Treasures of Asian Art: The Asia Society Museum Collection

Art-loving readers should take note of this large-format, abundantly illustrated book, which commemorates the 60th anniversary of the Asia Society's founding. The text (revised and expanded from the 1994 edition) begins with an overview of the Rockefeller Collection, the nucleus of the Asia Society's holdings, by Sherman Lee (former director & curator, Cleveland Museum of Art). Asia Society curators Adriana Proser and Michelle Yun introduce the current Asia Society collection by presenting several common themes in both traditional and contemporary Asian art. Proser and Patry Leidy (curator, Yale Univ. Art Gallery) use a cultural and chronological approach for the "Traditional Collection," with objects from the Asia Society's collection as examples. The book continues with a section on the "Contemporary Collection" (Yun), begun in 2007 and comprising work in new media by Asian and Asian American artists. The volume concludes with a chapter on attribution—important because Asian art is known for modern replicas of art from earlier periods, and even outright forgeries. Additional material includes a map of Asia and a glossary.