This summer, as the America’s Cup Challenger Series takes to San Francisco Bay, the Asian Art Museum will feature an exhibition of Japanese art from the rarely seen collection of Larry Ellison, Oracle CEO and owner of ORACLE TEAM USA, defender of the 2013 America’s Cup.
In the Moment: Japanese Art from the Larry Ellison Collection will introduce more than 60 exceptional artworks spanning 1,100 years. The exhibition explores the dynamic nature of art selection and display in traditional Japanese settings, where artworks are often temporarily presented in response to a special occasion or to reflect the change of seasons. Included in the exhibition are significant works by noted artists of the Momoyama (1573–1615) and Edo (1615–1868) periods along with other important examples of religious art, lacquer, and metalwork. Highlights include a 13th–14th century wooden sculpture of Shotoku Taishi; a 16th-century bronze goose-form incense burner; six-panel folding screens dating to the 17th century by Kano Sansetsu; and 18th century paintings by acclaimed masters Maruyama Okyo and Ito Jakuchu.
“This exhibition offers a rare glimpse of an extraordinary collection,” said Jay Xu, director of the Asian Art Museum. “We aim to present it in a fresh and original way that explores traditional Japanese principles governing the relationship of art to our surroundings and social relationships.”
The exhibition is organized by the Asian Art Museum in collaboration with Lawrence J. Ellison and curated by Dr. Laura Allen, the museum’s curator of Japanese art, and Melissa Rinne, associate curator of Japanese art, in consultation with Dr. Emily Sano, art consultant to the Larry Ellison Collection of Japanese Art. Presentation at the Asian Art Museum is made possible with the generous support of Union Bank.
The exhibition is on view June 28, 2013 through September 22, 2013. The Asian Art Museum will serve as the only venue for the exhibition.
The Ellison collection includes a visual feast of some twenty-five works that present the entire range of production of religious art in Japan, from the ninth through the nineteenth century, in a full variety of forms, including Buddha figures; enlightened bodhisattva, strongman- and warrior-type protectors of Buddhist law; Shinto gods; and divinities in the form of beautiful women, children, and animals. These sculptures represent significant stylistic developments that occurred in Japan over the course of eleven centuries, as well as iconographic diversity, and expressions of religious awareness, joy, and deep, sublime trust. The six pieces selected for this xhibition give but a taste of the richness manifested in the Japanese sculptural tradition.
Buddhist icons were introduced to Japan from Korea in the sixth century with sculpted images produced in an archaic style that originated in China in the fifth century. The growing acceptance of Buddhism at the upper echelons of Japanese society was signaled by a decree from Emperor Tenmu
(r. 676– 682) stating, “In every house a Buddhist shrine should be provided, and an image of Buddha with Buddhist scriptures placed there. Worship was to be paid and offerings of food made at these shrines.” From the seventh century onward temple workshops created hundreds of bronze and wood images to keep pace with the growing demand for religious sculpture.