The Asia Week New York Association is pleased to announce that its annual invitation-only reception, celebrating the ten-day Asian art extravaganza that attracts international museum curators and collectors throughout New York every spring, will take place at The Metropolitan Museum on March 14, 2016.

“We are delighted to co-host our reception with the Department of Asian Art of the Met,” says Lark Mason, chairman of Asia Week New York. “There isn’t a grander setting in which to celebrate our seventh year.”

Maxwell K. Hearn, Douglas Dillon Chairman of the Metropolitan’s Department of Asian Art, commented: “We're delighted to welcome the Asian art community to the Met as part of the exciting events of Asia Week. We feel a special debt of gratitude to this community as it has long been our greatest source of encouragement and support. That support is more important than ever as we endeavor to present not only Asia's diverse cultural past, but also its burgeoning future. We welcome everyone to discover all of Asia at the Met!”

According to Mr. Mason, one of the main highlights of the evening is that the Metropolitan Museum opens all of its Asian art galleries for viewing so that guests can avail themselves of special curatorial tours of the ten exhibitions on view now. They include: Monkey Business: Celebrating the Year of the Monkey; Encountering Vishnu: The Lion Avatar in Indian Temple Drama; The Arts of Nepal and Tibet: Recent Gifts; Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection; Celebrating the Arts of Japan: The Mary Griggs Burke Collection; Asian Art at 100: A History in Photographs; Chinese Textiles: Ten Centuries of Masterpieces from the Met Collection; Chinese Lacquer: Treasures from the Irving Collection, 12th-18th Century; A Passion for Jade: The Heber Bishop Collection; and Korea: 100 Years of Collecting at the Met.

This year, many of the Asia Week New York dealers will launch their exhibitions a day early on Thursday evening, March 10, and will open to the public the next day and throughout the designated Open House Weekend, and continue through March 19.

About Asia Week New York

45 top-tier international Asian art specialists, five major auction houses, and 16 museums and Asian cultural institutions unite for a ten-day celebration of simultaneous gallery open houses, and Asian art auctions at Bonhams, Christie’s, Doyle, iGavel, and Sotheby’s, as well as numerous museum exhibitions, lectures, and special events.  

Participants from Belgium, England, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, and the United States unveil an extraordinary array of treasures from China, India, Southeast Asia, Tibet, Nepal, Japan, and Korea.

Asia Week New York Association, Inc. is a 501(c)6 non-profit trade membership organization registered with the state of New York.  For more information visit www.AsiaWeekNewYork.com

About The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Founded on April 13, 1870, The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a living encyclopedia of world art. Every culture from every part of the world—from Florence to Thebes to Papua New Guinea—from the earliest times to the present and in every medium is represented, frequently at the highest levels of quality and invention. The Museum’s more than two million square feet house what is in fact a collection of collections; several of its departments could be major independent museums almost anywhere else, including the Department of Asian Art, whose collection is one of the largest and most comprehensive in the West. As impressive as its collections is the Museum’s diverse audience, which last year numbered over 6 million visitors.

For a comprehensive listing of the Metropolitan’s current and forthcoming exhibitions, please visit the Museum’s website www.metmuseum.org

About the Hotel Sponsor: The Surrey

The Surrey, located at 24 East 76th Street, is owned and operated by Denihan Hospitality Group. Asia Week New York attendees will receive exclusive rates from $395 per night (for a minimum of five nights) at The Surrey using promotion code ASIAWK. To reserve, visit TheSurrey.com/ASIAWK or call 888.419.0052. 

An intimate hideaway to the stars of the 1920s, it currently operates more like a glamorously re-imagined Beaux Arts townhouse than hotel. Its location provides cultured guests direct access to Central Park, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and top fashion houses, restaurants, and art galleries on Madison Avenue, yet the hotel’s discreet service allows for calm personal space for a “Privately New York” experience. The Surrey offers an extensive art collection, world-class dining by Café Boulud, the atmospheric Bar Pleiades, Cornelia Spa and a Private Roof Garden. Its 189 exquisite salons and suites were created by Lauren Rottet, accommodating celebrities, style-icons and art aficionados the world over. For information and reservations, visit www.thesurrey.com.