Meet Japan without leaving Los AngelesMingei East and West, Jun. 6 – Jan. 6, 2009
Cultural News, May 2008
Sake bottle (tokkuri) Motif by Shoji Hamada, Japan, early 20th century. Stoneware and glaze. (Pacific Asia Museum Collection)
Literally meaning “folk art,” mingei refers to the arts and crafts made by common people for daily use. Pacific Asia Museum in Pasadena will open the new exhibition, Mingei East and West, on June 6 and run through January 6, 2009.
The exhibition, which drawn largely from the museum’s collection, reconnects mingei and Arts and Crafts aesthetics, examining critical similarities and differences. It also demonstrates how both flourished among Southern California collectors and artists over the past century.
Literary scholar and critic Yanagi Soetsu (1889–1961) first coined the word in the 1920s to refer to and champion the kind of anonymous, handcrafted objects that had begun to disappear as Japan entered the age of mass production and western-oriented modernization.
Yanagi and his followers revitalized the tradition of handicraft by re-evaluating the beauty of utilitarian objects and spurring a new artistic movement dedicated to maintaining what they defined as essential Japanese values.
Mingei East and West includes pre-modern Japanese objects; modern Japanese works in the mingei style; 20th century Japanese inspired Arts and Crafts objects from Southern California, as well as new works by local American artists inspired by mingei.
Mingei East and West is co-sponsored by the Paul I. and Hisako Terasaki Center for Japanese Studies and the Consulate of Japan in Los Angeles.
Pacific Asia Museum is one of only four institutions in the United States dedicated exclusively to the arts and culture of Asia and the Pacific Islands.
The museum’s mission is to further cultural awareness and understanding through the arts. Since 1971, Pacific Asia Museum has served a broad audience of students, families, adults, and scholars through its education and outreach programs.