Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries | Message Board | Calendar


Asian Art Calendar of Events

Friday, March 29, 2024


Conference/Symposium - USA & Canada

Contemporary Japanese Lacquer Sculpture: A Short History

Minneapolis Institute of Art
2400 Third Avenue South,
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Oct 07, 2017


Detail: Opening-day event: In Japan, fossilized wood from the urushi tree whose toxic sap is distilled to gain lacquer has been excavated and radiocarbon dated to about 10,600 BCE. From around 7,000 BCE date the oldest unearthed utilitarian pieces with lacquer coating, confirming that humans in East Asia have made use of lacquer since several thousand years. This talk will explore the development of lacquer art in Japan from around 1900 until today, focusing on the birth and rise of sculptural artworks that are without a utilitarian purpose. It is presented in connection with Hard Bodies: Contemporary Japanese Lacquer Sculpture, the first-ever comprehensive exhibition of this new art form.

Andreas Marks, PhD, is the curator of Japanese and Korean Art, Japanese and Korean Art Department Head and Director of the Clark Center at Mia.

Phone No.: (612) 870-3000
Site URL: https://new.artsmia.org/event/contemporary-japanese-lacquer-sculpture-a-short-history

Tanaka Nobuyuki, The Tactile Memory: Floral Impression (2011-II)
Tanaka Nobuyuki, The Tactile Memory: Floral Impression (2011-II)
2011
lacquer and hemp cloth
Gift of the Clark Center for Japanese Art & Culture 2015.35.1

Asianart.com | Associations | Articles | Exhibitions | Galleries | Message Board | Calendar