Du 14 juin au 1 septembre 2017
Galerie Erik Thomsen
23 East 67th Street
New York.
Près de trente œuvres réalisées par des dynasties d’artisans du début et du milieu du vingtième siècle sont présentées.
The primary focus of the exhibition is a large group of baskets by Iizuka family, in particular Rokansai (1890–1958), who worked in Tokyo and is widely judged to be the greatest of all bamboo masters. Well versed in painting, calligraphy, and poetry, Rokansai devoted his life to elevating basketry to the same level as those prestigious disciplines. He was the first not only to develop a theory of bamboo art, classifying his works as shin (informal), gyo (semi-formal), and so (“grass” or informal), but also to make the naming of his baskets central to his artistic practice, signaling his conviction that bamboo art should be a medium for personal expression.