Beyond Golden Clouds: Five Centuries of Japanese Screens

PRESS CONTACT:

Tim Hallman

Beyond Golden Clouds: Five Centuries of Japanese Screens

October 15, 2010 - January 16, 2011

Flowering Cherry and Autumn Maples with Poem Slips, approx. 1654/81. By Tosa Mitsuoki (approx. 1617-1691). Pair of six-panel screens; ink, color, gold, and silver on silk. The Art Institute of Chicago, Kate S. Buckingham Endowment (1977.156-57)

SAN FRANCISCO, August 2, 2010 – This fall the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco presents Beyond Golden Clouds: Five Centuries of Japanese Screens, a special exhibition of forty-one rarely seen large scale Japanese screens dating from the 1500s through the present. The exhibition—on view October 15, 2010 through January 16, 2011—celebrates the evolution of the folding screen, or byōbu (“wind wall”), from pre-modern to contemporary, highlighting its distinctive position in Japanese culture as both a functional and expressive art form. The exceptional, yet diverse artworks are borrowed from the esteemed collections of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Saint Louis Art Museum. The phrase Beyond Golden Clouds describes one of the most popular motifs in classical screens, while also expressing the departure from conventional compositions and techniques in the past century.

The Asian Art Museum’s presentation of Beyond Golden Clouds will include an introduction to the fundamental compositions, materials, formats, and subjects of traditional folding screens, and a selection of self-guided thematic tours for visitors at every level of expertise and interest.

Thought to have been introduced from the Chinese mainland by the 700s, the folding screen provided Japanese artists with a large format that could transform an interior space and accommodate diverse forms of expression. Because screens are easily folded and moved, they can be interchanged according to season, occasion, mood, or decorative taste. The screens in Beyond Golden Clouds encompass a range of styles that reveal the expansive visions of their artists—from grandeur, formality, and austerity to tranquility and contemplation.

Fans and Stream, approx. 1820/28. By Sakai Hoitsu (approx. 1761-1828). Sliding doors (fusuma) mounted as a pair of two-panel screens; ink, color, gold, and silver on silk. Saint Louis Art Museum, Friends Fund (140:1987a,b)

By the Muromachi period (1392–1573), screens were being used for both Japanese-style paintings and the newly adopted Chinese tradition of ink painting. The earliest work in the exhibition is a pair of inkpainted landscape screens by Sesson Shukei (approx. 1490–after 1577; fig. 1). The golden age of the Japanese screen occurred in the Momoyama (1573–1615) and Edo (1615–1868) periods, during which painters used the format to display a range of subjects, styles, and compositions.

Beyond Golden Clouds also explores the diversity of creative expression in the early Edo period (1600s) through such works as Willow Bridge and Waterwheel by Hasegawa Soya (1590–1667) and Flowering Cherry and Autumn Maples with Poem Slips by Tosa Mitsuoki (1617–1691)—the latter by the director of the painting bureau at the imperial court. Other featured works from this era include a formal depiction of birds, flowers, and a pine tree on gold by Kano Koi (approx. 1569–1636), which may be associated with the renowned wall paintings at Nijo Castle in Kyoto; a pair of screens with scenes from The Tale of Genji, the renowned Japanese literary epic; and a superb set of screens bearing scenes of Portuguese missionaries and traders arriving at Nagasaki.

The 1700s and 1800s are represented by screens depicting both Japanese- and Chinese-inspired subjects. A set of twelve ink paintings mounted on a pair of gold screens by Obaku Zen priest Kakutei Joko (1721–1785) evinces Chinese tastes among Japan’s literati circles in the 1700s. An entirely different aesthetic is seen in paintings of fans and flowing water by Rinpa artist Sakai Hoitsu (1761–1828), who drew his artistic inspiration from a Japanese-style painting tradition. Originally executed on sliding-door panels, this painting was later remounted as a pair of two-panel screens. Other works on view include landscapes and calligraphy from both Japanese and Chinese literary sources.

Star Festival, approx. 1968. Kayama Matazo (approx. 1927-2004). Six-panel screen; ink, color, gold, and silver on silk. Saint Louis Art Museum, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Kayama Matazo, The Japan America Society of Saint Louis, and Dr. J. Peggy Adeboi (150:1987)

In the twentieth century the Western-inspired establishment of annual juried art exhibitions encouraged Japanese painters to break away from traditional artistic conventions and create works using innovative compositions and colors. The strikingly dense and colorful pair of screens Blue Phoenix by Nihonga (modern Japanese-style painting) artist Omura Koyo (1891–1983) exemplifies this trend. Star Festival by Kayama Matazo (1927–2004), created for such an exhibition, is one of the best-known paintings of postwar Nihonga. Other artists in the late twentieth century moved even further away from their predecessors. The contemporary Mountain Lake Screen Tachi series by Okura Jiro (born 1942), though inspired by traditional folding screens, uses nontraditional materials and double hinges to function as a set of freestanding sculptural elements with limitless installation possibilities.

Publication
Beyond Golden Clouds is accompanied by a lavishly illustrated catalogue, Beyond Golden Clouds: Japanese Screens from The Art Institute of Chicago and the Saint Louis Art Museum. The catalogue, published by the Art Institute of Chicago, the Saint Louis Art Museum, and Yale University Press, was edited by Janice Katz, with essays by Philip Hu, Janice Katz, Tamamushi Satako, and Alice Volk. The catalogue is available at the Asian Art Museum store ($34.95 softcover, $55.00 hardcover). 415-581-3600 orshop@asianart.org (catalogue price subject to change).

Media Preview
A media preview for Beyond Golden Clouds will be held on Wednesday, October 13, 2010. Doors open at 10:00 a.m., remarks begin at 10:15 a.m. Please RSVP by Friday, October 15 to pr@asianart.org or call (415) 581-3711.

Exhibition Organization and Support
Beyond Golden Clouds: Five Centuries of Japanese Screens was organized by the Art Institute of Chicago in collaboration with the Saint Louis Art Museum. Presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible by Carmen M. Christensen, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, the Atsuhiko and Ina Goodwin Tateuchi Foundation, the Koret Foundation, AT&T, and Union Bank, with additional support from the Japan Foundation. The exhibition was curated by Janice Katz at the Art Institute of Chicago and Philip K. Hu at the Saint Louis Art Museum, and is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue.

About the Asian Art Museum
The Asian Art Museum is a public institution whose mission is to lead a diverse global audience in discovering the unique material, aesthetic, and intellectual achievements of Asian art and culture. Holding more than 17,000 Asian art treasures spanning 6,000 years of history, the museum is one of the largest museums in the Western world devoted exclusively to Asian art.

Information: (415) 581-3500 or www.asianart.org.
Location: 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.
Hours: The museum is open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM. From February through September, hours are extended on Thursdays until 9:00 PM. Closed Mondays, as well as New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving Day, and Christmas Day.
Admission to Beyond Golden Clouds (includes access to permanent collection galleries as well): $17 for adults, $13 for seniors (65 and older), $12 for college students with ID, $7 for youth 13–17, and FREE for children under 12 and SFUSD students with ID. Admission on Thursdays after 5 pm is just $10 for all visitors (except those under 12, SFUSD students, and members, who are always admitted FREE). Admission includes a complimentary audio tour of the museum’s permanent collection galleries (offered in English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Cantonese and Korean) as well as many other free activities and events. On the first Sunday of every month, admission is only $5.
Access: The Asian Art Museum is wheelchair accessible. For more information regarding access, please call (415) 581-3598; TDD: (415) 861-2035.

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