Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, Fall 2019

FALL 2019 MEMBERS’ MAGAZINE

CONNECTION Who knew bamboo smelled so good? Over the course of two weeks in May, museum visitors and staff had the rare treat of witnessing a new artwork being created on-site. We looked on as artist Tanabe Chikuunsai IV and his team of three apprentices wove approximately 8,000 strips of tiger bamboo, recycled from an installation at the chateau of Chaumont-sur-Loire in France, into a new gallery-sized sculpture.

IN THIS ISSUE

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CONTENTS

FROM THE DIRECTOR

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Museum News

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Exhibition: Changing and Unchanging Things: 24 Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan

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Exhibition: Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment

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Exhibition: Lost at Sea: Art Recovered from Shipwrecks

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Membership

MAGAZINE STAFF

Transforming the Museum Contemporary Perspectives

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Society for Asian Art

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Behind the Scenes

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Museum Boutique

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Scene at the Asian

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Event Calendars

FALL 2019 VOL. VIII ISSUE 3 Members’ Magazine

Editor-in-Chief

Tim Hallman

Deputy Chief of Philanthropy

Nada B. Perrone Creative Director

Kate Ritchey

Art Director / Graphic Designer

Sheng Moua

Nina Lewallen Hufford Museum Photographer

Kevin Candland

Jay Xu

SEE YOU AT THE MUSEUM!

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Front cover: Calligraphics, 1957, by Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904–1988).

Iron, wood, rope, and metal. The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York. © The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York/ ARS. Photograph by Kevin Noble. Back cover: Luxation 1 (detail), 2016, by Tsherin Sherpa (Nepalese, b. 1968). Set of sixteen panels; acrylic on cotton canvas. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Adolph D. and Wilkins C. Williams Fund, 2017.195a–p. Photograph © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Inside front cover: Tanabe Chikuunsai IV: Connection, installation view, on view May 31 to Aug. 25, 2019. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

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Writer / Editor

Published by the Asian Art Museum Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art & Culture 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 415.581.3500 · www.asianart.org Copyright © 2019 Asian Art Museum of San Francisco

For many of us, the work of midcentury designer and artist Isamu Noguchi was a point of entry into Japanese aesthetics. I am looking forward to gleaning new insights into Noguchi and his friend and fellow artist Saburo Hasegawa in our major fall exhibition, Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan (page 4). Organized by The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, the exhibition broadens our understanding of global postwar art and illuminates a trajectory from traditional Japanese aesthetics to today’s artistic sensibilities. This connecting of past and present drives what we do every day at the museum.

We often describe exhibitions as journeys of discovery, but in January we present one that truly is laid out as a path leading to knowledge or selfknowledge. Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment (page 10), organized in collaboration with the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, will take you on a transformative pilgrimage from initiation to awakening, drawing on artworks from the collections of both museums.

MUSEUM NEWS

CODING FOR BASKETS Those who saw Connection at the museum this summer were awed by the way Tanabe Chikuunsai IV transformed traditional bamboo craft into contemporary installation art. In spring 2019, the museum added to its collection a small-scale work from Chikuunsai’s series Disappear that demonstrates another way that this innovative, fourth-generation bamboo artist is connecting his family tradition to the 21st century.

In collaboration with Harvard architecture professor

Sawako Kaijima, Chikuunsai used computer software and a 3D printer to produce resin molds for each work in the series. He then inserted bamboo strips into the molds, which were removed to reveal complex geometrical forms that Chikuunsai says would not be possible to construct using bamboo alone.

The museum holds the twelfth work in the Disappear

series, an intricate 34-inch-high object with complex rotations determined by a mathematical algorithm. “It is a fusion of technology and traditional decorative arts,”

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says the artist. n

Disappear, 2018, by Tanabe Chikuunsai IV (Japanese, b. 1973). Bamboo (madake), wisteria vines, dye, and lacquer. Asian Art Museum, Museum purchase, Lloyd Cotsen Japanese Bamboo Collection, 2019.4. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

MUSEUM NEWS

CELEBRATING CHANG DAI-CHIEN Chang Dai-chien is one of the most acclaimed Chinese artists of the 20th century. To mark the 120th anniversary of his birth and 47 years since his previous solo show at the museum, we are inaugurating the newly renovated Chinese painting gallery with Chang Dai-chien: Painting from Heart to Hand, opening Nov. 26. Comprising works donated to the museum by the artist, as well as loans from his friends and family, the exhibition spotlights Chang’s groundbreaking modernization of ink painting.

Born in 1899 in Sichuan province, Chang traveled extensively to

seek sources of inspiration in the historical past and in nature. In the early 1940s he spent more than two years studying and copying ancient Buddhist paintings in the caves of Dunhuang, instigating new interest in these overlooked masterpieces. His exhibitions following this sojourn earned him artistic success and recognition as a true master.

Chang left China in 1949, eventually settling in California in 1969, first

in Carmel-by-the-Sea and then Pebble Beach. During this period of selfimposed exile, he was influenced by Western art and California’s distinctive landscape, and his splashed-color paintings came close to total abstraction.

Chang left California in 1977 for Taiwan, where he died in 1983. He

continues to be internationally recognized as a pivotal figure who expanded the field of traditional Chinese ink painting. We are pleased to honor his legacy with this exhibition showcasing his unique artistic vision. n

Chang Dai-chien: Painting from Heart to Hand CATALOGUE AVAILABLE IN THE MUSEUM STORE Members | $17.95 Non-Members | $19.95

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Divine Redwood Trees (Shenmu) in Taiwan (detail), 1970, by Chang Dai-chien (Zhang Daqian; Chinese, 1899–1983). Framed panel: ink and colors on paper. Asian Art Museum, Gift of the artist, B73D4. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

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store.asianart.org | 415.581.3605

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EXHIBITION

EXHIBITION

A photograph shows two men sitting on tatami mats in the shelter of a Japanese-style garden pavilion. This image commemorates the consequential meeting in 1950 of two artists, one Japanese American but drawn to Japan, the other Japanese but influenced by the West, both in search of a new direction for modern art in the aftermath of the Second World War.

