USC Pacific Asia Museum

46 North Los Robles Avenue
Pasadena, California 91101
Open Wednesday through Sunday 10am to 6pm

CURRENT EXHIBITIONS

Opens This Friday

USC Pacific Asia Museum is proud to present a variety of exhibitions throughout the year. The following are currently on view:

Royal Taste: The Art of Princely Courts in Fifteenth-Century China

February 26, 2016 through June 26, 2016
Royal Taste offers a unique glimpse into the luxurious lifestyles of princely courts in early- and mid-Ming China. Featuring more than one hundred fifty works of pictorial, sculptural, and decorative arts, this exhibition sheds light on some lesser-known aspects of the palatial lives and religious patronage of Ming princes.

The View from a Scholar's Studio: Japanese Literati Paintings from Tiezudingzhai Collection

May 15, 2015 through June 26, 2016
Literati culture—the ideal of the scholar-gentleman—provides a thread connecting East Asia. Developed in China by the 11th century as a kind of “alternative” way of life and expression, it is often visualized in paintings of idealized landscapes and in bird-and-flower subjects that symbolize ideal character traits of the scholar-gentlemen. The View from a Scholar’s Studio illustrates how Japanese literati willfully adapted this Chinese culture over two hundred years with a select examples from the private Tiezudingzhai Collection, complemented by works from the USC PAM collection in three complete rotations.

EXHIBITIONS IN THE PERMANENT GALLERIES

The Art of Pacific Asia

In the new Orientation Gallery

USC Pacific Asia Museum is pleased to present a new permanent gallery featuring The Art of Pacific Asia. The Museum’s collection features Asian and Pacific Islander artworks spanning 5,000 years, which range from fine and decorative art to popular and folk arts. These objects reflect centuries of trade, creative endeavors, and cultural practices. Visitors to USC Pacific Asia Museum are invited to explore the collections, recognizing that societies develop as part of an interrelated world culture, and that each object in the collection has a story to tell. The Art of Pacific Asia introduces the geography, materials and meaning behind the art which visitors will enjoy throughout all the galleries at USC Pacific Asia Museum.

The Arts of Korea

In the new Gallery of Korean Art

The inaugural exhibition of the newly renovated Gallery of Korean Art, The Arts of Korea, introduces the history and techniques of Korean paintings, textiles, ceramics and other art forms through thematic displays, audio tours and interactive components. One section of the gallery will feature objects grouped according to three different belief systems—Buddhism, Confucianism and Shamanism. These objects will demonstrate their connections to those traditions as well as their broader historical significance. Additional contextual information for some of the works will be provided by various audio and visual aids. A second section of the gallery will examine how contemporary Korean artists draw inspiration from tradition and maintain dynamic connections with centuries of Korean artistic heritage.

The Arts of China

In the Ralph and Angelyn Riffenburgh Gallery

The five themes in the gallery are Philosophical and Religious Ideas, Art and Commerce, Tradition and Innovation, Status and Adornment and “Reading” Symbols. Within each of these sections, multiple objects in different media give the visitor a deeper understanding of the role art has played in Chinese society for centuries. For example, the Tradition and Innovation section will use a combination of contemporary and historic art to show how artists and artisans have responded to and reinterpreted traditions throughout history.