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Home>Asian American Art & Artists in Our Collection

The work of Asian American artists helps us tell a fuller story of America and its far-reaching connections. Explore works by Isamu Noguchi, Hung Liu, Zarina Hashmi, Byron Kim, Baldwin Lee, Shahzia Sikander, and more. Listen to their processes, ideas, and stories in their own voices.   

On this page: Selected Works, Featured Stories, Artist Spotlights, and Artle.

Selected Works

Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Ruth Asawa, Tamarind Institute, Desert Plant, 1965, color lithograph on Rives Type IV paper, Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith, 1983.18.177
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Maya Lin, Latitude New York City, 2013, Vermont Darby marble, Gift of Louise and Leonard Riggio, 2013.163.1
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Shahzia Sikander, Crown Point Press, Case Hudson, Dena Schuckit, Rachel Fuller, Bound, 2001, color photogravure with softground etching and spitbite aquatint on wove Somerset paper, Gift of Kathan Brown, 2006.122.114.g
A rough-hewn block of basalt sits upright on a rectangular stone base on a pale pink stone floor against a stone wall. In this photograph, we are off the front left corner of the free-standing sculpture in a space filled with natural light. The tongue-shaped basalt is narrower from front to back and wider from side to side. It is about three times taller than it is wide at its widest. Some of the dark brown basalt running up the center of the block is smooth but most is pitted. Strips up either side have been carved to expose rough, copper-colored stone, some of which has flaked away. The tan stone base is speckled densely with gray, and the leaves of an indoor but mature tree bow into the top left corner of the photograph.
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Isamu Noguchi, Great Rock of Inner Seeking, 1974, basalt, Gift of Arthur M. Sackler, M.D., and Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D., 1976.58.1
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Michael Jang, Aunts and Uncles, 1973, gelatin silver print, Charina Endowment Fund, 2022.119.2
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Zarina Hashmi, Untitled, 1968, woodcut on handmade paper, Gift of the Collectors Committee, 2022.7.3
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Hung Liu, Needlework, 2004, lithograph in black on chine collé on Arches Cover White paper, Gift of Eric Denker in honor of Lynn P. Russell, Curator of Education, 2005.102.5.11
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Binh Danh, Found Portrait, 2003, chlorophyll print and resin, Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase with funds donated in honor of Jean Efron's 60th Birthday), 2015.19.4993
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Anne Chu, Untitled, 1995, printed letterpress on Somerset paper, Gift of Werner H. and Sarah-Ann Kramarsky, 2001.143.20
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Ming Wang, Bipolarity, 1970, acrylic on wove paper, Corcoran Collection (Gift of the artist), 2015.19.2559
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Kenzo Okada, Kasaner, 1968, oil on canvas, Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Mellon, 1983.1.31
560 panels, each painted a unique, flat color, are hung in a grid to create an abstract work of art. The grid has ten horizontal rows of fifty-six panels. The surface of each panel is covered from edge to edge with a single color. The colors range from mahogany to peach, almond white to dark brown. Some panels are smoothly painted while brushwork is visible on others.
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Byron Kim, Synecdoche, 1991-present, oil and wax on lauan plywood, birch plywood, and plywood, Richard S. Zeisler Fund, 2009.39.1.1-560
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Matsumi Kanemitsu, Oxnard Madame, 1961, color lithograph on Arches paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.2269
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Alfonso Ossorio, Samson in Gaza, 1934, wood engraving, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008.115.3805
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Nam June Paik, Untitled (Red Hand), 1967, 19th-century paper scroll by Komatsu Akira, red ink, light bulb, and wood frame, Gift of the Hakuta Family, 2010.17.1
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Chan Chao, Young Buddhist Monk, June 1997, printed 2002, chromogenic print, Corcoran Collection (Gift of The Heather and Tony Podesta Collection, Washington DC), 2015.19.5063
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Kota Ezawa, Cowboy, 2006, lightbox with acrylic paint, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon, 2018.177.69
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Dong M. Kingman, Untitled (Industrial Scene), 1940s, screenprint, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008.115.2875
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Reuben Tam, Equinox, 1942, screenprint, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008.115.4702
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Keiko Hara, Craig Cornwall, Verse – Space M-II, 2006, color lithograph on wove paper, Gift of Ainslie and Keith Peoples in memory of Barbara Frost Harkness, 2016.53.2
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Hsiang Ning Han, Untitled (Soho Facades), 1975, etching in black on wove paper, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Florian Carr Fund and Gift of the Print Research Foundation, 2008.115.94
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Tomie Arai, Jim "BJ" Hughes, Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Portrait/Young Woman, 1998, color offset lithograph on wove Somerset paper, Gift of Funds from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, 2023.22.4
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