The photograph was taken when U.S.-born sculptor and designer

Isamu Noguchi (1904–1988) and Japanese artist, theorist and teacher Saburo Hasegawa (1906–1957) were traveling together to visit historic sites around Kyoto. They both believed that by immersing themselves in traditional Japanese culture they could find a way to propel modern art forward in the nuclear age.

Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar

Japan traces the work, ideas and mutual influence of these two artists, one well known as a sculptor and designer and the other a painter little known outside Japan but who had strong ties to San Francisco. Focusing on artworks made in the decade following their meeting, the exhibition is organized around a series of themes that bring out the resonances between Noguchi’s sculptures and design work and Hasegawa’s explorations in painting, printmaking and photography. Situating the work of both artists side by side forcefully reveals their innovative fusion of

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Left: Hasegawa and Noguchi on the veranda at Shishendo Temple, Kyoto, photographed by Michio Noguchi, 1950. © The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York / ARS

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Japanese tradition and modernist form.

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EXHIBITION

EXHIBITION

During their exploration of historic gardens, palaces

and temples in Japan, Noguchi and Hasegawa discovered their shared passion for classical Japanese culture and their remarkably similar aesthetic sensibilities. It was the Los Angeles–born Noguchi’s first visit since 1931 to the country where he spent his childhood. Hasegawa, who was enlisted as his guide, was raised in Japan in a cosmopolitan household and had spent several years in Paris beginning in the late 1920s.

He was a leading proponent of abstraction in the Tokyo art world of the 1930s, but during the war he had retreated into the study of Zen and the traditional tea ceremony. Noguchi, for his part, was seeking to view Japanese art in its original context to discover the “spirit of things past.”

Noguchi and Hasegawa both reacted to the catastrophic

effects of the war by questioning how art — and society — could balance tradition and modernity, Japanese culture and foreign influences, past and present. They were both committed to modernist practices, such as the removal of the inessential, truth to materials and a utopian belief of the power of art to improve society, but felt that modernism needed a new direction, one that could be provided by a deep exploration of Japanese art, design and culture.

Around the time he met Noguchi, Hasegawa abandoned

oil painting in favor of ink (sumi); he employed traditional materials and techniques to create abstract imagery. His work from the 1950s includes abstract calligraphy, rubbings, brush paintings, monotypes and block prints and he often employed traditional formats such as folding screens and hanging scrolls.

In The Butterfly Dream — from Zhuangzi (1956), an example of Hasegawa’s abstract calligraphy, ink characters are dispersed on the paper in a way that suggests the movement of the butterfly described in the poem. Several series of photograms Hasegawa made in the early 1950s show related explorations of abstraction and composition.

Noguchi’s work was also profoundly impacted by his time

in Japan with Hasegawa. He saw his ceramics from this period as a “true development of an old tradition,” modern takes on tea (1957) shows the influence of Hasegawa’s abstract calligraphy.

The stele-like works Sesshu (the title is a nod to Hasegawa’s favorite ink-wash painter) and Orpheus (both 1958) are made of

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folded sheets of aluminum inspired by origami and kirigami.

Left: Nature, 1952, by Saburo Hasegawa (Japanese, 1906–1957). Wood rubbings; ink on paper. The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Photo courtesy of The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. Above: Sesshu, 1958, by Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904–1988).

Anodized aluminum. Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT; gift of an Anonymous donor, 1962.259. Photo courtesy of the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, CT.

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ceremony vessels. The iron, wood and rope sculpture Calligraphics

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EXHIBITION

EXHIBITION

Hasegawa spent the last years of his life in the United States,

where he played a key role in transmitting Japanese philosophy and culture to the American avant-garde. After a year of professional successes in New York in 1954, Hasegawa moved to San Francisco to teach drawing and Asian art history at the California College of Arts and Crafts (now CCA) and lecture and teach the practice of tea ceremony at the now-defunct American Academy of Asian Studies. Hasegawa felt more appreciated in the U.S. than in his native Japan and believed that it was only in America that he could develop an abstract art rooted in Asian tenets.

Hasegawa’s death from cancer in 1957 at the age of 50 put a

stop to that trajectory. It is fitting that San Francisco, the city where he left a strong legacy as a teacher and where his work was first exhibited (in 1952, at the Legion of Honor), is a venue for this first substantial consideration of Hasegawa’s work outside Japan.

The story of the friendship between Noguchi and Hasegawa

and their shared artistic concerns adds nuance to the usual narrative of postwar art. Their practices do not fit neatly into any group, movement or style — in part because their profound interest in tradition was shared by few of their peers — but Noguchi’s and Hasegawa’s concern for balancing old and new, local and global, abstraction and representation seems as pressing, and complicated, today as it was in 1950. n

Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan CATALOGUE AVAILABLE IN THE MUSEUM STORE Members | $58.50 Non-Members | $65 store.asianart.org | 415.581.3605 Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan is organized by The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York, and made possible through lead support from the Terra Foundation for American Art. Transportation assistance has been provided by ANA (All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd.).

The presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible by Joan L. Danforth, and Lucy Sun and Warren Felson. This exhibition is a part of the Asian American Experience, which is made possible with the generous support of Glen S. and Sakie T. Fukushima, an anonymous donor in honor of Ambassador and Mrs. Sampson Shen, and Claudine Cheng. Additional support is provided by John and Carole Harlow.

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Left: Space Elements, 1958, by Isamu Noguchi (American, 1904–1988). Greek marble. The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York. © The Isamu Noguchi Foundation and Garden Museum, New York/ARS. Photograph by Kevin Noble. Right: From Laozi (detail), 1954, by Saburo Hasegawa (Japanese, 1906–1957). Ink on paper. Hasegawa Family Collection. © Estate of Saburo Hasegawa. Photo courtesy of the Hasegawa Family Collection.

