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Description: Tea Culture of Japan
IN OUR DESIRE TO CREATE a natural tea-house setting for the exhibition Tea Culture of Japan: Chanoyu Past and Present at the Yale University Art Gallery, we decided to display as many of the small and large tea-related objects as possible without glass cases. This decision was not easy; apart from the obvious conservation concerns, our...
PublisherYale University Art Gallery
https://doi.org/10.37862/aaeportal.00115.003
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Acknowledgments
In our desire to create a natural tea-house setting for the exhibition Tea Culture of Japan: Chanoyu Past and Present at the Yale University Art Gallery, we decided to display as many of the small and large tea-related objects as possible without glass cases. This decision was not easy; apart from the obvious conservation concerns, our display style promised to become a nightmare for the Gallery’s security guards. Yet, we received active support and encouragement from Peggy and Richard M. Danziger, LL.B. 1963, who so generously loaned many of the beautiful objects to the exhibition, to step away from the usual cased-museum look and re-create a natural tea environment in which to display their outstanding collection.
Excellent collections in New York and New England have also enriched this exhibition. I am grateful to the Harvard University Art Museums and Mrs. Mary Griggs Burke for their key loans of karamono, or Chinese tea objects, and to the Barnet and Burto Collection for their splendid calligraphic pieces. Lee Lee-Nam’s video is on loan from KooNewYork; how appropriate it is to see a modern Korean ink painting in digital format become the harbinger of a modern tea arrangement— so reminiscent of the time when the Ido tea bowl introduced a new sōan grass-hut-style tea. David Drabkin, LL.B. 1968, Kōichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, and the David and Eleanor Apter Collection provided other generous loans, and an anonymous loan from New York of a portable tea-room structure plays a pivotal role in the exhibition.
My deep gratitude goes to Mimi Hall Yiengpruksawan, professor in the Department of the History of Art at Yale, for her course on tea in the spring of 2006, which brought academic attention to tea culture at Yale. This course was the beginning of a fruitful period of Japanese research and study at the Gallery, of which the present exhibition and catalogue are the culmination. Tea Culture of Japan greatly benefited from the help of Takeshi Watanabe, a recent recipient of a doctorate from Yale University in Japanese literature, who contributed keen research and writing; his training in tea was invaluable to the project. Additionally, we both owe a great deal of gratitude to those scholars whose work preceded our own research at Yale.
At the Gallery, the present exhibition and publication could not have been possible without the constant and conscientious help of my colleagues in the Department of Asian Art: David Ake Sensabaugh, the Ruth and Bruce Dayton Curator of Asian Art and head of the department, and Ami Potter, Museum Assistant. Their daily support took many forms, including editing my peculiar English and attending to logistical details, both big and small.
Tiffany Sprague, Associate Director of Publications and Editorial Services, orchestrated the intricate publication details, with the help of her editorial assistant, Zsofia Jilling. The catalogue essays acquired higher clarity and style after the conscientious editing by Joseph Newland and by a friend of mine, Rose Lee. Christopher Sleboda, Director of Graphic Design, created a handsome design for the publication.
The Gallery’s Digital Media Department, headed by John ffrench, Associate Director of Visual Resources, took hundreds of images of the tea objects, and my thanks go especially to Janet Sullivan, Assistant Manager of Digital Media, and to senior photographers Anthony DeCamillo and Richard House. Photographer Christopher Gardner also took indispensable images of the Danziger collection. The work of this team was augmented by several loaned images from the Japan Society, New York. Carol DeNatale, Director of Collections and Technology, Thomas Raich, Associate Director of Information Technology, and Tim Speevack, Data Systems Specialist, collaborated to develop a special web portal for the Danziger collection that allowed the Danzigers to view the data and images that were generated in the course of cataloguing these objects for exhibition and publication.
Jeffrey Yoshimine, Associate Director of Exhibitions, and Clarkson Crolius, Exhibitions Production Manager, guided me through the complicated realities of an installation that sought to create a natural setting. Thanks go to the special carpentry executed by senior museum technicians Peter Cohen and David Norris, who worked with the sharp design by Yasuo Ohdera of Jin Woodscapes, in Hamden, Connecticut, to evoke traditional Japanese architecture. I am also grateful to Takaya Kurimoto of Penguin Environmental Design, also in Hamden, for the stone arrangement and to Hiro Odaira of Precious Pieces, in New York, for making the washi paper title for the exhibition. Senior conservator Patricia Sherwin Garland and object conservator Carol Snow assisted me in determining how best to add greenery to the stone garden while ensuring the safety of the objects in the gallery. The installation crew, led by Burrus Harlow, Associate Director of Installations, has done a superb job, as usual; senior technician Nancy Valley, in particular, understood my vision for the installation. Registrar L. Lynne Addison and senior associate registrar Amy Dowe have so smoothly and efficiently arranged the back-and-forth journeys of the objects. I am sincerely grateful as well for the cooperation and support of John Pfannenbecker, Chief of Security, and to his team for their special vigilance; our mixed-media open-style display would not have been possible without their help.
The tea ceremony that will be presented at the Gallery and the related symposium in the spring of 2009 give life to an otherwise static display. Thank you to all of the participants in these events: Terunobu Fujimori, Christine Guth, Samuel C. Morse, Akira Nagoya, Hiroko Nishida, Sō-oku Sen, Isao Setsu, Shirō Tsujimura, and the Yale students who will help with translations. I also wish to thank Abbey Newman and all of her assistants at the Council on East Asian Studies. The Council, directed by Haun Saussy, enthusiastically funded the symposium with the cooperation of the Tōdai-Yale Initiative. Thanks also go to the Gallery’s Business Office, headed by Louisa Cunningham, Deputy Director for Finance and Administration, including Charlene Senical, Assistant Business Manager. Anna Hammond, former Deputy Director for Programs and Public Affairs, and Elizabeth Harnett, Programs Coordinator, orchestrated the special programming for the exhibition; Jill Westgard, Deputy Director for Museum Resources and Stewardship, and Brian McGovern, Assistant Director of Museum Resources and Stewardship, worked on the funding; Ana Davis, Associate Director of Public Information, took care of the publicity; and the Education and Visitor Services Departments helped organize the public tea performance to provide a rich educational experience to students, scholars, and the public alike. Without our volunteers from New York City, we would not have been able to present this tea service for the public; I am grateful to Ito-san, Kuchiki-san, and Ise-san.
At Yale University’s Sterling Memorial Library, Ellen Hammond, Curator of the East Asia Library, and Haruko Nakamura, Librarian for the Japanese Collection, gave unfailing support in searching for books for research and DVDs for film screenings.
Most importantly, I would like to acknowledge Jock Reynolds, the Henry J. Heinz II Director of the Yale University Art Gallery, for his encouragement to pursue my research on Japanese tea art, and Susan B. Matheson, Acting Director, Chief Curator, and the Molly and Walter Bareiss Curator of Ancient Art, for her constant guidance, especially during our directors sabbatical. Thank you to everyone for your tolerance and trust in allowing me to experiment with a new exhibition style that conveys the international code of tea practice. It would only have been possible at an educational institution like ours.
Sadako Ohki
The Japan Foundation Associate Curator of Japanese Art
Yale University Art Gallery
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