David P. Chun, Latin American Court at San Francisco Worlds Fair, 1940, lithograph, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008.115.1235
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Ray Yoshida, Joe Seguro, See, 1995, color lithograph on wove paper, Gift of Bob Stana and Tom Judy, 2015.115.51
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Kinji Akagawa, Tamarind Institute, Black Rainbow V, 1965, lithograph (stone) in black with acid tint on Arches paper, Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith, 1983.18.68
Two cows stand side-by-side to our right with a path leading to a row of buildings in the distance to our left in this dreamlike, stylized landscape painting. The forms are simplified, angular, and blocky, and seem to be overlapping, though most of the shapes painted with blended strokes. To our right, a black cow stands beyond a brown cow, both facing our left in profile. The heads are triangular and come to exaggerated points under curving horns, and the ribs of the cow closer to us are painted with curving black lines down the body. Their legs also taper to exaggeratedly pointed, tiny hooves. A milk jug sits to our right, behind them. The row of five buildings to our left are created with blocks of white, golden yellow, brick red, and black. A sprig of leaves and a lacy white flower grow to our left on the row of oatmeal-brown rocks jutting up along the bottom edge of the composition. An abstracted shirt-like form floats to our left against the background of teal green that covers the bottom two-thirds of the painting. The area above the buildings is painted with a field of silvery charcoal gray. The artist signed and dated the painting with tiny letters under the brown cow:
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Yasuo Kuniyoshi, Cows in Pasture, 1923, oil on canvas, Corcoran Collection (Gift of George Biddle), 2014.136.94
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Baldwin Lee, Plain Dealing, Louisiana, 1984, gelatin silver print, Alfred H. Moses and Fern M. Schad Fund, 2023.87.13
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Ansei Uchima, Rondo, color woodcut, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.1633
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Michael Jang, Self-Portrait, Financial District, San Francisco, 1973, gelatin silver print, Charina Endowment Fund, 2022.119.3
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Walasse Ting, Tamarind Institute, Blue Tango, 1964, lithograph (zinc) in blue-black on white Arches paper, Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith, 1984.34.1004
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Nick Ut, Associated Press, The Terror of War, June 8, 1972, gelatin silver print, Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon, 2018.177.629
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

