Gene, Got a reason forya to come to Texas

[ewallace]

Cool:

http://www.mysanantonio.com/entertai...245d10a18.html

[GeneChing]

That linked site asked me too many questions to register, so I gave up on it. What's it about? Can you cut and paste it here?

[ewallace]

Sorry, didn't know you had to be registered. Here is the article:

Asian Splendors — New museum wing shines on 6,000 years of history
Web Posted: 05/08/2005 12:00 AM CDT
Dan R. Goddard
Express-News Staff Writer
With the opening of the new $9.3 million Lenora and Walter F. Brown Asian Art Wing on Saturday, the San Antonio Museum of Art will become the only place in Texas —— in fact, one of the few places between New York and San Francisco —— where you can wander through 6,000 years of Asian art history.
Rare Liao Dynasty Chinese ceramics, a specially reserved Tibetan Buddhist sand mandala, superb Japanese painted screens, choice Korean celadon porcelains and a splendid 1,000-year-old sandstone yogini from India are among the treasures of the Far East.
"We have the largest Asian art collection in the state, and after five years of work on the new wing, we're ready to show it off," said Martha Blackwelder, the museum's Asian art curator. "Each gallery will feel like a different place, providing different sensations. Even though many of our visitors may never have a chance to visit these places, we wanted to give them a sense of their history and culture.
"But I didn't want this to be exhibits just for connoisseurs and school teachers. I tried to come up with something for everyone, for all age groups and backgrounds. It's an amazing resource with many layers for study and inquiry. It's the kind of survey of Asian art that I hope people will want to see over and over."
The core of the collection remains the world-renowned Chinese ceramics donated by the Browns, but Blackwelder has worked to expand the museum's offerings by attracting new collectors and donors, using rarely seen objects from the Museum of Art and the Witte Museum's permanent collections and supplementing them with loans from institutions such as the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
In addition to the big three —— China, India and Japan —— the new wing has galleries with works from Korea, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Tibet and Southeast Asia.
Spread over 15,000 square feet divided into a dozen galleries, the collection features more than 1,400 works in the new second and third floor addition designed by Overland Partners. Located on the museum's west wing over the antiquities galleries, the addition has been dubbed "The Glow Box."
"We think it looks like a glowing Japanese lantern," said Peggy Mays, a board member who headed the Asian expansion project. "It's been a big challenge; it feels like we're having a great big elephant baby."
Besides a comprehensive overview of Chinese ceramics — showcased in natural light on the top floor —— the new wing has scroll paintings, funerary figures, samurai armor and swords, textiles, jade carvings, furniture, Buddhas, musical instruments, lacquer and objects of daily life.
Blackwelder is working with John Vollmer on a catalog to be released later this year, "Secure the Edge of the Sky: Asian Art in the Collection of the San Antonio Museum of Art."
Jennifer Casler Price, curator of Asian art for Fort Worth's Kimbell Art Museum, said the new wing should put San Antonio on the Asian art map.
"I'm excited to finally have the chance see what Martha has done," Price said. "Knowing her, the layout of the galleries should be spectacular. San Antonio has the largest Asian collection in Texas and one of the most comprehensive between the coasts. It also has an extremely high level of quality."
