FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
PRESS RELEASE
- April 1999
Asia
Society Extends Closing Date of Exhibition of Japanese Baskets
from the Lloyd Cotsen Collection
Now
on view through June 27, 1999
Japanese
bamboo baskets have long been regarded by connoisseurs as
art objects of great sophistication and beauty. Now, for
the first time, one hundred exquisite baskets from one of
the world's most important collections are on view in a
comprehensive exhibition entitled "Bamboo Masterworks:
Japanese Baskets from the Lloyd Cotsen Collection."
The exhibition, which opened at the Asia Society on February
18 and was originally scheduled to close on May 30, has
been extended to accommodate popular demand. The exhibition
will remain on view through June 27, 1999, at the Asia Society,
725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street), New York City.
In conjunction
with the exhibition, demonstrations of ikebana flower arranging
will continue in the Galleries on Thursdays, May 6, May
20, May 27, June 10 and June 24, from 4:00 to 5:00 P.M.
Free with Galleries admission.
According to Vishakha N. Desai, Vice President for Cultural
Programs and Director of the Asia Society Galleries, "Traditionally,
the Japanese have drawn no sharp distinction between art
and craft, and these baskets, both useful and beautiful,
certainly blur the distinction between basket and sculpture.
In introducing this art form to a wider public, the exhibition
also explores the historical, utilitarian and cultural significance
of Japanese basketry."
Many
of the baskets in the Cotsen collection were originally
made to hold flowers for the formal tea ceremony. Both the
ceremony and the arranging of flowers are activities with
profound aesthetic and philosophical meaning in Japanese
culture. In the 1950s, bamboo artists began to emphasize
self-expression rather than utility, considering the basket
as primarily an aesthetic object rather than a functional
container. Three of the masters whose works are on display
have been designated as "Living National Treasures,"
the highest honor Japan bestows on its artists.
For
Lloyd Cotsen, Japanese bamboo baskets are "truly works
of sculpture" as well as windows into "a long
cultural tradition" that strikes a harmonious balance
"between the visual and the visceral." In explaining
the appeal of the baskets, he says: "I was attracted
by the tensions created by the balancing of forces: of cohesion
and chaos, structure and nature, refinement and exuberance,
and, ultimately, simplicity and complexity." Mr. Cotsen,
the former CEO of Neutrogena Corporation, assembled his
collection during the course of what he calls a "forty-year
love affair" with Japanese baskets.
Among the objects featured in the exhibition is a spherical
flower container of breathtaking delicacy, made in the 19th
century by Suzuki Kyokushôsai (c.1872-1936); its shape,
created by open wickerwork plaiting, recalls a Japanese
lantern. Another is a non-traditional, abstract "basket,"
dated 1956, by Maeda Chikubôsai II (b. 1917) from
a single continuous piece of bamboo, which folds in on itself
like a Moebius strip or an uplifted wave returning to its
source.
The
exhibition is curated by Mary Hunt Kahlenberg in association
with Colin Mackenzie and Miwako Tezuka at the Asia Society.
Installation designer for the exhibition is Marc Treib.
The
exhibition is accompanied by be an informative brochure
on Japanese baskets, produced by the Asia Society. In addition,
a 390-page, sumptuously illustrated limited-edition book
on the Cotsen collection, with essays by Mr. Cotsen and
specialists and critics including Janet Koplos, Patricia
J. Graham, Masanori Moroyama and Hiroko Johnson, has been
published and is available at the Asia Society Store.
The
exhibition includes an educational section with examples
of bamboo as a material, explanations of the process of
making baskets from start to finish, and a video about the
technique and the spirit of Japanese basketry, featuring
one of the basket makers, Shôno Shôunsai (1904-1974).
Throughout the run of the exhibition, there will be periodic
demonstrations of ikebana (Japanese flower arranging), a
refined style that traditionally uses (among other things)
bamboo baskets as containers, by local members of the Ikenobô
Ikebana Society.
The Asia Society has presented a number of lectures, performances
and other programs related to the exhibition. Upcoming programs
include a Japanese tea ceremony and a series of films by
the great director Hiroshi Teshigahara, who was himself
a notable practioner of Japanese flower arranging. In the
Japanese tea ceremony, which has been rescheduled to May
13 at 6:30 P.M., Hisashi Yamada, a tea master from the Urasenke
Tea Ceremony Society in New York, talks about the art, philosophy,
and ritual of chanoyu and guides the audience in
a traditional tea ceremony. The Teshighara film series features
The Woman in the Dunes on Wednesday, June 16 at 7:00
P.M.; Rikyu on Wednesday, June 23 at 7:00 P.M.; and
Pitfall on Wednesday, June 30 at 7:00 P.M.
The
Bamboo Masterworks: Japanese Baskets from the Lloyd Cotsen
Collection exhibition and related programs are supported
in part by the Mary Livingston Griggs and Mary Griggs Burke
Foundation; Ellen Bayard Weedon Foundation; J. Aron Charitable
Foundation, Inc.; and private funders. Support for Asia
Society exhibitions and public programs has been provided
by the Friends of Asian Arts, The Starr Foundation, The
Armand G. Erpf Fund and the Arthur Ross Foundation.
The
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.
The
Asia Society is located at 725 Park Avenue (at 70th Street)
in New York City. Galleries are open Tuesday - Saturday,
11:00 A.M. - 6:00 P.M.; Thursday, 11:00 A.M. -8:00 P.M.
and Sunday, noon - 5:00 P.M. Admission is $4 adults; $2
students and senior citizens; free for Asia Society members
and children under 12; and free to all on Thursday 6:00
- 8:00 P.M. For general information the public should call
(212) 517-ASIA or visit the Asia Society on the world wide
web (www.asiasociety.org).
