HANOVER, NH.- The Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth, introduces Asian Art at Dartmouth: Highlights from the Hood Museum of Art, which will open to the public during a reception on the evening of Friday, January 8, 2027. The exhibition will be on view January 9 through November 13, 2027. Curated by Haely Chang, the inaugural Jane and Raphael Bernstein Associate Curator of East Asian Art at the Hood Museum of Art, Asian Art at Dartmouth is the first major exhibition to showcase the breadth and quality of the museum’s Asian art collection. Spanning four galleries, it will showcase art from East, South, and Southeast Asia, as well as the Himalayas, primarily focusing on works created before 1950, though selected contemporary pieces will also appear.

Placing particular emphasis on the museum’s traditional strengths in Japanese painting and prints, the exhibition also provides an opportunity to display and research works in the collection that have not been extensively studied to date.
Of the 191 objects in the exhibition, which will be presented across four rotations, 103 have never been on view before. The objects and corresponding research will also be available in an accompanying 288-page exhibition catalogue of the same title, designed by award-winning firm Studio[5]Eleven. The publication features three scholarly essays, 182 illustrated catalogue entries, and new academic analysis. Readers will learn about recent discoveries and updated research on the collection, including Chang’s recent collaboration with Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center (DHMC) in Lebanon, NH. Chang worked with the Radiology Team at DHMC to conduct CT and X-ray scanning of the museum’s Fictitious Mermaid, which originated with the Japanese “animal-hoax” trend in entertainment and was later reproduced in the United States. The scans were used to examine the object’s internal structure and material components. The publication will be available in January 2027.

Chang observes, “Asian Art at Dartmouth holds particular significance in the Hood Museum’s history as the first comprehensive exhibition of its permanent collection of Asian art. The earliest precedent for presenting the College’s permanent Asian art collection across cultural regions was the 1973 show Asian Art from the College Collection, held at the Hopkins Center prior to the museum’s establishment in 1985. As such, Asian Art at Dartmouth is both timely and necessary, providing an opportunity to assess the growth of the College’s Asian art collection, update object records with current scholarship, and integrate these works more fully into Dartmouth’s pedagogical landscape. The exhibition aims to document and honor the legacy of Asian art within the College’s history while also looking toward the future by identifying gaps and opportunities for further development.”

By presenting significant Asian artworks that have not previously been exhibited or published, Chang also shares her goal of broadening the awareness of the scope of the collection for the museum’s visitors, and especially the Dartmouth and Upper Valley communities. “The exhibition is designed to engage audiences with varying levels of familiarity with Asian art, welcoming both specialists and newcomers alike. It serves as a space for active learning and engagement by offering layered interpretive materials, ranging from broad historical and cultural context to detailed insights into individual objects, including inscriptions and technical aspects,” says Chang.

John Stomberg, the Virgina Rice Kelsey 1961s Director of the Hood Museum of Art, adds, “With this exhibition and catalogue, the Hood Museum concretely enters the global conversation on the history and importance of Asian art and culture. This advance in the museum’s programming comes at a moment when cultural institutions around the world embrace burgeoning and lively art scenes from Jakarta to Ulaanbaatar and Mumbai to Tokyo. This vast geography represents endless opportunities for fresh engagements, whether with historical objects or contemporary art. This project places the College’s collection in the spotlight, even as it offers fresh insights into the wide variety of artistic traditions and breakthrough ideas characteristic of Asian art studies today.”

Following the success of Chang’s first exhibition, Attitude of Coexistence: Non-Humans in East Asian Art, which was on view from November 17, 2024, through October 4, 2025, the Hood Museum looks forward to providing many more opportunities to explore significant Asian artworks in the museum’s collection through this ambitious undertaking.