Description
The history of Japanese metalworking evolved over two millennia through cultural exchange and internal innovation. Techniques unique to Japan flourished as metalworkers created armaments, Buddhist ornaments, and vessels used in Japanese tea practice. Traditional metalworking survives into the present in works by Japanese studio artists, who have continued to employ time-honored methods while innovating Japanese metalwork design. In this talk, curator Sol Jung examines modern and contemporary Japanese metalwork from the bequest of Shirley Z. Johnson (1940–2021), a distinguished lawyer, philanthropist, and former board member of the National Museum of Asian Art. This bequest focuses primarily on postwar works that represent the rich tradition of Japanese metalworking techniques (such as casting, hammering, soldering, and inlay) through which artists combine and refine silver, gold, copper, and lead to stunning effect.
This talk is part of the monthly lunchtime series Sneak Peek: New Research from the National Museum of Asian Art, where staff members present brief, personal perspectives and ongoing research, followed by discussion. In 2022, the series will focus on collecting practices and the collections of the National Museum of Asian Art.
Sol Jung is the Shirley Z. Johnson Assistant Curator of Japanese Art at the National Museum of Asian Art. She specializes in Japanese art history with a focus on how transnational maritime trade impacted Japan’s visual culture during the premodern period. Jung received her BA with distinction in history of art at the University of Pennsylvania and her MA and PhD in art and archaeology from Princeton University. She has examined the reception of Korean tea bowls, called kōrai jawan in Japan, during the sixteenth century. Her research interests focus on the technical, material, and aesthetic elements between metalwork, lacquerware, and ceramics as well as the relationship between art and pyrotechnology.
Register here: https://smithsonian.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dlFT7VoBQ-qC8slqZqsQzg
Image credit: Wave Crests, Osumi Yukie (b. 1945), Japan, Heisei era, 2008, silver with gold and lead inlay, Bequest of Shirley Z. Johnson, Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC
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