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Sustained support generously provided by the following endowed funds: Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Endowment Fund for Exhibitions Kao/Williams Contemporary Art Exhibitions Fund

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EXHIBITION

JAN 17–MAY 3, 2020 | OSHER AND HAMBRECHT GALLERIES

EXHIBITION

W A K E U P ! That is what this exhibition asks you to do. Open your eyes, clear your head and leave this chaotic, fractured world behind you for a while. Embark on a journey that might just change you forever. We’ll provide a guide, a map and everything else you’ll need to reach your destination.

To steer you on your path, Awaken: A

Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment brings together Vajrayana Buddhist artworks from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Asian Art Museum, home to two of the country’s most significant collections of Himalayan art.

Sculptures, paintings, textiles and book arts made between 800 and 2016 chart a transformative journey from initiation to awakening.

By inviting you to participate in a narrative

experience of these artworks from the viewpoint of an adherent, Awaken proposes that it is the emphasis on meditative visualization that accounts for the particularity of Himalayan Buddhist imagery. Vajrayana Buddhism, which took hold in Tibet in the 8th century, emphasizes the act of seeing: the practice depends on artworks created as visual aids to meditation, objects that transform awareness and ultimately bring about enlightenment, or awakening.

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Left: The Melt, 2017, by Tsherin Sherpa (Nepalese, b. 1968). Acrylic, ink, and gold on canvas. Asian Art Museum, Museum purchase, 2017.44. Photograph © Asian Art Museum. Right: Vajrabhairava (detail), 1400–1500 or later. China. Wood with paint. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation and Arthur and Margaret Glasgow Fund, 93.13a–oo. Photograph © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

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EXHIBITION

EXHIBITION

Awaken begins with works that speak to the unbalanced

Each section of the mandala, each stage on its imaginative

nature of our contemporary existence, including Tsherin

visual path from fierce guardians at the corners to the deity

Sherpa’s 2016 painting Luxation I, a fragmented vision of

in the center, is brought to life by artworks in the galleries.

cultural dislocation. You then meet your guide, or guru, in the

Together, these objects — such as a stunning bronze sculpture

form of an early 17th-century thangka painting of Gorampa

of the god of death, Yama, and a luminous painting of the

Sonam Sengge, the sixth abbot of Ngor monastery, who will

frightening six-armed Mahakala — lead you to confront your

lead you on a path out of this chaos. As part of your initiation,

worst fears, including death itself.

Gorampa shows you the symbolic tools that will empower you

on your voyage and anchor your meditation. These include ritual

in the museum gallery, and spiraling inward through its

hammers and swords to fight against your negative thoughts,

courtyards and outer chambers, you reach the central chamber.

prayer wheels and musical instruments that generate positivity,

Here you meet the archetype of fear itself, the 34-armed

and the bell and the thunderbolt that together symbolize the

deity Vajrabhairava, or Lightning Terror. Vajrabhairava is

union of the masculine and feminine.

embodied in the gallery by a terrifying polychrome wood

Your guide then reveals the map of your journey, a colorful,

sculpture accompanied by an ominous soundtrack of his

densely illustrated 17th-century mandala from Gorampa’s own

verbal manifestation. Your guide asks you to overcome your

monastery. A mandala is at once a floorplan of a divine palace,

fear by visualizing yourself as Vajrabhairava, identifying his

a chart of the entire cosmos and an inner image of the mind.

body as your own. You realize that Vajrabhairava is not a

After entering the mandala through a gateway, recreated

demon but instead an image of enlightened awareness. Art has catalyzed your transformation, your newfound knowledge that the world is not fragmented, but instead fundamentally interconnected. To see the cosmos as a whole is to be awake.

To symbolize your awakening, the exhibition ends with

a remarkable vision, a glowing, levitating 300-pound stone sculpture from India, Standing Crowned Buddha with Four Scenes of His Life. n

Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment CATALOGUE AVAILABLE IN THE MUSEUM STORE Members | $45 Non-Members | $40.50 store.asianart.org | 415.581.3605 Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment is organized by the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. The presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible with the generous support of Joan L. Danforth and Lucy Sun and Warren Felson.

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Left: Mandala of the Buddhist deity Vajrabhairava (detail), 1650–1750. Tibet; Ngor Monastery.

Colors on cotton. Asian Art Museum, The Avery Brundage Collection, B63D5. Photograph © Asian Art Museum. Flaming trident (detail), 1700–1800. Tibet. Iron, silver, and gilded copper. Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Gift of Zimmerman Family Collection in honor of Joe Dye on the occasion of VMFA’s 75th Anniversary, 2010.84. Photograph © Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. Photograph by Travis Fullerton.

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Sustained support generously provided by Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Endowment Fund for Exhibitions.

EXHIBITION

NOV 26, 2019–MAR 22, 2020 | TATEUCHI GALLERY

A fierce three-headed serpent and a mysterious female deity were

among the nearly two dozen 12th-century stone sculptures from Central Vietnam that lay unseen at the bottom of the Arabian Sea for nearly 120 years. Almost 5,000 miles away in the South China Sea, blue-and-white ceramic bowls, plates and jars rested in the hold of a sunken ship off the coast of Vietnam for more than five centuries. Preserved like time capsules under the seas, these shipwrecks contained artworks that were excavated in the 1990s by marine archaeologists, sold at auction, purchased by individual collectors and then donated to the museum.

By tracing the pathways of these objects, from Vietnam to the ocean

floor to San Francisco, Lost at Sea: Art Recovered from Shipwrecks asks questions about how artworks enter museum collections. What does the provenance of an object reveal? What can art salvaged from the sea tell us about trade and the colonial enterprise? Who is entitled to centuries-old artworks recovered from shipwrecks? Should they even be excavated, or should vessels and their contents be left in situ for

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future generations?

