Hokusai: Paintings and Drawings

Now - June 24, 2012
Galleries 6 and 7

Freer Gallery of Art founder Charles Lang Freer (1854–1919) first discovered the great Japanese artist Hokusai (1760–1849) through his woodblock prints. Beginning in 1898, Freer turned to collecting Hokusai’s paintings, and by 1907 he had gathered a collection that remains unrivaled in its holdings of original Hokusai paintings and drawings. A selection from this collection, along with a few important subsequent acquisitions of Hokusai’s work, is on view. This installation features such highlights as Boy Viewing Mount Fuji and three masterworks of Hokusai’s last years -- Thunder God, Fisherman, and Woodcutter. 

Two other exhibitions on Hokusai are Hokusai: Japanese Screens (January 28-July 29, 2012) at the Freer Gallery and Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (March 24–June 17, 2012) at the Sackler Gallery. 

Winged Spirits: Birds in Chinese Painting

Now - August 5, 2012
Gallery 13 & East Corridor

In Chinese culture, many birds are endowed with strong symbolic associations, both on their own and especially in combination with certain auspicious flowers. In the 10th century, birds and flowers emerged as major themes in traditional Chinese painting. At first such images were based on the close observation of nature and employed fine detail and color; later they derived from the painting tradition itself and often were rendered in only ink. While the primary interest of many artists was to capture the essence or spirit of their subjects, most birds in the paintings can be scientifically identified. More than 35 species of birds are depicted in flight, on the ground or in water, or perched on tree branches.

Hokusai: Japanese Screens

Now - July 29, 2012
Gallery 5

Freer Gallery of Art founder Charles Lang Freer (1854–1919) first discovered the great Japanese artist Hokusai (1760–1849) through his woodblock prints. Beginning in 1898, Freer turned to collecting Hokusai’s paintings, and by 1907 he had gathered a collection that remains unrivaled in its holdings of original Hokusai paintings and drawings. A selection from this collection, along with a few important subsequent acquisitions of Hokusai’s work, is on view. This installation features a magnificent pair of six-panel folding screens of Mount Fuji.

Two other exhibitions on Hokusai are Hokusai: Paintings and Drawings (February 18-June 24, 2012) at the Freer Gallery and Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji (March 24–June 17, 2012) at the Sackler Gallery. 

Silk Road Luxuries from China

Permanent Exhibit
Gallery 16

A vast network of caravan trails has long linked the oasis settlements spread across the Central Asian desert. For nearly two millennia these trade routes, now collectively known as the Silk Road, facilitated the spread of Buddhism and provided a course for the long-distance exchange of luxury goods between merchants and traders in China and the West. The impact of foreign imports on the arts of China is particularly apparent in objects dating from the 6th century through 8th century, when Chinese artisans explored new materials (e.g., silver and gold), techniques, forms, and decorative patterns. Exceptional examples of objects and tableware -- most made in the vicinity of the Tang capital at Chang'an (modern Xi'an) -- are featured. In addition, on view are portions of an elaborate stone burial couch that was apparently made for the tomb of one of the traders from Sogdiana (modern-day Uzbekistan and Tajikistan).

Cranes and Clouds: The Korean Art of Ceramic Inlay

Permanent Exhibit
Gallery 14

The Korean Gallery features an exhibition embodying the evolution of the distinctive Korean ceramic decoration know as sanggam. Originally, sanggam involved inlaying white and black pigments into stamped or carved motifs to create images of cranes, clouds, ducks, lotuses, and willows that appear to float within a limpid green glaze. This technique appeared in Korea by the mid-12th century; it would adorn tableware and ritual vessels used by the court and nobility for two centuries. Once porcelain replaced celadon as the elite ceramic, however, the appearance of inlaid decoration changed radically. White pigment, applied in dense patterns to cover everyday bowls and dishes, approximated the snowy appearance of porcelain.

Chinese Ceramics: 10th-13th Century

Permanent Exhibit
Gallery 15

Potters in both north and south China perfected the skills needed to control and modulate ceramic glazes—in shades of white, green, blue, brown, and black—during the Song dynasty (960–1279). In some modes, the glaze complemented carved or incised decoration; in others, its purity of color became a focal point on its own. Two dozen Chinese ceramics from the Freer collection highlight these glazes and the skills of Song dynasty artisans.

