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The Asia Series (2021)

Bob Dylan's 'The Asia Series' reached print in February 2021 as four giclées released through Castle Fine Art. Sold individually or as a portfolio set of four, they reproduce paintings of scenes from his travels in East and Southeast Asia, first exhibited in New York in 2011.

All The Asia Series (2021) Works By Bob Dylan (9)

Significance & Analysis

'The Asia Series' is one of the most discussed bodies of Dylan's painting, and the 2021 prints were the first time any of its images were issued as editions.

The paintings were first shown at Gagosian's Madison Avenue gallery in New York from 20 September to 22 October 2011, a year after 'The Brazil Series' was unveiled in Copenhagen. The exhibition presented them as a visual reflection on his travels in Japan, China, Vietnam and Korea, with people, street scenes, architecture and landscapes as its subjects. Dylan often draws and paints while on tour.

The four editions

Four images were chosen for print: 'Hunan Province', 'Opium', 'Shanghai' and 'The Bridge'. Each giclée reproduces its original painting and keeps the muted, low-key palette of the series. The prints carry the colour and composition of the paintings on a flat surface, without the physical texture of the paint.

Paintings from the series later hung in the Miami showing of 'Retrospectrum', Dylan's touring museum survey, from November 2021. The tour then gave its name to 'The Retrospectrum Collection', the prints that followed in 2022.

How Many of Each Asia Series Print Were Made?

Each of the four images was issued in an edition of 295, with artist's proofs and printer's proofs alongside the numbered prints. Every image was offered unframed or framed, and the portfolio set of four, holding one of each image, was also sold both ways. Framed, 'Opium' and 'Shanghai' each measure 90 x 81 cm.

Are The Asia Series Prints Signed by Hand?

Yes. Each print was hand-signed by Dylan. The question matters for his recent editions, because two releases of 2022, 'The Retrospectrum Collection' and the 'Sunset in Monument Valley' triptych, turned out to carry autopen signatures. The Asia prints came out the year before, and every edition preceding those two releases was confirmed as individually hand-signed.

Why Was The Asia Series Controversial?

Because viewers matched several of the paintings to historical photographs soon after the 2011 exhibition opened. One composition follows a well-known Henri Cartier-Bresson photograph of two men in China, and others were traced to the Magnum archive and 'Life' magazine. The show had been presented as a record of Dylan's own travels, so the argument over homage and copying ran through its final weeks. Later accounts of the series say he worked from observational sketches together with archival film and photography.