EXHIBITION

The ceramics are from a trading vessel that sank in the 15th century

off Vietnam’s Hoi An coast with a cargo of more than 250,000 ceramic objects made for export. After fishermen began to find porcelain shards in their nets in the 1990s, a government-sanctioned commercial salvage operation brought up the cache, dubbed the Hoi An Hoard.

The stone sculptures, relics of the Cham culture that thrived along

the coast of Central Vietnam from the 5th to the 15th century, had been carted off from a ruined temple by a French colonial officer in the 19th century. The two works in the museum collection are from a group of 21 that were on their way to France when the steamer they were on sank off the coast of Somalia in 1877. The passengers and crew were saved, but the stone sculptures, apparently too heavy to transport to shore, were left in the wreckage; they were finally retrieved in 1995.

The exhibition includes artifacts from these two shipwrecks, including

a slowly disintegrating concretion of objects from the Hoi An Hoard, along with maps and other materials that invite consideration of how artworks travel across time and cultures. n

Lost at Sea: Art Recovered from Shipwrecks is organized by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Presentation is made possible with the generous support of Glenn Vinson and Claire Vinson.

Sustained support generously provided by Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Endowment Fund for Exhibitions.

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Images from left: Fragmentary dish with design of a winged horse, approx. 1450–1500. Northern Vietnam; Chu Ðậu. Stoneware with cobalt decoration under glaze. Asian Art Museum, Gift of David and Mary Bromwell, 2010.485. Pouring vessel with openwork panels, approx. 1450–1500. Northern Vietnam; Chu Ðậu. Stoneware with glaze and traces of enamel and gilding. Asian Art Museum, Acquisition made possible by Peg Dueringer, Dr. and Mrs. Vincent Fausone, Jr., Nora Norden, Dr. and Mrs. Stephen Sherwin, Mr. and Mrs. M. Glenn Vinson, Jr., and Mimi Truong Wall, 2000.30.

Architectural element with a multiheaded mythical serpent, approx. 1150–1250. Vietnam; Bình Ðịnh province, former kingdoms of Champa. Stone. Asian Art Museum, Gift of Richard Beleson in honor of Hanni Forester, 2012.103. Concretion of ceramics, approx. 1450–1500. Vietnam. Stone, antler, shell, corroding iron, and remains of sea creatures. Asian Art Museum, Acquisition made possible by Betty and Bruce Alberts, Will and June Arney Roadman, Annie and Cameron Dorsey, Jean and Lindsay MacDermid, Rhoda Stuart Mesker, and Ann Witter, 2000.31. Photographs © Asian Art Museum.

MEMBERSHIP

MAKE YOUR MARK Have you ever wanted to become one with a work of art?

Now you can, with our community donor wall in the form of an artwork by San Francisco–based designer Tina Frey. Donors to the For All campaign at the $5,000 level or above will have their names incorporated into Frey’s installation, which will be displayed permanently in the museum.

For the community donor wall, Frey will create rectangular

tiles hand-cast in resin, each bearing a donor name. The tiles will be arranged on the wall in the shape of the museum’s ∀ mark. A gradient of colors, each keyed to a giving level, will add depth and warmth to the piece.

Frey, who founded Tina Frey Designs in 2007, is known

for her elegant, minimal aesthetic. In her expansive light-filled studio and showroom in the Bayview district, platters, bowls, cups and utensils in a rainbow of colors are arrayed in grids on low tables. Frey, who studied science and business at the University of Alberta, says that she always wants her pieces to have a function: “it ties together the practical and creative sides of my brain.”

Frey begins each piece by hand-fashioning it from clay.

This process is what gives the completed works, cast in resin by her own master mold-maker or hand-hammered in metal

by Indian artisans, their soft, tactile appeal. “I love the smooth, worn quality of pebbles or driftwood that I find on the beach,” says Frey. “They are hard materials, but transformed to look soft, comfortable.”

Leave your mark on the community donor wall with a tax-

deductible donation to the For All campaign. We welcome

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gifts of any amount, but only gifts of $5,000 or more will be honored on this custom work of art. To donate, simply return the enclosed envelope or contact Assistant Director of Membership Jessica Bailey at 415.581.3744. n

Top right: Designer Tina Frey at her San Francisco studio/showroom opening.

Photograph © 43rd Avenue Photography. Bottom right: Tina Frey molding clay for one of her designs. Photograph © Tina Frey Designs Photography.

MEMBERSHIP

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MEMBERSHIP

SUPPORT WHAT YOU LOVE

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Jade Circle member Peter Sinton leads a docent tour in the refreshed third-floor galleries, 2019.

“With the world in tumult, you need a refuge,” says Jade Circle

with Associate Curator for Himalayan Art Dr. Jeffrey Durham as a

member and docent Peter Sinton. “You can go to the great outdoors,

highlight of his membership. The group visited the Virginia Museum

Yosemite or Mt. Tam, or the great indoors. For me, the Asian Art

of Fine Arts and viewed its Himalayan collection at the outset of

Museum is the great indoors. It is my city club, my country club, my

the collaboration between the museums on the exhibition Awaken:

place of refuge. It’s better than meditation.”

A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment (opens Jan. 17,

2020; see page 10).

A natural storyteller (he spent his career as a journalist,

primarily with Business Week and the San Francisco Chronicle),

Peter loves showing off the museum to visitors on his docent tours.

Jade Circle is a way for him to express his love for his city and one

“The gods dwell in these objects,” he says. “The museum is a temple

of its premier art institutions. “Support what you love and it will give

on steroids.” If you want to get closer to these works of art, with

you pleasure in return.”

behind-the-scenes tours and events with curators and scholars,

Peter urges you to join Jade Circle.

