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Society for Asian Art Newsletter for Members
The Society for Asian Art is a support organization for the
Plan your visit to see the special exhibition, Kimono Refashioned,
at the Asian Art Museum February 8th - May 5th.
January - February 2019 No. 1
Above: Dress, 1956 by Toshiko Yamawaki (Japanese, 1887–1960). Silk taffeta with gold-thread embroidery. Collection of The Kyoto Costume Institute, gift from Yamawaki Fashion Art College. © The Kyoto Costume Institute, photo by Takashi Hatakeyama.
Top Right: Dress, approx. 1875, by Misses Turner Court Dress Makers. England; London. Bode and overskirt; silk satin damask (rinzu) with silk and metallic-thread embroidery. Collection of The Kyoto Costume Institute. © The Kyoto Costume Institute, photo by Richard Haughton.
Bottom Right: Dress, Spring/Summer 1995, by Yohji Yamamoto (Japanese, b. 1943). Silk/rayon-blend jersey and polyester/rayon/ nylon-blend brocade. Collection of The Kyoto Costume Institute. © The Kyoto Costume Institute, photo by Takashi Hatakeyama.
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Society for Asian ArtJanuary - February 2019, No. 1
Members’ Newsletter Edited by John Nelson
and Susan Lai
Published bimonthly by Society for Asian Art
200 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102
www.societyforasianart.org (415) 581-3701
Copyright © 2019 Society for Asian Art
Board of Directors 2018-2019
President Trista Berkovitz Past President Anne Adams Kahn Vice President Margaret Edwards Vice President Ehler Spliedt Secretary Greg Potts Treasurer Ed Baer
Margaret Booker Agnes Brenneman
Deborah Clearwaters* Sheila Dowell Nancy Jacobs
Phyllis Kempner Etsuko Kobata
Myoung-Ja Lee Kwon Barbara Levinson
Gail Martin Forrest McGill* Lawrence Mock
Howard Moreland John Nelson
Merrill Randol Pamela Royse
Marsha Vargas Handley Diane Weber Kalim Winata Sylvia Wong Kasey Yang
*ex officio
IN THIS ISSUE
Saturday, January 12 The Journey: Paintings by Wesley Tongson with Abby Chen
Saturday, January 19 Freeze Frame: Picturing Dance in a Still Medium with Forrest McGill
Fridays, January 25 – April 26 Spring 2019 Arts of Asia Lecture Series The Architecture of Asia: From Baghdad to Beijing, Kabul to Kyoto, and Tehran to Tokyo
Saturday, January 26 Visit to the Vedanta Society and the Old Temple of 1905
Sundays, January 27, February 10, February 24, March 10, March 24 and April 7 Spring 2019 Literature and Culture Course Global Routes of Travel Writing with Aria Fani Saturday, February 16 Genghis Khan - Hero or Tyrant with Larry Mock
Tuesday, February 26 Annual Spring Dinner at Fang Restaurant
Wednesday, October 1 – Saturday October 12 Ireland and Great Britain: Top Asian Art Collections
UPCOMING EVENTS (subject to change)
Thursday, March 7 Visit to BAMPFA - Boundless: Contemporary Tibetan Artists at Home and Abroad with Rosaline Kyo
Saturday, March 16 Study Group - Techniques in Nihonga Painting with Fumiyo Yoshikawa
Saturday, March 23 Visit to Wada Studio - Lecture on Japanese Textiles, “Kimono Refashioned” with Yoshiko Iwamoto Wada
Friday, April 5 Book Sale
SAA Board Nominations
The Nominating Committee is looking for candidates to serve on the SAA Board of Directors for 2019 - 2020. This is a working board with all members serving on at least one committee. The committees plan and manage 100 or so programs every year. If you would like to be considered, or wish to recommend a potential candidate, please contact the Chair of the Nominating Committee, Pamela Royse, via email, [email protected]. Thank you.
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ARTS OF ASIA SPRING 2019 LECTURE SERIES
The Architecture of Asia: From Baghdad to Beijing, Kabul to Kyoto, and Tehran to Tokyo
When: Fridays, January 25 – April 26 Time: 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Place: UC Hastings College of the Law, Snodgrass Hall, 198 McAllister Street Fee: $175 Society members, $200 non-members for the series. $20 per lecture drop-in, subject to availability.
Join us as we explore the architecture of Asia and how geography, technology, cultures and beliefs are reflected in Asia’s built environment of gardens, palaces, temples and tombs. The architecture of Asia reflects the religious, cultural and social values of the people who ruled, built, and worshipped over the millennia.
