Survey of Asian American Art Opens in 2025 at the Carter

The Amon Carter Museum of American Art (the Carter) will present East of the Pacific: Making Histories of Asian American Art in spring 2025.

Organized by the Cantor Arts Center at Stanford University (the Cantor), this exhibition explores the continuing artistic influence of people of Asian descent and their indispensable role in shaping American art and culture. Featuring artworks by more than 32 Asian American artists, the exhibition asks the question, what would it mean to understand the United States as being situated not just west of the Atlantic but east of the Pacific? East of the Pacific: Making Histories of Asian American Art will be on view at the Carter May 18 through November 30, 2025.

“East of the Pacific allows us the extraordinary opportunity to view the history of American art through a lens that has frequently been neglected or removed from American art history,” said Andrew J. Walker, Executive Director at the Carter. “East of the Pacific also gives us the wonderful opportunity to partner with the Cantor Arts Center, one of the most extensive collections of Asian American art, and contributes to our mission of presenting the full scope of American creativity.”

Images (left to right): Dong Kingman (1911–2000), Chinatown, Clay and Grant, ca. 1950, watercolor on paper, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. The Michael Donald Brown Collection, made possible by the William Alden Campbell and Martha Campbell Art Acquisition Fund and the Asian American Art Initiative Acquisitions Fund, 2020.71, © Dong Kingman Jr.; Toshiko Takaezu (1922–2011), #8, ca. 1990s, stoneware with glazes, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. Gift of the artist, 2008.230, © Toshiko Takaezu; Roger Shimomura (b. 1939), Lush Life #2, 2008, acrylic on canvas, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. Gift of Marilynn and Carl Thoma, 2010.97, © Roger Shimomura; Roger Shimomura (b. 1939), Business Man, 2008, acrylic on canvas, Cantor Arts Center, Stanford University. Gift of Marilynn and Carl Thoma, 2010.96, © Roger Shimomura

East of the Pacific considers the ongoing artistic impact of the migration of people across the Pacific Ocean. The exhibition examines how the repositioning of America from west of the Atlantic to east of the Pacific reorients our perception of American art and its significant contributors. The artworks presented in the exhibition date from the mid-nineteenth century through the present day. Organized chronologically, the exhibition highlights key moments of intersection between Asia and the United States and features artists who worked both between and beyond these worlds.

“East of the Pacific is a transformative exhibition that enriches the narrative of American art by highlighting the vital yet often overlooked contributions of artists of Asian descent.” said Michaela Haffner, Assistant Curator of Paintings, Sculpture, and Works on Paper at the Carter. “Bringing together a range of work, from Toshio Aoki’s nineteenth-century still lifes to Arthur Okamura’s radical postwar abstractions, the exhibition bridges historical gaps and allows us to have a fuller understanding of this country’s artistic heritage.”

Drawn from the permanent collection at the Cantor, East of the Pacific features 49 artworks in a wide range of mediums that span from the 1850s to today, including ceramics, drawings, paintings, photographs, and prints. Focusing on both Asian American fine art as well as visual culture, this exhibition presents artworks by a variety of contemporary artists of Asian descent, including Roger Shimomura, Takeshi Kawashima, and Livien Yin.  The exhibition is divided into six thematic sections, which reveal vital moments in Asian American history and the multifaceted contributions of Asian descendants to American art. These sections include:

• Points of Contact: This section explores the mutual but powerfully imbalanced fascinations between artists working across cultural lines during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

• The East West Art Society: Highlighting Asian American members of the East West Art Society of San Francisco, this section features artworks demonstrating their interest in engaging with forms of image making that blend various influences.

• Visions of Chinatown: Established in 1848, San Francisco Chinatown has been a site of artistic exploration and occupation for many American artists. This section showcases artworks across a broad chronological range, created by Chinatown community members as well as Chinese artists who have drawn inspiration from Chinatown.

• After Executive Order 9066: Issued after the attack on Pearl Harbor, Executive Order 9066 authorized the forced evacuation of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans to isolated detention centers and concentration camps. The works in this section focus both on historical artworks created in these camps as well as contemporary works that reflect upon the aftereffects of Japanese American experiences in the internment camps.

• Histories of Abstraction: This section showcases the varying approaches to abstraction by artists of Asian descent across the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, countering the prevailing art historical narrative that Asian Americans were not significant creators of nonrepresentational art during this time.

• Revisiting Other Sources: An American Essay: In 1976, Carlos Villa put together the expansive exhibition Other Sources: An American Essay as a radical rejoinder to the celebrations surrounding the American bicentennial. This section brings together work by artists originally included in Other Sources.

East of the Pacific: Making Histories of Asian American Art is organized by the Cantor Arts Center. We gratefully acknowledge support from the Robert Mondavi Family Fund, the Terra Foundation for American Art, and Pamela and David Hornik. Funding for the conservation of seven works in this exhibition was generously provided through a grant from the Bank of America Art Conservation Project. The Carter’s presentation of East of the Pacific is made possible in part through the generous support of the Carl & Marilynn Thoma Foundation and the Alice L. Walton Foundation Temporary Exhibitions Endowment.