Asian art and culture and make a meaningful impact as a member of

Jade Circle, contact jadecircle@asianart.org or 415.581.3794. n

He cites a Jade Circle trip to Washington, D.C., and Virginia

For Peter, a fourth-generation San Franciscan, membership in

To learn more about how you can deepen your engagement with

MEMBERSHIP

ANNOUNCING THE FORUM

As a member of The Forum, the museum’s fresh new social membership club, you’ll enjoy innovative happenings with a dynamic group of fellow experience seekers. Meet artists and tastemakers and dive into the architecture, design, photography, painting, sculpture, film and new media of Asia and the Asian diaspora.

Forum members can look forward to:

■ An annual Forum party on the rooftop

East West Bank Art Terrace

■ Art adventures with artists and other

members of The Forum

■ Relaxing in our private donor lounge in

the evenings

■ Partying with a friend at the Gala

After-Party

■ Sipping free cocktails at Sunday,

the museum cafe (4 tickets)

■ Celebrating our exhibitions at fabulous

opening receptions

■ Flashing your member card as you travel

across the U.S., Canada and Mexico to get free admission and discounts at over 1,000 museums

The Forum is your entry into a vibrant community, one-

of-a-kind cultural experiences and spectacular parties. Join today and open your world.

Members of The Forum also receive all Patron-level

benefits. For more information or to join, please contact us at members@asianart.org or 415.581.3740. ■

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Photographs © Asian Art Museum.

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TRANSFORMING THE MUSEUM

Southern India Gallery GALLERY 4 A view of the newly renovated Gallery 4, devoted to the art of Southern India, 600–1600. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

TRANSFORMING THE MUSEUM

THIRD-FLOOR COLLECTION GALLERIES REOPEN Old Favorites in a New Light The third-floor galleries reopened in the spring, marking a major milestone in the artwork labels and the new type size and color scheme that makes them much easier to read. We’ve also heard how the new lighting in the galleries makes the artworks pop, as if suddenly in high definition. If you haven’t had a chance to visit

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the third floor recently, we invite you to come see your old favorites in a new light.

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museum’s transformation. Visitors are praising the clear, concise text panels and

TRANSFORMING THE MUSEUM

Follow the Path When you visit the third floor, you’ll encounter the start of the Masterpieces in Context pathway through the museum.

Designated masterpieces, newly installed to signal their importance, work as signposts in the galleries, calling out important moments in the history of Asia and Asian art. Enhanced interpretive materials, including videos and interactive digital displays, allow you to dig deep into

GALLERY 11 A throne with a Buddha image and other sculptures arranged to evoke the feeling of being in a Buddhist temple in Myanmar or Thailand. Crowned and bejeweled Buddha image and throne, approx. 1860–1880. Myanmar; Mandalay area. Wood and iron, with lacquer, gilding, and mirrored glass. Asian Art Museum, Gift from Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Southeast Asian Art Collection, 2006.27.17 and 2006.27.1.a-.t. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

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key cultural and artistic moments. n

TRANSFORMING THE MUSEUM

Southeast Asia Gallery GALLERY 8 The entrance to the refreshed Gallery 8, showing new introductory panel.

Masterpiece in Context GALLERY 14 The Bronze Age vessel Reina the rhinoceros in her new home, accompanied by a video and interactive tablet. Ritual vessel in the shape of a rhinoceros, probably 1100–1050 BCE. China; unearthed in Liangshan, Shandong province; Shang dynasty (approx. 1600–1050 BCE). Bronze. Asian Art Museum, The Avery Brundage Collection, B60B1+.

Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

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Buddha dated 338 with video projection on wall.

Buddha dated 338. China; Hebei province, Later Zhao kingdom (319–351). Bronze with gilding.

Asian Art Museum, The Avery Brundage Collection, B60B1034. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

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CONTEMPORARY PERSPECTIVES

PLAY ► ► JEAN SHIN: PAUSE

OPENS FEB 6, 2020

LEE GALLERY

“Play is at the core of any creative practice and is serious business. The act of play is without restrictions, free from convention. It starts from the sense that anything is possible,” says Marc Mayer, assistant curator of contemporary art and programs.

Mayer is spearheading a new project series dedicated to contemporary art and

artists called Play (aka ►, the familiar symbol for “play” on audiovisual devices).

As part of the museum’s transformation project, the first-floor Doris Shoong and Theodore Bo Lee Gallery will become a site of experimentation, a locus for the creation of new work. Play builds on the museum’s commitment to living artists — think Artists Drawing Club, Takeover and other Thursday Night programs — but expands these one-night events into exhibitions that will be on view for three to four months.

With its focus on process, Play will function as a laboratory, providing artists

with space and resources to test new ideas. In turn, you will encounter artistic responses to the world in real time.

Mayer has invited Jean Shin to be the inaugural Play artist. Based in New York,

Shin is well known for compelling works made from discarded everyday items.

Each of her projects revolves around a single object type, which she sources from the community – 35 mm slides, trophies, old lottery tickets, broken umbrellas. She transforms these cast-off items into visually striking installations that comment on the human relationships and stories behind these materials.

Many of Shin’s installations consider the pervasive role of technology in today’s

society, as well as its rapid obsolescence. The interactive sculpture TEXTile (2006) evokes the centrality of email in our lives with tens of thousands of recycled computer keycaps that spell out the email correspondence related to the making of the work.

Surge (2013), in which a vast collection of obsolete chargers forms a 40-foot wave, points to our enthusiastic consumption of quickly outmoded technologies.

We don’t know what Shin will decide to explore at the Asian Art Museum, but

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that is all part of the fun. Press play, and it begins. n

► Jean Shin: Pause is organized by the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.

Sustained support generously provided by the following endowed funds: Akiko Yamazaki and Jerry Yang Endowment Fund for Exhibitions Kao/Williams Contemporary Art Exhibitions Fund Images: TEXTile (detail), 2006, by Jean Shin (American, b. 1971). 22,528 recycled computer keycaps and 192 custom keycaps, fabric, customized active keyboard and interactive software, video projection, and painted aluminum armatures. Commission produced in collaboration with the Fabric Workshop and Museum, Philadelphia. Photograph courtesy of the artist. © Jean Shin. Surge, 2013, by Jean Shin (American, b. 1971).

