3 Shows on Japanese Design at Morikami - posted by FFAB

 

Japanese Design for the Senses: Beauty, Form and Function

The MorikamiSeptember 30, 2014 – January 18, 2015

This exhibition features three distinct portions related to the theme of Japanese design aesthetics. Each exhibit features objects that touch the human senses visually and spatially, with each work designed and crafted to be both beautiful and useful. Examples range from folding screens with exquisite paintings that divide a room and provide privacy, to brilliant lacquer storage boxes engraved with gold and silver powdered designs, to remarkable furniture pieces that are as magnificent in their form as they are in their functionality.

Touch of Gold: Lacquerware Boxes and the Paintings of Elaine Ehrenkranz Over 40 years Elaine Ehrenkranz, a talented painter, formed a comprehensive collection of magnificent Japanese lacquerware boxes ranging in date from the 15th- to the mid-19th centuries. A large portion of her collection was donated to the Harvard University Art Museums in 1997, with the remaining masterpieces, including several of Elaine’s paintings inspired by these Japanese lacquerware boxes, bequeathed to Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in 2013. Touch of Gold features her remarkable gift to Morikami.

Ma: Defining Space, Studio Furniture of Yoko Zeltserman-Miyaji A built-in storage system comprised of staggered shelves, chigai-dana, first appeared inside shoin-style homes in the Kamakura era (1192 – 1333), replacing the freestanding, portable bookcases that were used to store and display scrolls, books, tea utensils and other decorative objects. A companion to the tokonoma, an alcove in which hanging scrolls and other objects of art are decoratively displayed, chigai-dana is an integral part of Japanese domestic architecture. In its design, this timelessly elegant shelving and storage system accentuates the simple yet refined beauty of form and function that is the core of Japanese furniture design. This exhibition was organized by Mobilia Gallery in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Katachi: The Essence of Aesthetic Form and Function in Japanese Furniture Katachi embodies the hallmark of Japanese aesthetics: the harmonious balance of the beauty of form and the fineness of workmanship and functionality. This exhibition draws upon Morikami’s own collection of Japanese furniture, including 19th-century decorative folding screens, large, multi-door storage chests, and benches and tables made by George Nakashima (1905 – 1990), a leading innovator of 20th-century furniture design, and one of the founders of the American Craft Movement.

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