What to See During New York's Asia Art Week
Across the city, exhibitions, auctions, and lectures converge to celebrate art history, material culture, and centuries-old traditions spanning from Persia to Japan.
Asia Week descends upon New York City starting tomorrow, March 19, and as one would expect, there’s a lot of art to cover when it comes to the world’s largest continent and its diaspora. The next 10 days are devoted to celebrating art history, antiquities, material culture, and centuries-old traditions spanning from Persia to Japan.
We’ve selected eight standout events, including educational lectures, timely exhibitions, specialized auctions, and spots to check out art and cultural heritage from various eras and regions — from miniature painting and Chinese porcelain to Japanese woodblock printing, contemporary art, and much more. Check out Asia Week New York’s website for a complete listing of programs.
Luminaries, Myth and Fantasy in Indian and Persian Painting
March 19–27 | forgelynch.com
Oliver Forge and Brendan Lynch, 67 East 80th Street, Suite 2, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Dreamy environments and the fastidious, fine-line portraiture quintessential to Indian and Persian miniatures are celebrated in this exhibition of over 40 paintings spanning the 17th through early 19th centuries. Get close enough to these bite-sized works, and you might just be transported to the ornate Mughal and Mewar courts. The show is supplemented by a display of Persian pottery from the Rabenou family collection, primarily consisting of 12th- to 13th-century star tiles, turquoise-glazed jars, and glimmering Kashan lustreware.
Sotheby's Zarina Exhibition and Sale
March 19–25 | sothebys.com
Breuer Building, 945 Madison Avenue, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Sotheby’s initiates the Breuer Building into Asia Week with an exhibition of the late Indian-American artist Zarina, known primarily for her geometric prints and sculptures at the intersection of minimalism, migration, and memory. This selling exhibition is anchored by “Flight Log” (1988) — a rarely seen work comprised of bookbound cast paper referencing Zarina’s time as a member of the Delhi Flying Club — and bolstered by a series of topographical woodcuts as well as various sculptures, drawings, and prints intertwining themes of family, home, and geographic boundaries.
250 Years of Japanese Woodblock Prints
March 20–22 | theartofjapan.com
Art of Japan at the Mark Hotel, 25 E 77th Street, Suite 215, Upper East Side, Manhattan
Through a selection of new acquisitions, Washington-based dealers Richard Waldman and Doug Frazier condense 250 years of Japanese woodblock printing into a three-day affair at the Mark Hotel this coming weekend. One should expect to lay their eyes on works by master printers, including Hokusai, Eishi, Sadahide, Hiroshige, and Hiroshi Yoshida, among others.
In Transit, In Formation at the Korean Cultural Center
March 5–April 18 | koreanculture.org
Korean Cultural Center, 122 E 32nd Street, 2nd Floor, Rose Hill, Manhattan
How does identity form under indefinite circumstances? Four contemporary artists interrogate this question and Korean diasporic life in In Transit, In Formation. Timed to overlap with Asia Week, this exhibition presents works by Brooklyn-based artist Kakyoung Lee, video artist Buhm Hong, sculptor Hong Seon Jang, and installation artist Sun You.
Lecture: Chinese Porcelain at the Frick Collection
Friday, March 20, 6–7pm | frick.org
The Frick Collection, 1 E 70th Street, Upper East Side, Manhattan
The Frick Collection’s first foray into Asia Week explores Henry Clay Frick’s collection of porcelain, including wares originally collected by the institution’s namesake and more recent acquisitions. Yifu Liu, a curatorial fellow at the Frick, will consider how the enameled jars and other precious porcelain objects — including highly valuable pieces from the Yongzheng and Qianlong eras — ended up in the institution’s collection, and their relationship to its vast European art holdings.
South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art Auction at Christie's
March 20–24 (preview days); March 25 (live auction) | christies.com
Christie’s New York, 20 Rockefeller Center, Midtown, Manhattan
Nearly 100 20th- and 21st-century works coalesce for Christie’s South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art auction this spring, bringing an explosion of color and culture from the subcontinent and its diaspora. Anchored by Tyeb Mehta’s “Gesture“ (1970), this painting-forward sale brings together quintessential works by Jamini Roy, M.F. Hussein, Satish Gujral, Sheila Makhijani, and Arpita Singh, among others. Cubism, Fauvism, and Minimalism are intertwined with Tantric painting, experimental figuration, and culturally and religiously significant motifs. Catch the five-day preview at the Rockefeller Center before the live sale!
The Dancing Goddess: Mei Lanfang in America at the China Institute Gallery
March 12 – July 12, 2026 | asiaweekny.com
The China Institute of America, 100 Washington Street, Financial District, Manhattan
Mei Lanfang, the legendary Peking opera performer, toured the United States in 1930, drawing American crowds in a moment of significant cultural exchange. The Dancing Goddess: Mei Lanfang in America recounts the opera star’s Broadway years and traces her famed career through photographs, costumes, and paintings. While this exhibition opened earlier this month, the China Institute Gallery will offer free admission and light refreshments all day on March 26 for Asia Week.
Genealogies of Time: Korean Modern and Contemporary Art at Space 776 Gallery
Opening Reception: March 20, 5–9 pm| space776.com
Space 776 Gallery, 37-39 Clinton Street, Lower East Side, Manhattan
This exhibition of multi-generational artists is a pulse check on Korean contemporary art, gathering abstract works by artists Jeoung Keun Chan, Hyeongsoo Kim, and Hak Il Kim. Placed in conversation with pieces by the late painter Kim Guiline, who was born in South Korea and later worked in France, the show interrogates how long-held artistic traditions have evolved in the present.