Electrical plugs, 10 painted MDF panels with wooden back frame. Installation at the Korean Cultural Center, Los Angeles, California. Photograph courtesy of the artist. © Jean Shin.

SOCIETY FOR ASIAN ART

LOTUS LEAVES

IN DEPTH AND ONLINE

Have you ever wanted to know more about the social meaning

of Chinese snuff bottles? Or the origins of botanical illustration

for Asian Art. For journal editor Margaret Edwards, it is a chance

in India? Or the contemporary art scene in Karachi, Pakistan?

to return to her first passion: Edwards studied at the Oriental

You can find out about these topics, and many more, in the

Institute of the University of Chicago before a career practicing

Society for Asian Art journal Lotus Leaves. Until 2017, the journal

law in San Francisco. Now retired, Edwards is one of the

was published in print form twice a year and was an exclusive

dedicated SAA members who devotes her time to opening our

benefit of SAA membership. Now it is distributed online as a

eyes to new aspects of Asian art culture. Find Lotus Leaves online

downloadable pdf, available to scholars worldwide and anyone

at www.societyforasianart.org/lotus-leaves. n

Lotus Leaves is a labor of love for the all-volunteer Society

else curious about Asian art.

Eminent art historians, from UC Berkeley’s Patricia Berger

to Stanford’s Albert Dien, as well as many Asian Art Museum curators have written for the journal. Associate Curator for Korean 2019 issue about the 19th-century calligrapher Kim Jeonghui and his couplet in the museum collection. Jeffrey Durham, contemporary painting The Melt for the spring 2018 volume.

The Lesser-Known Religious Traditions of Asia Fridays through Dec. 6 10:30 AM–12:30 PM For list of lecture topics and tickets, go to: www.societyforasianart.org

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associate curator of Himalayan art, wrote about Tsherin Sherpa’s

Seeking the Divine: FA L L 20 1 9

Art Hyonjeong Kim Han contributed an article to the spring

FALL 2019 ARTS OF ASIA LECTURE SERIES

BEHIND THE SCENES

BACK TO SCHOOL It’s that time of year again, when the slight chill in the air makes many of us want to sharpen our pencils, crack open the spine of a new textbook or organize a still pristine binder for the year ahead.

For this September issue of the members’ magazine, we wanted to revisit that newschool-year feeling by going behind the scenes with our education team. We found out that they, too, are preparing for the year ahead with a variety of initiatives designed to support both students and teachers. n

DOCENT TRAINING

A NEW APPROACH TO SCHOOL PROGRAMS The museum welcomes more than 30,000 children on school field trips in a typical year, from as far away as Sacramento and San Jose and as nearby as the Tenderloin and Chinatown. In order to increase this number, we are training a new class of school programs docents, who lead schoolchildren through our exhibitions and collection galleries.

This cohort, composed of volunteers who have expressed specific interest in working with children, embarks on its training this month with a new curriculum that aligns with current classroom teaching practices.

During their training, docents will learn about the artworks in our

collection, and Asian art and culture more broadly, from our curators and other experts. But they will spend much of their time acquiring skills for an inquiry-based, student-centered approach to teaching. Instead of the traditional model of a teacher or docent dispensing knowledge through lecturing, an inquiry-based model places students at the center of their own learning. They share what they know and ask questions, while the docent acts as a facilitator who helps them find answers. In short, students are empowered in their own search for knowledge.

So you might see a lively group of schoolchildren in the galleries

taking on the poses of Hindu gods and goddesses, engaged in intense discussion with a few of their peers, making art or searching the galleries on a scavenger hunt. These techniques engage different learning styles, whether visual, kinesthetic or auditory.

“We are aiming for moments that enrich, rather than replicate,

classroom teaching,” says Margaret Yee, manager of school and teacher programs and a former high school English teacher.

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School programs docents will also train in cultural competency in

order to make sure that all children feel welcome at the museum. To help docents handle those inevitable unexpected moments kids always seem to provide, they will take improv theater workshops that model “yes/and” thinking and empathy.

Over the next nine months, trainees will take 41 weekly interactive

workshops taught by a team of curators, education staff and Docent Sherlyn Leong with students on a Brushpainting: Nature in Art tour. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

experienced mentor docents. n

BEHIND THE SCENES

TEACHING TEACHERS While school tours might be our most visible educational offering, we are equally proud of the resources we offer to teachers behind the scenes. The museum website is chock-full of resources for educators on all aspects of Asian art and culture, and we also offer direct teacher training in partnership with the Fine Arts Museums and SFMOMA.

The Discovering Connections Teacher

Institute is a one-week program offered each summer to middle school or high school teachers. Teachers spend one day at each museum practicing close observation, inquiry, analysis and reflection and learning how to incorporate artworks into their teaching. During the course of the week, they create a lesson plan that fosters critical thinking and creative expression.

It has been rewarding to see the innovative

plans that have come out of the program.

One seventh-grade math teacher developed a geometry lesson focusing on the compositional shapes that make up artworks, including The Death of the Buddha Shakyamuni (Tibet, 1700–1800). For a middle school ethnic studies course, a teacher designed a lesson plan on power and art using, among other works, the museum’s woodblock print Today’s Special (Masami Teraoka, 1982), which addresses cultural imperialism. Another teacher created a classroom project focusing on human interaction dynasty scroll painting from our collection. n

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High school teachers take the powerful pose of Durga as part of Discovering Connections Teacher Institute, 2019.

Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

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with the landscape that incorporates a Qing

BEHIND THE SCENES

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STORYTELLING GOES DIGITAL You might be familiar with our Storytelling Program in

reference to works in the collection.

the galleries, where a trained storyteller uses artworks as

springboards to share myths and folktales of Asia. Now Deborah

Denise Shimabukuro is providing drawings for the folktale “The

Clearwaters, director of education and interpretation, is leading

Magic Teakettle.” Set in medieval Japan, it is the story of a

the effort to create online versions of some of these stories to

tanuki, or shapeshifter, a cute raccoon dog who transforms

extend this popular program beyond the walls of the museum.

into a tea kettle. Meenal Patel is illustrating scenes from a

Each illustrator brings her own unique style to these stories.

