The long history of interaction between China, Korea, and Japan formed an identifiable East Asian cultural sphere based on shared traditions of Confucian ethical philosophy, Buddhism, and a historically common writing system. In the arts this commingling resulted in new hybrid forms, as pictorial images and classical texts that originated in China were embraced as richly meaningful icons in Korea and Japan. While many images and artistic styles across the region show similarities to their Chinese models, local philosophical, historical, and aesthetic traditions transformed them in unique ways.

Through works of art from the Johnson’s collection, this exhibition focuses on the ink painting tradition and explores how cultural images and artistic styles that originated in China were adopted and adapted in Korea and Japan.