Posted by vrcvanderbilt on Wednesday, January 11, 2012 in Events, Fine Arts Gallery, HART.

In observance of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Asian American Student Association at Vanderbilt University, the Fine Arts Gallery will hold an opening reception for its winter exhibit, The Arts of Japan, on Thursday, January 12, from 5 to 7 pm in the atrium of Cohen Memorial Hall on the Peabody campus.

More than 1,300 objects compose this portion of the Fine Arts Gallery’s collections, encompassing both fine and applied art. Highlights include two six-panel screen paintings: an early seventeenth-century work illustrating scenes from the Tale of Genji and an eighteenth-century work featuring vignettes of daily life in Kyoto, each a masterful example of Japanese painting executed in mineral colors and gold leaf; a wide range of fine ceramics from blue and white porcelain to works by artists associated with the rebirth of the Japanese folk art movement; and textiles, scrolls, paintings, and rare books.

The exhibit will also feature outstanding examples of graphic arts by such influential Ukiyo-e artists as Utagawa Kunisada I, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, along with artists associated with the twentieth-century shin hanga movement that revitalized traditional Ukiyo-e techniques with a modern sensibility.

The Arts of Japan is organized by the Vanderbilt University Fine Arts Gallery and curated by Joseph S. Mella, director. The exhibit will feature the research of Fine Arts Gallery interns and research associates Rebecca Bratt, Meredith Novack, Ashley Pakenham, and Christine Williams.

The exhibit is on view in the gallery from January 12 through February 26 in Cohen Memorial Hall, 1220 21st Avenue South, on the Peabody campus. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, 12-4 pm; Thursday, 12-8 pm; and weekends, 1-5 pm. The gallery is closed during academic breaks. For more information, call 615.343.1704 or visit www.vanderbilt.edu/gallery.