About | Heritage Museum Of A

About the Heritage Museum of Asian Art

Museum in Chicago's Bridgeport Art District

About the Museum

Founded in 2014, Heritage Museum of Asian Art showcases a wide range of art forms, spanning many cultures and time periods of Asia. The museum’s collection includes archaic and modern jades, Neolithic pottery, imperial porcelains, Chinese snuff bottles, scholar’s objects, textiles, bronzes and more. Classical Chinese furniture also adorns the galleries. The museum provides an interconnection between the arts and cultures of Asia for the residents of Chicago and for visitors from all around the world.

History

The Heritage Museum of Asian Art was founded in 2014. The original Museum was a small rented storefront on 23rd Street in Chicago’s Chinatown. The first displays at the 23rd Street location featured archaic Chinese jades, export silver, Han and Tang dynasty pottery, classical Chinese furniture, modern ink paintings, and a wide range of scholars’ objects. Displays were not just limited to Chinese material; during the first year, displays encompassed Japanese scroll paintings, netsuke, ceramics, textiles, Korean ceramics, and Indian ivory carvings.

It soon became apparent that as collectors began to offer loans and donations of artifacts and collections to the new Museum, a small storefront location was insufficient in terms of space. In addition, with a substantial, growing collection of Asian art books, we still needed a dedicated research library to be housed within the Museum to benefit researchers and students of Asian art.

In 2016, the Museum moved to an 18,000 square foot building on 26th Street in Chicago’s Chinatown. The building was renovated entirely and in January 2018, the Museum officially opened at its second location. The new building tripled the size of the Museum, offering enhanced access for school tours, researchers, and the public.

The Heritage Museum of Asian Art could now take advantage of significant loans and gifts. A sizable collection of Han and Tang dynasty tomb sculptures from an American collector are now on long-term loan to the Museum. Other meaningful gifts have included Chinese Neolithic ceramics, Tang dynasty ceramics, a significant Buddhist sculpture from Myanmar, and early Buddhist sculptures from India and China.

The Museum has also collaborated with Chicago’s MacLean Collection of Asian Art, which has loaned many artifacts from its collection to the Heritage Asian Art Museum, including ancient Chinese bronzes, sculptures from the Han, Tang, and Ming dynasties, and a rare map of Qing dynasty China. In 2019, the Heritage Museum of Asian Art received a substantial loan from The MacLean Collection of artifacts from Vietnam, Thailand, Cambodia, and Myanmar. This loan has dramatically expanded the range of Asian art now on view to visitors of the Museum.

Due to the outbreak of COVID-19, the Museum paused operations for two years and officially re-opened to the public in October 2022 at a new location on 35th Street in Chicago's Bridgeport Art District.

Today, the Heritage Museum of Asian Art is one of very few museums in the United States that exclusively exhibits Asian Art.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Heritage Museum of Asian Art is to preserve and promote the tradition of Asian art for the enrichment of present and future generations.

Non-profit

Heritage Museum of Asian Art is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Support for the museum’s collections and general operations is provided by generous individuals, corporations, and donations from the visiting public.