Japanese Bamboo Art

Above: Honma Hideaki. Flowing Pattern, 2014. Japanese timber bamboo, dwarf bamboo, and rattan. Promised Gift of Diane and Arthur Abbey

A spectacular loan exhibition devoted to masterworks of Japanese bamboo art—including award-winning works by six artists who were designated as Living National Treasures—will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning June 13.

Featuring more than 90 works dating from the late 19th century to the present, Japanese Bamboo Art: The Abbey Collection will explore the refined beauty and technical sophistication of Japanese bamboo, which has been little known in the West until recent years.

The exhibition will highlight key stages in the modern history of Japanese bamboo art while introducing the main lineages of bamboo masters and showing the emergence of a contemporary bamboo art.  For hundreds of years, simple, everyday utensils as well as refined bamboo vessels were made according to local traditions and techniques passed down from generation to generation. It was not until the end of the 19th century that bamboo craftsmanship began to be recognized as one of the traditional Japanese decorative arts, and later as an art form.

Exhibition Dates: June 13, 2017–February 4, 2018
Location: The Met Fifth Avenue, New York, Galleries 224–232
See: www.metmuseum.org