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CENTURIES
OF JAPANESE ART
When Charles Lang Freer first encountered Asian art, he was particularly
intrigued by Japanese paintings, stoneware ceramics, and tea-ceremony
items. While other enthusiasts were focusing on popular collectibles
such as netsuke, dolls, woodblock prints, and enameled porcelain,
Freer’s first Asian art purchase in 1887 was a painted Japanese
fan. Between 1894 and 1911, Freer made four extended visits to Japan,
and, by the time of his death in 1919, he had collected over two thousand
works of Japanese art. Spanning more than four millennia, the Japanese
art collection has grown in size since Freer's death,
and is especially rich in paintings and ceramics from the twelfth
to the nineteenth century.
JAPANESE COLLECTION
Number of objects: more than 11,000
Historical range: 2,500 B.C.E. to present (primarily 8th–19th
century)
HIGHLIGHTS
• Buddhist paintings, calligraphy,
and sculpture dating from the 7th–17th century
• Calligraphy from the
8th–20th century
• Narrative
handscroll paintings from the 13th–18th century
• Rimpa School paintings, including major
works by the artists Hon’ami Koetsu (1558–1637) and
Tawaraya Sotatsu (ca. 1600–1640)
• Folding screens
from the 15th–19th century
• Ukiyo-e paintings depicting Japanese theater, pleasure quarters, and landscapes
from the early 17th–19th century, highlighted by the world’s
premier collection of paintings by Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849)
• Select collections of lacquerwork, baskets, and textiles
• Over 5,500 prints from the 18th–20th-century, and 19th–20th century photographs of Japan
• Premodern ceramics, including
14th–19th-century glazed ceramics from the Seto and Mino regions,
tea-ceremony wares, medieval storage jars, and the largest selection of ceramics
outside of Japan by Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743) and followers of the "Kenzan" style
• Twentieth-century and contemporary works,
including ceramics, lacquerwork, sculpture, paper works, and photographs
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Japanese Art Exhibitions
• Contemporary Japanese
Porcelain
• Japanese Screens
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