With input from curators, the Storyteller Resources

Hindu story from India about Ganesha honoring his parents in

Committee and outside experts, Clearwaters and her team

a competition with his brother. An ancient Chinese legend, “The

have selected a few stories from the repertory to be animated

Dragon’s Pearl,” is being brought to life by illustrator Ting Xue.

as video content. For each story, the Education department is

developing a script and selecting an illustrator to depict certain

classroom to teach cultural competency, language acquisition

key scenes. Museum curators are helping the illustrators refine

and empathy. But you can also watch them at home for fun!

their drawings for historical and cultural accuracy, often with

Look for the first batch in fall 2020. n

Elementary school teachers can use these videos in the

The Asian Art Museum Docent Program is generously supported by the Dhanam Foundation, William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, and Society for Asian Art. The Asian Art Museum Storyteller Program is generously supported by the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation and the Kimball Foundation. General support for education is provided by the Dhanam Foundation, the Koret Foundation, William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation, James C. Hormel and Michael P. Nguyen, the John & Marcia Goldman Foundation, The Charles D. and Frances K. Field Fund, Dodge & Cox, and The Joseph & Mercedes McMicking Foundation. Support is also provided by an endowment established by The Hearst Foundations.

Above: Illustrations for the folktale “The Magic Teakettle” by Denise Shimabukuro. Images courtesy of the artist.

MUSEUM BOUTIQUE

DINING ACROSS ASIA Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, the museum store has been renamed in honor of Cha May Ching. At the Cha May Ching Museum Boutique, you’ll still find the thoughtfully curated selection of books, fashion apparel and accessories, jewelry, ceramics and toys that have made the spot a magnet for savvy shoppers.

This fall, find culinary inspiration for your next intimate

tea party, celebratory lunch or weeknight family dinner at the museum boutique. Visit our marketplace focusing on specialty foods, cookbooks, tableware and kitchen tools from China, Japan, Korea and South Asia.

Elevate your pantry with distinctive teas, sauces, oils and

vinegars, salts and jams. Add the perfect zing to any dish with California-made yuzu rice vinegar or orange blossom vinegar.

Punch up your recipes with the tangy heat of South Asia– inspired hot sauces.

Create a calming moment with green tea steeped in a

teapot from Japan’s Usukiyaki ceramics. You’ll also find cups, bowls, platters and chopstick rests from this Tokyo-based manufacturer, which makes modern porcelain pieces based on 200-year-old designs from the workshop’s original incarnation

The marketplace is the perfect place to find a gift for any

cook, host or gastronome. Who wouldn’t love to receive a Francisco’s own Jade Chocolates? n

Friday, Nov 22, 10 AM–6 PM Member preview hour 9 AM–10 AM Saturday, Nov 23, 10 AM–5 PM

10% discount for members every day

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holiday box filled with Asian tea–infused chocolates from San

3rd Annual Holiday Artisan Market

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in the Edo period.

SAVE THE DATES

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SCENE AT THE ASIAN The museum was the scene of varied visually striking events this past spring, from dancers moving fluidly through the classical architecture to near-naked bodies showing off colorful Japanese-style tattoos. The Art Speak interns were busy all year helping with Family Fun Days but also found time to make some art themselves before graduating in May. A highlight of the season was the unveiling of the Masterpieces in Context on the third floor, including the museum’s mascot, Reina. n

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Dancer Jory Horn descends the museum’s grand staircase as part of the performance with cinder, ash to ember, Mar. 28, 2019.

Photograph by Quincy Stamper.

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Nexus members exploring the sculpture park at Donum Estate in Sonoma. Photograph © Myleen Hollero Photography.

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Jade Circle guests at the opening reception for Tattoos in Japanese Prints, May 29, 2019. Photograph © Katelyn Tucker Photography.

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Members Jen Cheng and Alice So at the opening reception for Tattoos in Japanese Prints, May 29, 2019. Photograph © Katelyn Tucker Photography.

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Tanabe Chikuunsai IV demonstrates techniques for his bamboo sculpture Connection to museum members. Photograph © Natalie N Photography.

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An evening with actor and activist BD Wong, Feb. 14, 2019. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

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Board members and special guests celebrate the newly installed Reina at the May 14, 2019, unveiling of the refreshed third-floor galleries. Photograph © Katelyn Tucker Photography.

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Model displaying his full-body tattoo inked by artist Takahiro Kitamura at the opening reception for Tattoos in Japanese Prints, May 29, 2019. Photograph © Katelyn Tucker Photography.

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The 2018–2019 class of Art Speak interns at their May graduation.

Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

Art Speak intern Jade Ichimura shows off the dyed fabric she made in a shibori workshop with artist Jenny Fong in April. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.

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CALENDAR

FEATURED PUBLIC PROGRAMS SEPTEMBER

NOVEMBER

1 / SUNDAY Family Fun Day 10:30 AM–2 PM Discover artworks in the museum’s collection with self-guided gallery activities

2 / SATURDAY South Asian Modern and Contemporary Art at The Metropolitan Museum with Shanay Jhaveri 2–3:30 PM

Village Artist Corner: Together, Let’s Be__________ 11 AM–3 PM How are you an everyday hero?

Using compassion and kindness, navigate the hero’s journey in this engaging activation.

