Photographers have been presenting Asia to the west through their photographs since the mid-nineteenth century, yet during this period paintings, ceramics, woodblock prints, and other forms of art have also served to document Asian moments, places, people, and events. By juxtaposing a variety of documentary images and objects depicting China, Japan, and India, this exhibition questions how one might interpret such works as representations of material and visual culture, or as documents of art.

In association with Asian Moments, the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art will host a symposium entitled China Seen by the Chinese: Documentary Photography, 1951−2003 at Princeton University on Saturday, October 24, 2009. The included presentations will consider historical and cross-cultural perspectives, critical and theoretical approaches to the subject, and the problem of defining "documentary" photography.