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The Art Of Asia

You don't have to travel to the Far East to see breath-taking examples of Asian art. The following is a list of museums housing Asian art exhibits within our nation's borders.

Asian Art Museum
San Francisco, Calif.

One of the largest collections of Asian art in the Western world is contained within the walls of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco. The museum's 12,000 artifacts represent a range of Asian cultures from 10th century B.C. earthenware discovered in Iran to 19th century Buddhist tapestries from the Himalayas.

The museum is currently promoting two temporary exhibits celebrating the art and culture of China. The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology is a display of recently discovered Chinese artifacts. Between the Thunder and the Rain is a collection of paintings and calligraphy created before and during China's Cultural Revolution.

The Freer Gallery of Art and the Sackler Gallery
Washington, D.C.

The Freer and the Sackler Galleries, part of the Smithsonian Institution, house a wide variety of art from China, Japan, Korea and India. The two galleries are located on the National Mall in Washington and are open to the public with no admission fee.

Along with a permanent collection, each gallery displays several temporary exhibits. At the Sackler, Music in the Age of Confucius is on display through Sept. 17 as well as eight other temporary exhibits. The Freer is showing South Asian Sculpture, which has been continued indefinitely.

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens
Delray Beach, Florida

Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens offers visitors a glimpse of living Japanese culture. Carp and turtles thrive in the carefully manicured gardens with its collection of bonsai trees.

The museum, added in 1993, features exhibitions of Japanese folk art, textiles, crafts and performance art. The Seishin-an teahouse hosts demonstrations of a traditional Japanese tea ceremony.

Seattle Asian Art Museum
Seattle, Wash.

Located in Seattle's Volunteer Park, the Seattle Asian Art Museum supplements a large collection of Asian artifacts with seeral temporary exhibits throughout the year. Among this year's exhibits, The Art of Protest compares the use of art in Eastern and Western cultures to effect social change.

Arthur M. Sackler Museum
Cambridge, Mass.

Part of Harvard University, the Arthur M. Sackler Museum houses the school's collection of Asian and Islamic art. Nearly 20,000 works of art are rotated through the limited space of the main galleries. Highlights include archaic Chinese bronze and jade carvings, Ottoman textiles, Chinese Buddhist sculptures and rare Arab paintings and calligraphy.

Indianapolis Museum of Art
Indianapolis, Ind.

Established in 1883, the Asian Art Collection at the Indianapolis Museum of Art specializes in rare Chinese fine art and textiles. The museum also has a large collection of works from Korea, India, Tibet and Japan.

The Asia Society
New York, New York

Besides a sizable art collection on display, the Asia Society offers a score of special events including performance art exhibitions, film screenings, economic and political lectures, and educational programs.

The society's Web site has links to cultural events, publications, organizations, Asian government sites, and other resources around the world.

The Society also maintains regional centers in Washington, D.C. , Los Angeles, Houston, Hong Kong and Melbourne, Australia.

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