Visitors have a choice of entering the first level on the second floor, beginning with India — where many Asian art forms originated — or starting with the top level on the third floor, which is entirely devoted to China. Beginning with China is probably the best choice for first-time visitors because it is Asia's most influential culture.
However, bear in mind that there is no such thing as "Asian art."
Forrest McGill, chief curator of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco, said it's important for people to understand that the category encompasses a wide variety of cultures, religions, geography and art forms.
"When we moved into our new quarters two years ago, we put up a big sign at the front that explains why there is no such thing as Asian art," McGill said. "Chinese art is as much different from the art of India as American art is from Russia's. Of course, I also believe a work of art from India can be just as emotionally and intellectually engaging as a Rembrandt or Van Gogh."
Despite their differences, Asian civilizations are more closely related to each other than the rest of the world. The traditions of Western art have no parallels in Asian art —— no Renaissance, for example. But rooted in Indian narratives of the life of the Buddha and Chinese historical tales, a common aspect of most Asian art traditions is the continuous pictorial narrative.
China's complex history reflects all the forces that have shaped Asian art, ranging from the impact of Buddhist sculpture to the repeated absorption, or rejection, of cultural invasions through conquering and being conquered. But China remains distinct and true to its own history —— influencing more than it was influenced.
Funerary objects, or mingqi, fill the first Chinese art gallery. Some of the most dramatic three-dimensional sculpture in the Browns' collection, such as horses, camels, earth spirits and human figures, were designed to populate tombs. One of the most impressive is a monstrous earth spirit with a grotesque face topped by horns and flames; one taloned foot is raised as it hovers over a cowering figure.
A pair of painted earthenware cavalry figures —— complete with painted bridles and saddles —— are from the early Western Han Dynasty (206 B.C.-A.D. 9). Among the most beautiful arrangements is a group of female musicians playing instruments such as flutes and cymbals. Camels and horses are featured in a pair of display cases.
"The horses and camels came from Central Asia and played an important role in trade during the era of the Silk Road," Blackwelder said.
From death, the next gallery springs to life with full-scale representations of a Woman's Room and a Scholar's Room during the Ming and Qing dynasties.
The Woman's Room features a rare six-post canopy bed donated in 1969 by Bessie Timon, one of San Antonio's earliest and most enthusiastic Asian art collectors. Disassembled into hundreds of pieces, it disappeared in museum storage until it was rediscovered in the 1980s and pieced together by a team from Sotheby's under the direction of Chinese furniture expert Lark Mason.
The Scholar's Room has a desk, chairs, books, a scholar's stone and Ming Dynasty paintings to illustrate the concept of the scholar-gentleman in Chinese culture. A few of the objects, such as a hanging scroll painting with rocks, come from the collection of pioneering Asian art scholar Sherman Lee, former director of the Cleveland Museum of Art and the father-in-law of McNay Art Museum director William Chiego.
"These objects came to my wife as a gift from her father," Chiego said. "We're proud to see them displayed at the Museum of Art. I think the Asian wing is a great step forward for San Antonio."
The Browns have been involved first with the Witte and then the Museum of Art since the mid-1970s, and much of the new wing was designed to showcase their collection.

