The 15th edition of Asia Week New York which concluded its nine- day run on March 22nd rang up $100,870,195M in combined sales between the twenty-one galleries and five auction houses.
At press time, this figure includes twenty-one out of twenty-eight galleries (two were non-selling) reporting and five out of six auction houses–Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle, Heritage, and Sotheby’s. iGavelAuctions has three sales still running online.
“For our milestone fifteenth anniversary year, exhibitors have had an exhilarating week of visiting private collectors and museum curators from across the U.S., Europe and Asia,” said Brendan Lynch, chairman of Asia Week New York. “Sales were reported to be solid at both the auction houses and galleries.”
To celebrate this great week of exhibitions, auctions and events, a gala reception co-hosted by Asia Week New York and the Asian Art Department of The Metropolitan Museum of Art took place at the Museum. Andrea Bayer, Deputy Director for Collections and Administration, Brendan Lynch and Mike D. Hearn, the Douglas Dillon Chairman of the Department of Asian Art welcomed the festive crowd of six hundred guests comprised of international collectors, curators, gallery owners, scholars and journalists who packed the imposing Great Hall.
Feedback
Here is a sampling of dealer feedback:
Ancient and/or Contemporary Chinese Art
Steven Chait, of the venerable Ralph M. Chait Galleries, Inc. reported very good attendance with museum visits, including a group from the Dallas Museum of Art. “We had healthy sales of porcelain, wood sculpture, and Chinese export silver. Sales were a notch better than last year, and though collectors from Hong Kong and Mainland China were less, we expect follow-up with the scouts who were here on their behalf.”
“Alisan Fine Arts was thrilled to participate in Asia Week New York for the first time,” said director Daniel Chen. “As our New York location has only recently opened, we are grateful for the incredibly warm welcome that Asia Week members and attendees gave us. We are happy to report that we made several sales of artwork by Lui Shou-Kwan and Kelly Wang.”
“This year’s Asia Week brought in more curators and clients to New York,” said Qiumeng Fu, of Fu Qiumeng Fine Art, a Chinese contemporary art gallery. “We observed a growing number of collectors traveling from Asia, which is promising for our future endeavors.” Among the sales Qiumeng reported, was Zhang Xiaoli’s Box Unlimited, 2023.
“We had a constant flow of visitors every day, including curators from Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, The Metropolitan Museum, Boston MFA, Houston MFA, Dallas, Kimball, Freer Sackler, Philadelphia, Art Institute of Chicago, and the Guimet,” says Eric Zetterquist, of Zetterquist Galleries. At press time, he reported that 75% of his exhibition Chinese and Vietnamese Ceramics from Private and American and Japanese Collections sold. One of the pieces was a large 15/16th century blue and white jar with Ruyi decoration, from the Le-So dynasties in Vietnam.
Ancient and/or Contemporary Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art
Brendan Lynch, of the London-based gallery Oliver Forge & Brendan Lynch Ltd., reported that he had a constant flow of collectors and curators visiting his gallery exhibition, Gods, Gardens, and Princes: Indian Works on Paper, with sales going to a London collector, an American museum, and a non-Indian Asian museum. Among the works are Mango (Mangifera indica), The King of Afghanistan Zaman Shah Durrani leaving Lahore; Krishna dancing on the naga Kalaya flanked by his pleading wives, and Devi vanquishes the demon Nisumbha and his armies.
“We were delighted to see dozens of viewers, buyers, scholars, and curators visit the gallery’s current exhibition “Time is a Construct,” said Sanjay Kapoor of the Kapoor Galleries. “We currently stand at approximately 1.2 million dollars of works sold, including Illustration to the ‘Large’ Guler-Basohli Bhagavata Purana:The Liberation of Nalakuvara and Manigriva Attributed to Manaku Guler-Basohli,and expect to see this number increase in the coming days. According to Kapoor, curators from the following museums visited his gallery including the Yale University Art Gallery, Princeton University Art Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Art, the Asian Civilizations Museum of Singapore, and many others.
(Credit: Kapoor Galleries)
Ancient and/or Contemporary Japanese Art
“We had such a great Asia Week, said Veronica Miller principal of Egenolf Gallery Japanese Prints. “We welcomed curators from The Houston Museum of Fine Art, Rhode Island School of Design Museum, Minneapolis Institute of Fine Art, Ringling Museum of Art, St. Louis Museum, and the Utah Museum of Fine Arts.” We sold a number of woodblock prints including Woman Wearing an Under-sash by Itō Shinsui.
“We are delighted to say that Sun & Moon–one of our featured paintings by Ken Matsubara–is going to the Dallas Museum of Art,” said Shoko Aono of Ippodo Gallery. In addition to this sale, numerous private collectors purchased pieces from his exhibition, Cosmic Sound: Magnificent Paintings and Screen by Ken Matsubara. Notable institutions such as the Museum of Fine Arts Houston, Minneapolis Institute of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Smithsonian Museum of Asian Art, Dallas Museum of Art, St. Louis Art Museum, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art all made visits.
About Asia Week New York
The only event of its kind in the U.S. that promotes Asian art, Asia Week New York is the collaboration of top-tier international Asian art galleries, the six major auction houses, Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle, Heritage Auctions, iGavel, and Sotheby’s, and numerous museums and Asian cultural institutions. This nine-day celebration is filled with a non-stop schedule of simultaneous gallery open houses, Asian art auctions as well as numerous museum exhibitions, lectures, and special events. Participants from Great Britain, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States unveil an extraordinary array of museum-quality treasures from China, India, the Himalayas, Southeast Asia, Tibet, Nepal, Japan, and Korea. Asia Week New York Association, Inc. is a 501(c)(6) non-profit trade membership organization registered with the state of New York. For more information visit www.asiaweeknewyork.com @asiaweekny #asiaweekny
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