Invented in Japan in 1605, Oribe ware introduced vivid pattern and color to a ceramics tradition that had previously favored somber, monochrome designs. Oribe ware vessels were used primarily for serving food and drinking tea, and their sprightly patterns with glossy black or brilliant green glazes made them a shimmering addition to 17th-century dining trays and tearooms. A major technological advance in ceramics–the Motoyashiki multi-chamber climbing kiln, which allowed potters to melt glazes to dazzling translucency–made this radically new appearance possible. This exhibition highlights the best selections of Oribe ware in the Freer’s collection, including two new acquisitions on view for the first time.

 

Seasonal Landscapes in Japanese Screens

Interviews Massumeh Farhad, chief curator and curator of Islamic art; Simon Rettig, “Nasta’liq” curator and curatorial fellow

March 28, 2015

Interviews Jim Ulak, senior curator of Japanese art; Ann Yonemura, senior associate curator of Japanese art

LAST CHANCE

Sylvan Sounds: Freer, Dewing and Japan

Through January 4, 2015

Museum founder Charles Lang Freer’s taste for Japanese art grew out of his affection for American tonalist paintings. This intimate exhibition illuminates this connection by juxtaposing landscapes by American artist Thomas Dewing (1851-1938) with Japanese works that Freer acquired in the late 1890s, just after his first tour of Asia. Freer’s idealized notions of “old Japan” paralleled the nostalgic, pastoral aestheticism of Dewing’s atmospheric landscapes. Dewing often acted as Freer’s buying agent at the New York branch of Yamanaka and Company, helping his patron select Japanese prints, hanging scrolls, and screens that both reflected and affected his own artistic production. On view are such Edo-period works as Moon over a Moor alongside Dewing’s paintings, including the exhibition’s namesake, The Four Sylvan Sounds. 

The Religious Art of Japan

Through January 4, 2015  

Interviews  Jim Ulak, senior curator of Japanese art; Ann Yonemura, senior associate curator of Japanese art

Works from the Freer’s collection of Japanese religious art are on view in several thematically organized exhibitions. Buddhist iconography was first introduced to Japan from the Asian mainland in the sixth century. The complex belief systems and sacred cosmologies of diverse Buddhist sects have since continued to find expression in Japanese art. Buddhism brought to Japan a rich repertory of imagery, music, and liturgy that coexisted and interacted with the native Shinto belief system, in which the gods were closely associated with specific localities and natural features such as mountains, trees, and water. Buddhist sculptures on view include delightfully animated representations of the Guardians of the Four Directions and a serenely poised image of a bodhisattva. Also displayed are a group of masks used in temple dance rituals and a selection of paintings created by monk artists for Zen Buddhist temples.

Nasta’liq: The Genius of Persian Calligraphy

Nasta’liq: The Genius of Persian Calligraphy is the first exhibition of its kind to focus on nasta’liq, a calligraphic script that developed in the 14th century in Iran and remains one of the most expressive forms of aesthetic refinement in Persian culture to this day. More than 20 works dating from 1400 to 1600, the height of nasta’liq‘s development, tell the story of the script’s transformation from a simple conveyer of the written word into an artistic form. The narrative thread emphasizes the achievements of four master calligraphers–Mir Ali Tabrizi, Sultan Ali Mashhadi, Mir Ali Haravi and Mir Imad Hasani–whose manuscripts and individual folios are appreciated for their content as well as their technical virtuosity and visual quality. View full release and available images.

Through June 7, 2015 

Interviews Massumeh Farhad, chief curator and curator of Islamic art; Rocky Korr, researcher and retired manager of F|S collections; Julian Raby, director of the Freer and Sackler Galleries; Zaydoon Zaid, director and vice president of the American Foundation for the Study of Man and an archaeologist who excavated at Marib

Wendell Phillips, a young paleontologist and geologist, headed one of the largest archaeological expeditions to remote South Arabia (present-day Yemen) in 1950 and 1951. Accompanied by some of the leading scholars, scientists, and technicians of the day, Phillips was on a quest to uncover two ancient cities–Timna, the capital of the once-prosperous Qataban kingdom, and Marib, the reputed home of the legendary Queen of Sheba–that had flourished along the fabled incense road some 2,500 years earlier. Through a selection of unearthed objects as well as film and photography shot by the expedition team, the exhibition highlights Phillips’s key finds, recreates his adventures (and misadventures), and conveys the thrill of discovery on this important archaeological frontier. Unearthing Arabia: The Archaeological Adventures of Wendell Phillips is organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery with generous support from the Leon Levy Foundation.  View full release and available images.