"Looking East" Exhibition at SF Asian Art Museum

San Francisco Asian Art Museum is exploring "How Japan Inspired Monet, Van Gogh and Other Western Artists" with its current special exhibition "Looking East". 



The exhibition was not a gimmick as one might suspect but it is also pointless to determine which pieces influenced which. I would only venture to showcase those pieces made strong impressions on me, either they are by western or Japanese artists.  Some of them are very delicate and others exciting and the rest humorous and delightful.




Still life with azaleas and apple blossoms, Charles Caryl Coleman


Kajikazawa in Kai Province, Katsushika Hokusai


Night Herons (Nachtreiher), Otto Eckmann


Silver Herons (Zilverreigers), Theodorus van Hoytema


Five Swans, Otto Eckmann


Landscape with two Breton Women, Paul Gauguin


Port of Saint-Cast, Paul Signac


Haystack (sunset), Claude Monet


Vase of flowers, Henri Matisse


The Silver Screen, Frank Weston Benson


Maternal Caress, Mary Stevenson Cassat


Postman Joseph Roulin, Vincent van Gogh


Actor Onoe Kikujiro Il as Takiyasha-hime, Utagawa Kunisada & Actor Matsumoto Yonesaburo, Utagawa Kunimasa


The artist's grandmother, Emile Bernard


Meditation, Alfred Steven


Fig leaves, Edna Boies Hopkins


Bradley: His Book, William H. Bradley


Cover of Love (Amour), Maurice Denis


Family Umbrella, Helen Hyde


Jane Avril & Caudieux-Petit Casino), Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec


Painted horse escaping from a votive plaque, Totoya Hokkei & Hunting, William Nicholson


The Jockey, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec


Illustration of the Opening Ceremony of the Union Horse Racing Club's Racetrack around Shinobazu Pond in Ueno Park, Hashimoto Chikanobu


The square at evening, Pierre Bonnard


Woman in Bed, Profile (Femme au lit, profil), Toulouse-Lautrec


Child with lamp, Bonnard, Looking East, Asian Art Museum



Street corner seen from above, Pierre Bonnard


English Woman (Engländerin), Emil Orlik


[Courtesan as the immortal] Fei Zhangfang, Okumura Masanobu & Laziness (La Paresse), Félix Edouard Vallotton


Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake, Utagawa Hiroshige I


Standing courtesan, Keisai Eisen



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Impressionism from National Gallery of Art (DC) in San Francisco

Last weekend, I visited Legion of Honor Museum, San Francisco, to see a special exhibition - Intimate Impressionism from the National Gallery of Art from Washington D.C. (March 29, 2014 – August 3, 2014).  



The exhibition included many paintings from the period of the emergence of the Impressionism, most of them were of modest dimensions, with subjects ranging from intimate portraits, still life to familiar outdoor landscapes.

The exhibition was organized and displayed by artists, a choice group including many big names and a few less familiar ones.  Below are the paintings I liked most:


Self-Portrait, 1861, Henri Fantin-Latour


Three Peaches on a Plate, 1868, Henri Fantin-Latour


Oysters, 1862, Édouard Manet


The Artist's Studio, ca. 1868, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot


The Towpath, 1864, Johan Barthold Jongkind


Beach at Trouville, 1864/65, Eugène Boudin


Beach at Trouville, 1863, Eugène Boudin


Mound of Butter, 1875/1885, Antoine Vollon


Claude Monet, 1872, Pierre-Auguste Renoir


The Fence, 1872, Camille Pissarro


Flood at Port-Marly, 1872, Alfred Sisley


Boulevard Héloïse, Argenteuil, 1872, Alfred Sisley


 Madame Henriot, ca. 1876, Pierre-Auguste Renoir


Carmen Caudin, 1885, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec


Three Pears, 1878/79, Paul Cézanne


Flower Beds in Holland, ca. 1883, Vincent van Gogh


Village by the Sea in Brittany, ca. 1880, Odilon Redon


Breton Village, ca. 1890, Odilon Redon


 Landscape of the Île-de-France,  Édouard Vuillard


Woman in Black, ca. 1891, Édouard Vuillard


The Artist's Studio, 1900, Pierre Bonnard


Red Plums, 1892, Pierre Bonnard


Bouquet of Flowers, ca. 1926, Pierre Bonnard

Famous names included in the exhibition included Monet, Gauguin, etc. but I felt their works somewhat less moving and affecting than their the better efforts, nevertheless, their works deserved to be included in this blog:


Horses in a Meadow, 1871, Edgar Degas


The Artist's Sister at a Window, 1869, Berthe Morisot


Argenteuil, ca. 1872, Claude Monet


Self-Portrait Dedicated to Carrière, 1888 or 1889, Paul Gauguin

It was a marvelous show and the last day of the exhibition is August 3rd.  Do try to catch this beautiful presentation.


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