3 / SUNDAY Family Fun Day 10:30 AM–2 PM Celebrate Diwali with hands-on art-making, kid-friendly gallery tours and immersive storytelling

15 / SUNDAY Family Fun Day 10:30 AM–2 PM Celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival by making your own mooncake out of colorful clay 26 / THURSDAY Art and Transcultural Negotiation Panel Discussion 7–8:30 PM

Village Artist Corner: Together, Let’s Be__________ 11 AM–3 PM 17 / SUNDAY Family Fun Day 10:30 AM–2 PM Explore the special exhibition Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan and write a letter to a friend

JANUARY 5 / SUNDAY Family Fun Day 10:30 AM–2 PM Greet the new year with festive artmaking inspired by the Year of the Rat 11 / SATURDAY Mochi Pounding (Omochitsuki)!

11 AM–2 PM Celebrate the Japanese New Year with mochi pounding by Kagami Kai

19 / SUNDAY Family Fun Day 10:30 AM–2 PM Greet the new year with festive art-making inspired by the Year of the Rat 23 / THURSDAY Conversation with artist Tsherin Sherpa and Awaken curator Jeffrey Durham 7–8:30 PM Free with museum admission

Please check www.asianart.org for updates and a complete listing of public programs and member events. Events are subject to change.

DECEMBER OCTOBER 5 / SATURDAY Sharaku Unframed and The Wind Whisperer: New Music from Left Coast Chamber Ensemble 1–2:30 PM $5 members; $10 general plus museum admission

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6 / SUNDAY Family Fun Day 10:30 AM–2 PM Celebrate Filipino American History Month with hands-on artmaking, kid-friendly gallery tours and immersive storytelling Village Artist Corner: Together, Let’s Be__________ 11 AM–3 PM 20 / SUNDAY Family Fun Day 10:30 AM–2 PM Explore the special exhibition Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan and write a letter to a friend

1 / SUNDAY Family Fun Day 10:30 AM–2 PM Explore the special exhibition Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan and write a letter to a friend Village Artist Corner: Together, Let’s Be__________ 11 AM–3 PM 15/ SUNDAY Family Fun Day 10:30 AM–2 PM Kick off the holiday season with festive art-making and storytelling 31 / TUESDAY 34th Annual Japanese New Year’s Bell-Ringing Ceremony 9:30 AM (members only) 11:30 AM (open to the public) Ring in the New Year by taking a swing at a 2,100-pound, 16thcentury Japanese temple bell

Image: Family Fun Day Activity celebrating Diwali, 2016. Photograph by Quincy Stamper.

CALENDAR

FEATURED MEMBER EVENTS SEPTEMBER 4 / WEDNESDAY Museum Architecture Tour 11:30 AM–12:30 PM Open to all members 10 / TUESDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Breaking the Mold, Literally!

2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above 14 / SATURDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Breaking the Mold, Literally!

2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above 18 / WEDNESDAY Nexus Salon West Open to Nexus members

2 / WEDNESDAY Curator’s Choice Lecture 6–8 PM Open to Friend level and above

3 / TUESDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Changing and Unchanging Things: 5 / SATURDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: The Art of Buddhism Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan 2–4 PM 2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above Open to Premium level and above 23 / WEDNESDAY Deputy Director’s Choice Open to Jade Circle and Nexus members 27 / SUNDAY Rhino Club: Watercolor Bookmarks 11 AM–1 PM Open to Rhino Club 31 / THURSDAY Gump Society Tea 3–5 PM Open to Gump Society

25 / WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER Annual Meeting and Opening Reception Changing and Unchanging Things: 5 / TUESDAY Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan Tour, Talk & Tea: Museum Objects 5–9 PM Docents Never Talk About Open to Friend level and above 2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above 26 / THURSDAY Member Preview Day 6 / WEDNESDAY Changing and Unchanging Things: Museum Architecture Tour Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan 11:30 AM–12:30 PM 10 AM–5 PM Open to all members Open to all members 9 / SATURDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Museum Objects OCTOBER Docents Never Talk About 2–4 PM 1 / TUESDAY Open to Premium level and above Tour, Talk & Tea: The Art of Buddhism 2–4 PM 11 / MONDAY Open to Premium level and above Annual Nexus Dinner Open to Nexus members 2 / WEDNESDAY Museum Architecture Tour 11:30 AM–12:30 PM Open to all members

@asianartmuseum

5 / WEDNESDAY Museum Architecture Tour 11:30 AM–12:30 PM Open to all members

4 / WEDNESDAY Museum Architecture Tour 11:30 AM–12:30 PM Open to all members

8 / SATURDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment 2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above

7 / SATURDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Changing and Unchanging Things: Noguchi and Hasegawa in Postwar Japan 2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above

11 / TUESDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment 2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above

JANUARY 7 / TUESDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Gold. Sacred or Bling?

2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above

12 / WEDNESDAY Curator-Led Tour 2–4 PM Jade Circle Gold and Nexus members

MARCH

8 / WEDNESDAY Museum Architecture Tour 11:30 AM–12:30 PM Open to all members

4 / WEDNESDAY Museum Architecture Tour 11:30 AM–12:30 PM Open to all members

11 / SATURDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Gold. Sacred or Bling?

2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above

7 / SATURDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Golden Screens of Japan 2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above

15 / WEDNESDAY Opening Reception Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment Open to Patron level and above 16 / THURSDAY Member Preview Day Awaken: A Tibetan Buddhist Journey Toward Enlightenment 10 AM–5 PM Open to all members

10 / TUESDAY Tour, Talk & Tea: Golden Screens of Japan 2–4 PM Open to Premium level and above 11 / WEDNESDAY Curator’s Choice Lecture 6–8 PM Open to Friend level and above

ASIAN ART MUSEUM

Visit www.asianart.org for additional closings and special hours. Events are subject to change. Please check www.asianart.org for updates.

FEBRUARY

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MUSEUM HOURS

Tue–Sun. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 AM–5 PM Mon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Closed

www.asianart.org

DECEMBER

ASIAN ART MUSEUM Chong-Moon Lee Center for Asian Art & Culture www.asianart.org 200 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102 USA

Non-Profit Organization U. S . Po s t a g e P A I D Asian Art Museum of San Francisco