| Exhibition Dates: |
March 8, 2021–April 24, 2022 |
| Exhibition Location: |
The Met Fifth Avenue, Arts of Japan,
The Sackler Wing Galleries, Galleries 223–232 |
Japanese
Opening on March 8 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the yearlong exhibition Japan: A History of Style celebrates a decade of remarkable acquisitions of Japanese art. Showcasing more than 300 artworks over the course of four rotations, the exhibition highlights how recent gifts and purchases have transformed the Museum’s ability to narrate the history of Japanese art, by both expanding and deepening its collection. Each of the 10 galleries that make up the Arts of Japan, The Sackler Wing Galleries will explore a distinct genre, school, or style, through a range of artworks representing nearly every medium, from ancient times to the present.
The exhibition is made possible by The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Foundation Fund.
Exhibition Overview and Highlights
The exhibition will cover a range of topics, with the initial rotation exploring the great diversity of the sacred arts of Buddhism and Shinto, the rich Sino-Japanese artistic dialogue facilitated by Zen Buddhism, major developments in Japanese painting history such as the establishment of the Kano school of painting and revivals of the bold and often abstract Rinpa style, artistic innovations at the dawn of the modern era, and contemporary painting and decorative arts. Subsequent rotations will consider ancient courtly calligraphy, popular Buddhist art, the Maruyama-Shijō school of painting, and modern printmaking. Many of the works will be shown for the first time.
Several galleries explore Japanese religious art, with highlights including several large-scale early Buddhist devotional paintings, whose inherent fragility precludes regular exhibiting, and extraordinary examples of Zen-inspired calligraphy by three of medieval Japan’s most celebrated monks: Musō Soseki (1275–1351), Sesson Yūbai (1290–1346), and Zekkai Chūshin (1336–1405). A pair of folding screens by Soga Chokuan (active ca. 1596–1615) showing Tethered Hawks accompanied by Chinese poems boldly inscribed by Zen monk-calligrapher Ittō Jōteki (1533–1606) is one of several works representing artistic collaborations between Buddhist monks and lay patrons and artists.
Several major recent acquisitions will be shown alongside groups of rarely shown works that have been at The Met for many decades, demonstrating the way that newly acquired works expand and enrich the stories that can be told through the collection. These include Chinese Sages, an extraordinary pair of screens featuring ink paintings of ancient recluses created by an anonymous master of the Kano school at the dawn of the early-modern era, and Cherry and Maple Trees by Sakai Hōitsu (1761–1828), a colorful pair of gold-leaf screens depicting a blossoming cherry and a crimson maple that shows how Japanese aesthetics took a turn towards stylization and abstraction. In a presentation of Japanese tea ceremony utensils, newly acquired contemporary works are displayed alongside earlier masterpieces, such as a 16th-century Black Seto teabowl and an early 17th-century rare bamboo flower holder made by a Zen monk.
The exhibition will also seek to highlight new avenues of inquiry for Japanese art at The Met, a result of dedicated efforts by curators working with donors and collectors to augment the collection in recent years. Special attention will be given to efforts to extend the Museum’s ability to narrate the later history of Japanese art by expanding its holdings from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries, and broadening the scope of the collection by adding new genres of decorative arts, such as bamboo art, exemplified by the finely plaited hanging flower basket by Tanabe Chikuunsai I (1877–1937), and glass, represented by Ikuta Niyoko’s recent glass sculpture Free Essence-131. Recently acquired masterworks of later Japanese painting include the pair of screens Tiger, Tigress, and Cub by Kishi Chikudō (1826–1897), who embraced both Western realism and traditional Japanese techniques, and the mesmerizing Peacocks and Cherry Tree by Imazu Tatsuyuki (active early 20th century). Also featured is the first-ever installation of a group of contemporary Japanese metalworks at The Met—a gift from Tokyo-based collector Hayashi Kaoru in honor of The Met’s 150th anniversary. The dazzling selection includes a wide variety of artworks, from cast-iron tea kettles to flower vessels and sculptural forms. Nine objects were made by artists designated as Living National Treasures, including Ōsumi Yukie (b. 1945) and Nakagawa Mamoru (b. 1947), while a few works were created by emerging artists. Several objects celebrate the achievements of female masters. More information about the metalworks is available here.
The first rotation will include a special display of 35 masterworks of ukiyo-e prints from the collection of Lee E. Dirks, on view through May 31, 2021. All from the first two centuries of Japanese printmaking (1680s to 1850s), the works focus on graphic representations of the human figure, especially actors of the Kabuki stage and courtesans of the Yoshiwara pleasure quarters in Edo (present-day Tokyo). The rotation celebrates the magnanimous gifts and promised gifts from Dirks of several rare early prints, presented in celebration of the Museum’s 150th anniversary. Highlights include the only known surviving example of an early depiction of a Kabuki actor by Torii Kiyomasu I (active 1696–1716); three prints by the master Kitagawa Utamaro (ca. 1754–1806); four bust portraits of Kabuki actors by Tōshūsai Sharaku (active 1794–1795); Spying with a Telescope by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)—only three impressions of this print are known to survive; and colorful triptychs by Utagawa Kunisada (1786–1864) and Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861). More information about this display is available here.
Credits
The exhibition is organized by John T. Carpenter, Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese Art; Monika Bincsik, Diane and Arthur Abbey Associate Curator for Japanese Decorative Arts; and Aaron Rio, Associate Curator of Japanese Art; all from the Department of Asian Art at The Met.
The exhibition will be featured on The Met website as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter using the hashtag #ArtsofJapan.
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Updated April 9, 2021
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