What Museum in America Has the Best Asian Arts Collections

It'southward non uncommon for a prominent museum to have an Asian art collection, though none larger than the 35,000-plus objects housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York Urban center, or the 30,000-piece compilation at the Smithsonian in D.C. But the museums that incorporate this list are distinguished by the fact that they are institutions unto themselves. In a decade that has seen Asian American media decimated by numerous publications going under and cable networks fizzling out, during that aforementioned time menstruum, many Asian/Asian American museums accept expanded. Though the economic downturn has presented sure challenges, these v institutions—fueled by the public's appetite for the Asian art feel—have managed to remain enduring fixtures in the American culturallandscape.

Here, the top Asian museums in the Us.

Asian Art MuseumChong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art and Culture
San Francisco, Calif.
www.asianart.org

What does it cost to have your name carved into the façade of the largest museum in the Us devoted exclusively to Asian art? Well, Chong-Moon Lee, a Korean-born entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, donated a staggering $15 million (plus $ane million devoted exclusively to the Korean department, whose collection is the most comprehensive outside of Korea). Current exhibitions include the "Korean Palaces of the Joseon Dynasty," which runs through November. Though the museum has a scant contemporary drove on view, the traditional arts—specially the ceramics, jade and ivory sculptures—are exquisite. Visitors to the museum may notation the ornate Classical architecture from the Ionic columns above the entrance to the coffered ceiling of Samsung Hall (where, fittingly, serenity prison cell phone use is permitted), and wonder why the nation's largest self-standing Asian museum doesn't look very…um…Asian. The museum actually moved from its previous location in Golden Gate Park to the former main branch of the city'southward public library in the Civic Center. The site thus incorporates some of the library's original Beaux Arts design. Re-apply, recycle (very San Francisco)

Asia Gild and Museum
New York, N.Y.
www.asiasociety.org

So the front isn't much to look at. Also the banners that pall the entrance, cypher really distinguishes the pinkish granite box in Upper Manhattan from the stolid brick buildings that environment it. But once inside, the visitor is greeted by a one thousand, drinking glass and steel staircase that connects the open up atrium to the four public galleries (all redesigned in 2001). In 2007, the society announced its Contemporary Art Drove after being one of the offset American museums to establish a contemporary Asian art program in the early 1990s. By focusing a slap-up centre on the vibrant artwork coming from Asia, the society honors its mission to strengthen ties, promote dialogue and heighten understanding between the United States and Asia. (Planned expansions include a middle/museum to open soon in Houston, Texas). Non content with merely collecting, the museum likewise commissions artists to create new works inspired by pieces in Asia Guild's Rockefeller Drove. Such commissioned piece of work is currently on display through February 7 in an exhibition titled "Yoshihiro Suda: In Focus."

Japanese American National Museum
Los Angeles, Calif.
www.janm.org

Ever since the Japanese American National Museum opened in 1992, it has celebrated America'southward cultural diversity past putting the Japanese American experience in the broader context of freedom and commonwealth. In fact, forth with spearheading the creation of the National Center for the Preservation of Democracy (whose traveling exhibit, "Fighting for Democracy," explores the diverse perspectives of ordinary citizens during Globe War Ii), it'southward also the only Asian museum in California that is an chapter of the Smithsonian Plant. Every bit America fights two wars, the lessons of the Japanese American internment go on to resonate. Lest you worry that a visit volition be one long civics lesson, residual assured that the museum mixes in a healthy dose of Japanese pop-culture kitsch and contemporary Asian American art. Hurry up and take hold of the "Giant Robot Biennale 2: 15 Years" exhibition currently on display through the 24th for some of the best contemporary art out in that location today, including an exclusive installation by the very twisted and immensely talented David Choe.

Pacific Asia Museum
Pasadena, Calif.
www.pacificasiamuseum.org

When you think "indigenous Asian enclave," Pasadena isn't exactly the first place that comes to mind. Merely that's non the simply surprising thing virtually the Pacific Asia Museum. Beginning, the Chinese Imperial-style building—replete with a charming interior courtyard straight out of a Zhang Yimou picture—was once the personal residence of a local businesswoman who commissioned it in 1924. The site later on became Pasadena Fine art Museum and finally transformed into the Pacific Asia Museum in 1971. Within, the galleries wend through a surprisingly comprehensive collection of traditional, folk and contemporary art. Recently, the museum acquired some prized Korean ceramics and a painted eight-panel screen from the Joseon period. Though the museum is small, information technology more than compensates with innovative, provoking exhibits like "Calligraffiti: Writing in Gimmicky Chinese and Latino Art," which runs until the 17th. The brandish features three dynamic murals created in the museum'south parking lot by a collaboration of calligraphers and graf artists. Future exhibits include "Beyond the Page: Contemporary Art from Pakistan" and "China Modernistic: Designing Pop Civilisation 1910 to 1970."

Wing Luke Asian Museum
Seattle, Wash.
www.wingluke.org

If you lot visit the Fly Luke Asian Museum expecting to see bowls and vases from a Dynasty, y'all've come to the incorrect place. Named subsequently the starting time Asian American elected official in the Pacific Northwest, the Wing Luke exemplifies a customs-based institution. Exhibits are developed by a community advisory commission; as a result, no other museum on this list is and so intimately tied to a specific region. The museum's newly expanded location, which opened in 2008, was once the site of a boarding firm originally built by Chinese immigrants at the turn of the 20th century. To pay homage to the immigrant pioneers who congenital the region's railroads, worked the canneries and dug the mines, the museum has preserved some of the site's original spaces (including a general store and living quarters). Nonetheless, Wing Luke'south community-based approach goes well beyond mere preservation. Its ongoing oral history projects and community forums highlight the Asian immigrants' nowadays-day struggles and triumphs. The museum is also an incubator for homegrown, cutting-edge artists, some of whom take works on brandish through September 19 in a multi-media exhibit named "Cultural Transcendence."

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Source: https://charactermedia.com/the-top-five-stand-alone-asian-museums-in-america/

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