|
ASIA SOCIETY PRESENTS A SPECIAL EXHIBITION
OF JAPANESE FOLDING SCREENS
GOLDEN FANTASIES:
JAPANESE SCREENS FROM NEW YORK COLLECTIONS
January 13, 2004 – August 15, 2004
(The screens will be rotated on April 6, 2004)
Asia Society presents an exhibition of exquisite Japanese folding
screens from six New York City private collections, along with
one pair of screens from the Asia Society’s Mr. and Mrs.
John D. Rockefeller 3rd Collection of Asian Art. Golden
Fantasies: Japanese Screens from New York Collections is
Tosa Mitsuoki, Cherry Trees, Edo period
John C. Weber Collection |
comprised of 11 pairs and two single screens, along with seven
decorative objects dating from the late Muromachi to the early
Edo period, spanning the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Golden Fantasies will be on view at Asia Society and
Museum from January 13, 2004 through June 27, 2004. The screens
will be rotated on April 6 to accommodate the light sensitivity
of the material.
According to Vishakha N. Desai, Senior Vice President of
the Asia Society and Director of the Museum and Cultural Programs,
“Folding screens are one of the most spectacular and
quintessentially Japanese artistic traditions. This exhibition
is exceptional in that we have selected pieces from some of
the most well-known private collections. In fact, some are
being exhibited in public for the first time. Additionally,
this exhibition is a continuation of Asia Society’s
effort to present treasures from the Rockefeller collection
in new and interesting ways; we are thrilled to include as
part of this exhibition the sublime mid-to-late sixteenth
century pair entitled The Four Seasons.”
The screens in the Golden Fantasies exhibition are
on loan from the collections of Mary Griggs Burke, the Mary
and Jackson Burke Foundation, the Peggy and Richard M. Danziger
Collection, the John C. Weber Collection and two other private
collections. The Four Seasons screen from the Rockefeller
collection completes the repertoire.
Golden Fantasies is curated by Rosina Buckland,
a doctoral student at New York University’s Institute
of Fine Arts. Asia Society has an ongoing commitment to supporting
talented young scholars with the opportunity to provide new
scholarship to Asian art. The exhibition is accompanied by
a fully illustrated color catalogue with an essay by Ms. Buckland
and a foreword by Vishakha N. Desai. Asia Society and Museum
is the exhibition’s only venue.
The Exhibition
Byôbu (literally “wind protection”),
as the screens are called in Japanese, have long played prominent
roles in Japanese history as decorative, functional and ritualistic
objects. Freestanding, adjustable and portable, the versatility
of the screen has continued to serve as a standard feature
of any well-apportioned space in Japan for more than a millennium.
Folding screens were originally used by aristocrats to divide
and define space in their living quarters. For instance, a
screen might be used to hide aristocratic women from view,
or to conceal secluded or even secret meetings and liaisons.
Interestingly, screens were also adapted to function outdoors,
used on excursions to the countryside for picnics and flower-viewing
parties. In such a setting, a screen would be positioned to
focus the attention and space on a specific view, while keeping
others out of sight at the same time. On a more symbolic and
ritualistic note, screens were placed around the body of a
dead shogun during his funeral to demonstrate authority.
By the seventeenth century, Edo (modern day Tokyo) had one
million inhabitants, making it one of the largest cities in
the world. Ruled by the military class under the Tokugawa
regime, the city flourished in this time of social stability
and economic prosperity. Great attention was paid to cultural
refinement, leading to the perfection of the “way of
tea” and a solid tradition of artistic patronage. The
fruits of that patronage are evident in this rich collection
of screens.
Golden Fantasies – the title refers to the
lavish use of gold leaf to depict cloud and ground area motifs
– is organized around three broad themes: “Narratives,”
“Lives of the People” and “Nature as Symbol.”
Narratives. This exhibition presents fine examples
of screens depicting scenes from four classic Japanese narratives:
the Tales of Ise and the Tale of Genji,
court romances from the tenth and eleventh centuries, respectively;
and the Tale of the Heike and the Chronicle of
the Great Peace, war tales that idealized the bravery
of the warrior elite, who had settled in the cities during
the Muromachi period.
The Lives of the People. The increase in urbanization
contributed to a new type of screen depicting urban entertainment
and crowd activities. However, while they provided amusement
in the new social environment, the screens often contained
pointed or moral messages. In addition, they functioned as
mediums for people to channel their spiritual energies and
escape to an idealized or fantasy world.
Nature as Symbol. This type of screen highlights
famous places or symbols from the natural world through associations
already established in the Japanese consciousness through
the poetry tradition. For example, by the Edo period the celebrated
location of Yoshino had come to signify a locale for merry-making
and was usually represented in poetry by cherry trees in full
bloom. Thus, Yoshino was usually represented on screens by
rolling hills with cherry trees.
Golden Fantasies will also feature three-dimensional
objects from the collection of Peggy and Richard M. Danziger,
and the Rockefeller Collection. The pieces, ranging from writing
boxes to stirrups, are displayed alongside the screens to
highlight a special decorative motif shared by both a screen
and companion object. For instance, a seventeenth century
porcelain plate featuring cherry blossoms will accompany the
screen Cherry Trees at Yoshino.
Golden Fantasies is made possible with support from
Erika and Peter Aron, Peggy and Richard M. Danziger, Mary
Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke Foundation, John and
Polly Guth, Dr. John C. Weber, and Richard Fishbein and Estelle
Bender.
Related Programs
Asia Society will present a number of related public programs
to coincide with Golden Fantasies, providing audiences
with additional contextual framework for enjoying the exhibitions.
An art lecture on the celebrated Japanese painter Katsushika
Hokusai inaugurates a four-part lecture series co-sponsored
by Japan Society exploring the work of some of the most acclaimed
Japanese master painters from the Edo period. For more program
information and an updated schedule of events, visit www.AsiaSociety.org.
About the Asia Society
Asia Society is America’s leading institution dedicated
to fostering understanding of Asia and communication between
Americans and the peoples of Asia and the Pacific. A nonprofit,
nonpartisan educational institution, the Asia Society presents
a wide range of programs including major art exhibitions,
performances, media programs, international conferences and
lectures, and initiatives to improve elementary and secondary
education about Asia. The Asia Society is headquartered in
New York City, with regional centers in Washington, D.C.,
Houston, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Melbourne, Australia,
and representative offices in San Francisco, Manila and Shanghai.
Asia Society and Museum
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), New York City.
(212) 517-ASIA, www.asiasociety.org
Hours: Tuesday – Sunday, 11:00 A.M. – 6:00 P.M.;
Fridays extended evening hours until 9:00 P.M.; Closed on
Mondays and major holidays.
Admission: $7; $5 for seniors and students with ID; Free for
members and persons under 16; Free to all on Friday evenings,
6:00 – 9:00 P.M.
# # #
11/25/03 yrc |
