WASHINGTON, DC.- “Seasons,” a series of five exhibitions at the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery of Art through March 4, 2012, explores the vast history of seasonal imagery and associations in Chinese and Japanese art. Highlighting the museum’s outstanding permanent collection, the exhibitions invite reflection on the importance of the cycle of seasons in East Asian culture and the prevelance of seasonal themes in art, literature and social customs. “The seasons have affected Japanese and Chinese art in profound and distinct ways,” said Ann Yonemura, senior associate curator of Japanese art. “In Japan, art and poetry reflect the gentle changes in climate resulting from the islands’ topography as an archipelago, whereas in China, art reflects the cycle of seasons through stunning landscape paintings of craggy cliffs, wide rivers and soaring mountains.” Through June 12,