morocco and Spain to the islands of Southeast Asia. Although distinct in their cultural, artistic, ethnic, and linguistic identities, the people of this region have shared one predominant faith, Islam. The works on view here represent the three principal media for artistic expression in the Islamic world: architecture (both religious and secular), the arts of the book (calligraphy, illustration, illumination, and bookbinding), and the arts of the object (ceramics, metalwork, glass, woodwork, textiles, and ivory).

The works date from the 9th to the 17th centuries. On view are brass bowls and candlesticks, folios from the Koran, earthenware and ceramics, and paintings representing the traditions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and other parts of North Africa, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan.

Ancient Chinese Pottery and Bronze

- Indefinitely
Galleries 14 & 15 (Ancient Chinese Art)
The selection of ceramic and bronze vessels on view begins at the important juncture between the end of the Neolithic pottery tradition and the emergence of the metalworking tradition (around 2000 B.C.E.), and stops at the end of the Bronze Age and the rise of glazed stoneware (around 200 C.E.). The exhibition shows the complex, changing relationship between two of China's oldest artistic traditions.

Clay, jade, and bronze are the dominant materials used in the art of ancient China from around 4000 B.C.E. to the early centuries C.E. Of these, clay and bronze appear to have been closely linked in their developments. Both materials were used to make pots and containers in a variety of shapes, the best of which were buried with their owners as status symbols or signs of wealth. Both required an intimate knowledge of the materials and expert handling to create the finished product.

Korean Ceramics

- Indefinitely
Gallery 9 (Korean Art)
Ceramics have always been an integral part of Korean culture and an important vehicle of the Korean aesthetic. This gallery presents 30 Korean ceramics made between 200 and 1900 -- from the Three Kingdoms period (1st-7th centuries) Choson period (1392-1910) -- ranging from tableware and Buddhist cinerary urns made for courtiers to bowls, bottles, and storage jars used by peasants.

Buddhist Art

- Indefinitely
Gallery 17
Buddhism, a religion that originated in India during the 6th century B.C.E., spread eastward across much of Asia during the next thousand years. While its followers are now established worldwide, Buddhism continues to have an especially strong religious and cultural presence throughout the Asian continent. Each of the civilizations that has embraced Buddhism has given a local and distinctive interpretation and sensibility to the representation of the Buddha as well as to the other images and symbols characteristic of Buddhist art.

Japanese Screens (rotating)

- Indefinitely
Gallery 5 (Japanese Art)
Features a selection from the nearly 200 screens held by the Freer Gallery. Ranging in date from the 15th to the 19th centuries, the screens represent the major thematic and stylistic examples of this popular format.

Note: Screens rotate periodically.

Outdoor Sculpture: Twisted Form by Shiro Hayami

- Permanent
Outdoors near Jefferson Drive entrance
Twisted Form (Traveler's Guardian Spirit), 1981, an Agi stone and Peruvian granite sculpture by Shiro Hayami

Sculptures

- Permanent
North corridor at northwest and northeast corners (Jefferson Drive entrance):

• Two huge Kongorikishi (also known as Ni-o) warriors: Japan, Kamakura period, early 14th century, wood

Inside south doors (near Independence Avenue entrance):

• Vimalakirti: A huge 6th-century stone Buddhist sculpture: China, from the Binyang cave at the Longmen Grottoes in Henan Province

The Peacock Room

- Permanent
Gallery 12
The Peacock Room, originally designed by architect Thomas Jeckyll, was once the dining room in the London home of Frederick R. Leyland, a wealthy shipowner from Liverpool, England. Although the architect merely asked for advice about what color to paint the shutters and doors, James McNeill Whistler (1834-1903) took over and eventually transformed the entire room. Between 1876 and 1877, he enhanced the room with golden peacocks, painting every inch of the ceiling and walls to create an elegant setting in which Leyland could display his blue-and-white porcelain as well as Whistler's painting The Princess from the Land of Porcelain. Purchased by Charles Lang Freer (1854-1919) in 1904 and installed in the Freer Gallery of Art after his death, the Peacock Room is on permanent display.