Smithsonian's National Museum of Asian Art

Official Tumblr of the Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution. si.edu/termsofuse

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Preperation for the Freer|Sackler reopenings in the DES shops

Watch as Freer|Sackler employee John Piper prepares a mount for an object slated for display for the re-opening. We're excited for the re-opening. Will we see you there?

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We recently hosted third graders from DC school Inspired Learning. Led by our wonderful Docents, these young ones toured the Sackler. We can't begin to express how thankful we are for our docents.

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Aerial View of the then brand new Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, July 6th, 1987.

On today's TBT post, we look at an aerial view of the Sackler from 30 years ago!

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Our film series Arab Cinema Now kicks off this weekend, opening a window on filmmaking in the Arab world. It's presented in partnership with the Jerusalem Fund, where The Dream of Shahrazad screens on Saturday.

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There are less than two weeks left to see Filthy Lucre, Darren Waterston's contemporary vision of Whistler's Peacock Room. Don't miss the installation that the @washingtonpost described as "a dark, alternative story of the clash between art and commerce."

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ICYMI: Watch a conversation about the influence of Japanese art in France, held in conjunction with Inventing Utamaro. 

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The Syrian city of Aleppo has sadly received a lot of coverage recently due to the widespread destruction from years of civil war. In spite of this, the city is still one of the great architectural treasures of the Middle East, which has drawn travelers and scholars for centuries. When museum founder Charles Lang Freer visited Aleppo in 1908, he was delighted, writing on June 19 to his business partner Frank Hecker, “Aleppo is a charming surprise – a beautiful ancient city, and in every way more attractive than I had fancied.” Among the hundreds of photographs he collected of Asia and the Middle East are twelve lovely views in and around Aleppo. Likewise, the German scholar Ernst Herzfeld traveled many times to Aleppo during his decades of research and exploration in the Middle East. The extraordinary number of drawings, photographs, and research notes in the Herzfeld collection is an important repository for the study of the city’s architectural heritage, so imperiled by recent conflicts. In support of the people of Aleppo, this month we have combined selections from these two collections into a slide show, currently on display in the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery.

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NPR described Kung Fu Wildstyle as "a globe-trotting pop-up exhibit that celebrates the interplay and mutual influence of the Hong Kong martial arts hero and hip-hop culture." See it through April 30.

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Perspective | At the Sackler, a master and his mysteries

Exhibition of three works by Kitagawa Utamaro, whose stature is legendary but whose life remains a riddle.

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A haiku in the center of this Japanese print compares the warrior Ushiwakamaru to a spike of frost that can push through the ground in freezing weather: A spike of frost reveals its strength as it lunges forward.

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Review | Three large masterpieces, reunited for the first time

Key works by 18th century Japanese master romanticize pleasure districts

“This world may be premised on ugliness through and through, but these images give no hint of that, and constantly divert the mind from any reckoning with the reality that is carefully masked and hidden.” Read @washingtonpost‘s take on Inventing Utamaro, now on view.

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Meet a legendary but mysterious Japanese artist by watching this conversation with the curators of Inventing Utamaro.

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For the first time in nearly 140 years, three large-scale works by the legendary #Japanese artist Kitagawa #Utamaro are reunited in "Inventing Utamaro," opening tomorrow. Depicting the theme of “snow, moon, and flowers,” the triptych was last shown in #Japan in 1879. The Freer|Sackler is the only location at which all three original pieces are on view. This one is titled "Moon at Shinagawa." asia.si.edu/utamaro

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To celebrate @nmaahc, tomorrow we begin a month-long exhibition and program series highlighting connections between African American and East Asian art, music, and film. Kung Fu Wildstyle explores pop culture through contemporary street art, featuring works by legendary street artist and hip-hop impresario Fab 5 Freddy and Hong Kong graffiti and hip-hop pioneer MC Yan.

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@npr joined us live for our netsuke event last week. Watch a demonstration by master netsuke carver Ryushi Komada.

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TONIGHT: Discover netsuke, artful miniature sculpture from Japan’s Edo period, through a discussion with Freer|Sackler curator James Ulak and a demonstration by master netsuke carver Ryushi Komada.

This free event is copresented with the Japan Information & Culture Center, Embassy of Japan.

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On International Women’s Day, take a look at women in the Persian “Book of Kings.”