Sweet Silent Thought: Whistler's Interiors

Permanent Exhibit
Ground Floor

Reading, music, reverie, and studio practice were recurring themes in James McNeill Whistler's work throughout his career. Using Harmony in Green and Rose: The Music Room as a central image, this small-scale exhibition examines these themes as depicted within aesthetic spaces. Also featured are the artist's works on paper from the late 1850s through the early 1890s, highlighting Whistler’s creative development from Realism to Aestheticism.

The Peacock Room Comes to America

Permanent Exhibit
Peacock Room, Gallery 12

For the first time, the Freer Gallery's renowned Peacock Room has been restored to its appearance in 1908, when museum founder Charles Lang Freer used it to organize and display more than 250 ceramics from all over Asia. The first special exhibition in this room since its conservation in 1993, The Peacock Room Comes to America highlights Freer's belief in "points of contact" between American and Asian art and underscores the relationship among the museum's diverse collections. Note:  Starting August 18, 2011, the shutters in the Peacock Room will open from 12 noon until 5:30 PM on the 3rd Thursday of every month through spring 2013.

Originally designed by architect Thomas Jeckyll, the Peacock Room was once the dining room for British shipping magnate Frederick Leyland, who wanted a place to showcase his blue-and-white Chinese porcelain collection in his London home. When American artist James McNeill Whistler redecorated the room in 1876 as a "harmony in blue and gold," he too was inspired by the delicate patterns and vivid colors of the pots. Their slick surfaces did not appeal to Freer, however, who favored complex surface texture and subtly toned glazes. When Freer purchased the Peacock Room in 1904 and moved it from London to Detroit, he filled the shelves with pots he had collected from countries as diverse as Egypt, Iran, Japan, China, and Korea. Freer's ceramics are absorbing individually and as part of the full installation, which he thoughtfully designed to form a harmonized whole. After Freer's death (1854-1919), the Peacock Room was installed in the Freer Gallery of Art and is on permanent display.

Seasons: Tea

Now - June 24, 2012
Gallery 6A

To highlight its permanent collection, the museum presents Seasons, a series of rotating exhibitions that underscores the importance of the seasons in Chinese and Japanese art and culture.

In this exhibition, a dozen examples show how tea utensils embody changes in weather. Rough stoneware conveys warmth, for example, while porcelain is cool to the touch.

Note: August 8 - September 2, 2011: The exhibition is closed for object rotation.

Ancient Chinese Jades and Bronzes

Permanent Exhibit
Galleries 18 & 19

More than 100 of the Freer's jades and bronzes -- among the greatest treasures of Chinese art outside China -- return to public view after almost a decade. Featured are 80 astounding objects illustrating the remarkable jade production of the Liangzhu culture (ca. 3300-2250 BCE) and its influence on other Chinese Neolithic and Bronze Age civilizations. Also highlighted are powerful animal motifs and forms featured on some 40 ritual vessels, as well as fittings from the late Shang dynasty (ca. 1300-1050 BCE) to the early Western Zhou dynasty (ca. 1050-900 BCE).

Arts of the Indian Subcontinent and the Himalayas

Permanent Exhibit
Galleries 1 & 2

This long-term rotating exhibition showcases the extraordinary range of South Asian and Himalayan art, including sublimely beautiful Buddhist, Jain, Hindu, and Islamic objects, as well as masterpieces of Mughal and Rajput paintings and lavishly decorated court arts and daggers made for the Mughal emperors. Divided into several sections, the Buddhist art charts the emergence of the Buddha image in India and its transmission throughout Asia. It includes Budhhist images from Nepal, Tibet, Southeast Asia, and China. Also on view are several Rajput paintings on the theme of love, which demonstrate the bold colors and rhythmic compositions of the Hindu court. Late 19th- to early 20th-century examples of exquisitely crafted gold jewelry complete the exhibition.

The Religious Art of Japan

Permanent Exhibit
Gallery 8

Works from the Freer's collection of Japanese religious art are exhibited in several thematic rotations. Buddhist iconography was first introduced to Japan from the Asian mainland in the 6th century. The complex belief systems and sacred cosmologies of diverse Buddhist sects have since continued to find expression in 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. A group of masks used in temple dance rituals and a selection of paintings created by monk artists for Zen Buddhist temples are also on display.

Arts of the Islamic World

Permanent Exhibit
Galleries 3 & 4

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 century to the 17th century. 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.

Outdoor Sculpture: Twisted Form by Shiro Hayami

Permanent Exhibit
Outdoors near Jefferson Drive entrance

Twisted Form (Traveler's Guardian Spirit), 1981, an Agi stone and Peruvian granite sculpture by Shiro Hayami.

Entrance Sculptures

Permanent Exhibit

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