[ewallace]

the server is running slower than old people ****

Since sunlight doesn't cause too much harm to ceramics, the Ming and Qing ware are displayed in available light allowed in by skylights and plate glass walls —— lending the colors of the glazes a full-spectrum sparkle. Blackwelder has organized the galleries so it is easy to trace the evolution of Chinese ceramics from crude Neolithic pots to sophisticated porcelain designed for export to the West.
In contrast to the bright, natural light of the third floor, the second floor is designed to mimic a dark Japanese castle with stained oak floors and dim lighting that won't harm the spectacular painted screens and scrolls.
Until now, the Museum of Art hasn't been able to show much Japanese graphic arts. But the new wing fills that void with outstanding examples of ukiyo-e and 18th-century Edo period scroll paintings from the collection of Kay and Tom Edson, who also provided some of the Japanese lacquer on display.
David Douglas Duncan, a famed photojournalist who worked for Life magazine in the 1940s and 1950s, gave the museum two six-fold screens illustrated with scenes from the "Great Woven Cap," an ancient Japanese legend based on the life of Fujiwara Kamatari (A.D. 614-650). Scenes include a ship attack by a band of beasts and demons, the theft of a sacred Buddhist jewel and a sea battle with the villain Dragon King.
The Japanese galleries also have displays devoted to the tea ceremony and the art of the samurai, including an ornate example of 18th century Edo period parade armor decorated with lacquer, silk and gilt metal.
Many of the museum's newest acquisitions and loans can be found in the galleries dedicated to Southeast Asia, Korea and Tibet.
Retired diplomat and oil company executive Floyd L. Whittington donated his much-admired collection of Southeast Asian and Korean art to the museum in 1995. He lived in Asia in the 1940s and '50s and amassed a remarkable collection of 15th- and 16th-century ceramics from Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam along with a select group of Korean bronzes and Choson (A.D. 1392-1910) porcelains.
The Korean gallery also has a collection of fine Koryo (A.D. 918-1392) celadons that is being lent by the family of former Mayor Howard Peak. And Blackwelder found some objects at the Witte, including a horsehair hat and jacket.
Blackwelder, who worked in New York as a gallery dealer and at the Japan Society, used her contacts to attract donations and loans from national collectors, such as the Nathan Rubin-Ida Ladd Foundation, which specializes in the art of India and Tibet. Gifts include a group of Indus River Valley ceramics and a 12th-century Pala period sculpture of Vishnu.
"I'm dying to see the new wing," said Bob Walzer, the foundation's administrator. "San Antonio appealed to me because it was so lacking in Indian art, and I think we've been able to really help out. For us, India is the mother lode. So many of the religions —— Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism —— all started there and spread their influences across Asia."
Perhaps the most notable example of Indian sculpture is a 10th-century carved sandstone stela of a voluptuous yogini, or feminine deity, that the museum acquired in the early 1990s through the generosity of John and Karen McFarlin. The work was on loan for many years to the Los Angeles Museum of Art, has been featured in books on Asian art and is often requested for use in exhibits by other museums, Blackwelder said.
Gilbert Denman, whose collection of ancient Greek, Roman and Egyptian art is returning to view on the wing's first floor, was instrumental in the formation of the Arts of Tibet Gallery. Denman, who died last May, also provided funding through the Ewing Halsell Foundation, administered by Robert Washington.
The Tibet gallery's most notable work is a Medicine Buddha sand mandala created by a group of visiting Drepung Loseling monks to benefit the ailing Denman. Special permission from the 14th Dalai Lama in Dharamsala had to be granted to preserve the usually ephemeral work of art.
"It was highly unusual for the Dalai Lama to let us preserve the work, because it is part of a ritual that involves sweeping it toward the center and destroying it," Washington said. "But we explained about the new wing and our desire to introduce Westerners to Tibetan culture. I wish Gib (Denman) was around to see the opening. The Asian wing was one of his last grand projects, and I'm sure he would be pleased."
Many new collectors helped make the new wing happen, but Blackwelder said the Browns made the greatest contributions.
"In addition to their amazing collection of ceramics, the Browns worked with me and the museum board to fill in many of the gaps in our collections, including works from Korea, Vietnam, India and Japan," she said. "With the help from the other collectors, we've been able to add so much that we didn't have before.
"The new wing is bound to attract the attention of more collectors nationally. You can't really talk to collectors about adding to the museum's collections until you have a place to put their (collections). Now we have the space, and we're still looking to expand the collection as well as branch out with more educational programs and special exhibits. The Asian wing is going to be like nothing else in the museum."

[GeneChing]

..but preserving a sand mandala, that's just plain funny. What, a big photo isn't good enough?

The first Sand Mandala I saw live was at the the SF Asian Art museum. I was excited because I'd seen videos and pictures. When I got there, everyone was acting really strange. The Mandala was weird too, sort of blurry, and none of the monks were working on it. As it turns out, minute before I arrived, a woman saw the mandala and declared it a work of Satan, then trhrew herself in it, making it into a big mess. Naturally, she was taken away and everyone at the museum was freaked out. Everyone except the monks - they thought it was hilarious. They were saddened by the woman's obvious suffering, but seemed genuinely happy that they didn't have to bust ass to make the thing. Their intention was to destroy it, so that woman wound up saving them a lot of work, and they could just relax for the rest of the day.

[Becca]

LOL! ... A good example of why you need a good sence of humor in life. It saves on antacids.

[ewallace]

Well fine Gene. We don't want you in Texas more than once a year any **** way.

Plus I can declare the Sand Mandala as a work of Santana and jump in it and most people will think it was an original idea.

[GeneChing]

We don't want you in Texas more than once a year any **** way.

Well, after the whole Enron thing, we Californians got some serious issues with TX.
Seriously, the new museum wing sounds very cool. You'll have to check it out and let us know if there are any martial treasures there - swords, paintings of warriors, etc. - post it here since I probably ain't going there.