N. Krishna Reddy, Insect, 1955, color viscosity intaglio on wove paper, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.1405
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Thomas Yamamoto, Untitled (Head of a Sleeping Man), 1946, pen and ink and graphite, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008.115.5159
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Mei-ling Hom, Robert Franklin, Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Cross Cultural Pictograms, 1992, cut-and-folded color offset lithograph on wove paper, Gift of Funds from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, 2023.22.22
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Tseng Kwong Chi, Washington, DC (E25v1.36), 1981, gelatin silver print, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund and Gift of Funds from Gregory and Aline Gooding, 2023.12.1
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Seong Moy, Lovers in Flight, 1953, color woodcut, Reba and Dave Williams Collection, Gift of Reba and Dave Williams, 2008.115.3630
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Anthony Ko, Tamarind Institute, The King and His Princess, 1967, lithograph (stone) in black on white Arches paper, Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith, 1984.34.93
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Norio Azuma, In Black Space, color serigraph, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.183
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Jehsong Baak, Reflection of a Woman, Paris, 1999, printed 2008, gelatin silver print, Corcoran Collection (Gift of Jehsong Baak), 2016.117.284
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Kenjilo Nanao, Tamarind Institute, Untitled, 1968, lithograph (stone) in black on Magnani Italia paper, Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith, 1984.34.408
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Madoka Takagi, Ellis Island, 1988, platinum/palladium print, Gift of Gary B. Sokol, 2021.108.4
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Marlon Fuentes, Good and Evil, 1981, gelatin silver print, Corcoran Collection (Gift of the artist), 2016.22.61
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Michi Itami, Jim "BJ" Hughes, Brandywine Workshop and Archives, Tsuioku (Recollection), 1997, color offset lithograph on wove Somerset paper, Gift of Funds from the Roy Lichtenstein Foundation, 2023.22.24
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Soichi Sunami, Ethel Sager, Garden of Dreams, c. 1925, gelatin silver print, Pepita Milmore Memorial Fund, 2023.105.1
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Zorawar Sidhu, Rob Swainston, January 6, 2021, woodblock on wove paper, Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund, 2022.118.5
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Taizo Kato, Young Painter, c. 1920s, gelatin silver print, Gift of Funds from Clinton and Jean Wright, 2022.132.1
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Arakawa, Graphicstudio, Sketch for "The Sharing of Nameless", c. 1984/1986, graphite on wove paper, Gift of Graphicstudio/University of South Florida and the Artist, 1991.75.56
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Motoi Oi, Walking Happy Child, 1970, embossed color etching on wove paper, Gift of the Artist, 1972.6.2
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Yasuhiro Ishimoto, Untitled, 1950-1951, gelatin silver print, Robert B. Menschel and the Vital Projects Fund, 2019.96.1
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Martin Wong, The Vogels, 1985, black ballpoint pen on wove paper, Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection, 2007.6.75
Asian Art & Artists in Our Collection

Kaikobad Motiwalla, Antelopes, 1962, mixed intaglio, Rosenwald Collection, 1964.8.1312



Centering Asian Artists in the American Story

Asian Americans are often left out of view of US history. But their lives—and their art—are an essential part of the nation’s story.

Artist Spotlights

Visionary Photographer Tseng Kwong Chi’s Vintage “Selfies”

Discover the artist's “East Meets West” series from the 1970s and 1980s exploring American identity and exclusion.

Ruth Asawa’s Little-Known Experiment with Printmaking

Memorialized in stamps for her wire sculptures, the artist’s experiments with printmaking have been largely forgotten. 

Who Is I. M. Pei? 10 Things to Know

Learn about the architect behind our iconic East Building.

Poet Victoria Chang Responds to a Sculpture by Anne Truitt

The poet responds to a sculpture by Anne Truitt and asks the questions “Who gets to speak, who gets to brush.”

Binh Danh

The photographer uses alternative printing techniques to explore the relationship between history, memory, and the landscape.

Sunil Gupta on Community and Activism

The photographer, curator, writer, and activist has maintained a visionary approach to photography, producing bodies of work with keen social and political commentary.

Play Artle: Can you guess the artist?

Play today's Artle

Artle Hint

This artist was one of seven children born to immigrant parents in California.

Artle Hint

This artist's father was a poet and mother was a writer.

Artle Hint

This artist lived through the Maoist regime, the Great Leap Forward, and the Cultural Revolution in China before coming to the United States.

Artle Hint

This artist received an elite education which included training as a classical pianist.

Artle Hint

Initially a design major in college, this artist switched to photography after seeing works by Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand, and Lee Friedlander.

Artle Hint

This artist emigrated alone to the United States at age 16.

Discover More Artists

 

Ruth Asawa, Tamarind Institute, Desert Plant, 1965, lithograph (stone) in orange, yellow and pink on Rives Type IV paper, Gift of Dorothy J. and Benjamin B. Smith, 1983.18.177