USC Pacific Asia Museum

USC Pacific Asia Museum is an Asian art museum located at 46 N. Los Robles Avenue, Pasadena, California, United States.

The museum was founded in 1971 by the Pacificulture Foundation, which purchased "The Grace Nicholson Treasure House of Oriental Art" from the City of Pasadena. Grace Nicholson donated the structure to the city for art and cultural purposes in 1943 and was a dealer in Native American and, later, Asian art and antiques. It houses some 15,000 rare and representative examples of art from throughout Asia and the Pacific Islands. In 2013, the museum became part of the University of Southern California. The building was temporarily closed beginning June 27, 2016 until December 2017 for a seismic retrofit and renovation. It has reopened as of December 8, 2017 with new operating hours.

The building, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, was built in 1926 and designed by the architectural firm of Marston, Van Pelt & Maybury. It is designed in the style of a Chinese imperial palace and features a central courtyard with a garden, a small pool, and decorative carvings.

Galleries

 * The Art of Pacific Asia
 * Japanese
 * Snukal Ceramics
 * Journeys: The Silk Road
 * South and Southeast Asian
 * Himalayan
 * Korean

Notable exhibits
One of the museum's 2009 exhibits looked at the mash-up of Chinese calligraphy and American graffiti. US-China Today has an article and slide show on the exhibit and a video featuring the curator and a couple of the artists who contributed to the exhibit: Calligraffiti: Crossing the Divide.


 * China Modern: Designing Popular Culture 1910-1970 (August 6, 2010- Feb. 6, 2011)
 * Japan in Blue and White (March 25, 2010- March 6, 2011)
 * "Following the box"- Exhibition inspired by found photographs taken in India during World War II ( Sep 2019- Jan 2020)



California Historical Landmark Marker
California Historical Landmark Marker NO. 988 at the site reads:
 * NO. 988 PACIFIC ASIA MUSEUM (GRACE NICHOLSON'S TREASURE HOUSE OF ORIENTAL AND WESTERN ART) - Grace Nicholson, a noted collector and authority on American Indian and Asian Art and artifacts, supervised the design of her combination gallery and museum which was completed in 1929. It has been called an outstanding example of 1920s revival architecture and is unique for its use of Chinese ornamentation.