Arts of Asia

Arts of Asia

Editor	Robin Markbreiter
Categories	Art magazine
Frequency	Quarterly
Founder	Tuyet Nguyet, Stephen Markbreiter
First issue	January–February 1971
Company	Arts of Asia Publications Limited
Based in	Hong Kong
Language	English
Website	www.artsofasianet.com
ISSN	0004-4083

Arts of Asia, founded in 1970, is the foremost international magazine of Asian arts and antiques, and has the largest circulation of any Asian art magazine. It is published four times a year, and is distributed to 90 countries. Supported by leading museums, cultural organisations, universities and schools worldwide, as well as major auction houses and dealers, and collectors and students of art, it has an unparalleled understanding of the local and international arts scene. It offers essential reading for enriching one’s knowledge of Asian art and culture, and provides scholars of the field with a valuable research resource as well as vital information about industry trends.

History

Arts of Asia was founded by Tuyet Nguyet, who was also the magazine’s first publisher and editor, in 1970. Nguyet first conceived the idea for the magazine in 1969, combining her interests in Asian art and antiques with her journalistic background to promote an understanding and appreciation for Asian art and culture. In 1970, a preview edition appeared, followed by the magazine’s first issue in January–February 1971, featuring Ming dynasty (1368–1644) Shekwan (Shiwan) ware on the cover. The issue included in-depth articles as well as auction news, among other materials.

A dynamic force in the Asian arts scene, Nguyet built the publication into a reputable source of information for the field as well as an industry leader with the help of her husband, Stephen Markbreiter, an established architect and Arts of Asia’s associate editor. Nguyet was a key player in the establishment of Hong Kong offices for the major auction houses Sotheby’s and Christie’s. In 1973, Nguyet encouraged Sotheby’s to set up a Hong Kong office, which it did, holding its regional inaugural auction in that year as the first international auction house to do so in Asia. In 1980, she went to New York to advise James Lally of Sotheby’s to bring modern Chinese paintings to Hong Kong. The auction house’s first sale of modern Chinese paintings took place on May 28^th of that year at the city’s City Hall. In 1984, at the urging of collectors and dealers, Nguyet went to London to convince Christie’s to also establish a presence in Hong Kong. The house held its first auction in the city in January 1986.

Between 1971 to 1974, Nguyet and Stephen Markbreiter wrote numerous articles on Chinese culture and the arts following their first visit to China in 1965, including on Beijing’s Palace Museum (“The Temple of Heaven in Peking,” March–April 1972), at a time when few people travelled to China. By the mid 1970s, Arts of Asia has established a global presence with a growing subscriber base, most notably among those from the United States, Australia, Europe, and Japan.

In 1986, the magazine’s November–December issue featured “Chinese paintings in the Imperial Age” from the National Palace Museum as its cover story, written by Wang Yao-t’ing, Lee Yu-min, Tu Shu-hua, and Ho Ch’uan-hsing, the first time that scholarly articles written by Chinese specialists were translated into English and presented to an international readership.

In 1995, Arts of Asia established its website, offering a searchable database of articles.

In 2014, Nguyet's son, Robin Markbreiter, who was the magazine’s executive editor, became publisher and editor.

Arts of Asia celebrated its 50^th anniversary in 2020, publishing a milestone “50^th Anniversary Edition” in January–February, which featured 50 outstanding Asian artworks from prestigious museums, institutions, and private collections, selected by museum directors, curators, and specialists of the field.

Awards

Arts of Asia received the Gold Prize For Magazine category at the 2009 China Print Awards for its November–December 2008 issue.

Notable Contributors

Leading experts of Asian art including learned artists, museum curators, collectors, and academics, have contributed to Arts of Asia over the years, including among others, the following:

• Christian Boehmn
• Paul Bromberg
• Sheila R. Canby
• John T. Carpenter
• William Chak
• Nicolas Chow
• Tetsuro Degawa
• Giuseppe Eskenazi
• Menno Fitski
• Sylvia Fraser-Lu
• Hollis Goodall
• Guo Fuxiang
• John Guy
• Julian Harding
• Jessica Harrison-Hall
• Maxwell K. (Mike) Hearn
• Anna Jackson
• Rose Kerr
• Roger Keverne
• Simon Kwan
• James J. Lally
• Peter Lam
• Eric Lefebvre
• Denise Patry Leidy
• James C.S. Lin
• Kai-yin Lo
• Victor Lo
• Richard Marchant
• Maria Kar-wing Mok
• Kerry Nguyen-Long
• Estelle Niklès van Osselt
• Pratapaditya Pal
• Stacey Pierson
• Jane Portal
• Amy G. Poster
• Adriana Proser
• Howard and Mary Ann Rogers
• Ditas R. Samson
• Rosemary Scott
• Colin Sheaf
• Jan Stuart
• Paula Swart
• Paul Michael Taylor
• Susan Tosk
• John E. Vollmer
• Clarissa von Spee
• Richard Wesley
• Ming Wilson
• Jay Xu
• Josh Yiu

Notable Features

Each cover of the magazine highlights an artwork or painting from an exhibition or collection of a distinguished museum, institution, or collector. These have included, among others, works from the following organizations:

• British Museum
• Brooklyn Museum
• Cleveland Museum of Art
• Fitzwilliam Museum
• Hong Kong Museum of Art
• Linden Museum
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• Museum of Cultural History, Oslo
• Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka
• National Palace Museum
• Palace Museum Beijing
• Peabody Essex Museum
• Rietberg Museum
• Shanghai Museum
• Victoria and Albert Museum

External links

• http://www.artsofasianet.com