National Museum of Asian Art

The Smithsonian’s National Museum of Asian Art is located on the National Mall in Washington, DC, and is comprised of two galleries: the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery. The museum cares for exceptional collections of Asian art, with more than 46,000 objects dating from the Neolithic period to today and originating from the ancient Near East to China, Japan, Korea, South Asia and Southeast Asia, and the Islamic world. A century old, the Freer Gallery of Art also houses significant holdings of American works of art largely dating to the late nineteenth century, including the world’s largest collection of works by James McNeill Whistler (1834–1903), including the famed Peacock Room.

Committed to preserving, exhibiting, and interpreting exemplary works of art from Asia and the American Aeasthetic Movement,  the National Museum of Asian Art is deeply committed to conservation training, outreach efforts, and collaborative research and exhibition projects with national and international institutions.

The museum houses the largest Asian art research library in the United States, which originated with Charles Lang Freer’s personal library. The library collection consists of more than 84,000 volumes, including nearly 2,000 rare books. The Archives houses original primary source materials relating to the study, collection, and understanding of Asian arts and cultures and of American art of the Gilded Age. It comprises over 180 collections, amounting to over one thousand cubic feet.  

The National Museum of Asian Art cosponsors, with the Department of the History of Art, University of Michigan, the annual scholarly journal Ars Orientalis. A peer-reviewed, annual volume of scholarly articles on the art and archaeology of Asia, including the ancient Near East and the Islamic world, the journal is intended for scholars in diverse fields. It is open access and available in print.

Throughout its history, the museum has produced a variety of publications, including the Freer Gallery of Art Occasional Papers. The museum’s publication program also includes studies in conservation and scientific research, Asian art history, catalogues of the permanent collection, and scholarly exhibition catalogues in both print and online versions. The National Museum of Asian Art regularly sponsors scholarly workshops and symposia as well as a full program of public lectures by both staff and outside scholars. To learn more, please visit: https://asia.si.edu/research/.

The National Museum of Asian Art hosts fellows through the Smithsonian Institutional Fellowship Program. In addition, we offer the Ebrahimi Fellowship for Persian Art, the Anne van Biema Fellowship for Japanese Visual Arts and the University of Michigan Freer Fellowship.

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Ebrahimi Fellowship for Persion Art

Application Deadline: February 1, 2024

https://asia.si.edu/about/jobs-opportunities/ebrahimi-fellowship-for-persian-art/

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Anne van Biema Fellowship for Japanese Visual Arts

Application Deadline: April 15, 2024

https://asia.si.edu/about/jobs-opportunities/the-anne-van-biema-fellowship/

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https://www.si.edu/ofi‍