Our roster of distinguished scholars will examine ancient, medieval, modern and contemporary Asian architecture while offering insights into what “globalism” meant in the past and what it means today. Architectural monuments will include the great Buddhist sites of India, Nepal, Cambodia and Thailand; Mughal and Islamic mosques, tombs and gardens of Indian and the Near East; Japanese Shinto shrines, Buddhist temples and gardens; the extraordinary and unique stepwells of India; the Chinese classical palace and gardens of the Qianlong Emperor; and the contemporary works of the celebrated architect, I.M. Pei. Our Instructor of Record is Mary-Ann Milford-Lutzker of Mills College.
January 25 The Circle and the Square: The Significance of Geometry and Geomancy in the Early Architecture of India Mary-Ann Milford-Lutzker, Mills College
February 1 Bakong Temple and Sacred Mountains & Landscapes in Khmer Architecture Mark Jarzombek, MIT
February 8 The 5th to 10th Centuries in East Asian Architecture: China, Korea, Japan Nancy Steinhardt, University of Pennsylvania
February 15 Swayambhunath Stupa & Heritage Sites in the Kathmandu Valley Alexander von Rospatt, UC Berkeley
February 22 Seen and Not Seen: The Architecture of the Shinto Shrines of Ise Jonathan Reynolds, Columbia University
March 1 Capturing Paradise: Gardens and Architecture in East Asia Tracy Miller, Vanderbilt University
March 8 Houses For Kings and Divine Beings: The Palaces and Temples of Thailand Pat Chiripravati, Sacramento State University
March 15 Japanese Contemporary Architecture Ken Tadashi Oshima, University of Washington
March 22 Northern vs. Southern Deccan: Gateways, Gunpowder, and the Chalukya Legacy Richard Eaton, University of Arizona
March 29 An Emperor’s Private Paradise: The Sumptuous Garden Designed By the Qianlong Emperor for His Quiet, Personal Reflection Nancy Berliner, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
April 5 Subterranean Ghosts: India’s Vanishing Stepwells Victoria Lautman, Journalist
April 12 Mughal Architecture Catherine Asher, University of Minnesota
April 19 Islamic Architecture: Miracles of Structure, Space and Surface Henry Matthews, Washington State University
April 26 I.M. Pei, W. Gropius & Japanese Architecture Seng Kuan, Harvard Graduate School of Design
Borobudur, Indonesia Bird’s Nest, Beijing National Stadium, Beijing
MEMBER EVENTS
The Journey: Paintings by Wesley Tongson With Abby Chen
When: Saturday, January 12 Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Place: Chinese Culture Center (CCC), 750 Kearny Street, 3rd Floor, San Francisco Fee: $15 Society members; $20 non-members
"Wesley Tongson: The Journey" presents the artistic development and journey of the significant Hong Kong ink artist. The highlight in the CCC Fall/Winter season exhibits 23 works, some never seen before.
The exhibit marks the artist's first solo exhibition in the US in over two decades. In his later "finger painting" works, Tongson abandons the brush and paints directly with his fingers and fingernails, creating powerful and deeply spiritual pieces.
An optional no-host lunch will follow the walk through in a nearby restaurant.
Abby Chen, Curator & Artistic Director of the Chinese Culture Center, has more than 10 years of experience curating visual arts, film, and performing arts programs. She is responsible for the Chinese Culture Center’s artistic vision, planning, and management, including exhibition, public art, collection, communication, publication, and strategic partnerships.
Freeze Frame: Picturing Dance in a Still Medium With Forrest McGill
When: Saturday, January 19 Time: 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Place: Samsung Hall, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco Fee: $15 Society members; $20 non-members (after museum admission)
Depicting movement has always been a challenge for sculptors and painters. Even more challenging is making clear that what they show is dancing rather than some other sort of movement. Then, if the artist’s intentions aren’t known for certain, how do we viewers interpret what we see? Is it dancing, posing, fighting, gesticulating, or something else? Artworks from India, Southeast Asia, and the Himalayas, many from the Asian Art Museum's collection, will throw light on these intriguing questions.h.
Forrest McGill is the Wattis Senior Curator of South and Southeast Asian Art at the Asian Art Museum.
Visit to the Vedanta Society and the Old Temple of 1905
When: Saturday, January 26 Time: 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Place: 2963 Webster Street, San Francisco (Entrance on Filbert Street) Fee: $15 Society members; $20 non-members
A distinguished landmark of San Francisco, the Old Temple is located on the corner of Webster and Filbert Streets in the Cow Hollow district. It was built in 1905 by Swami Trigunatitananda (Trigunatita) of the Ramakrishna Order of India. The swami wanted to build a Hindu temple that represented the influx of India’s great spiritual wisdom into the culture of the West and yet was universal in its approach. After it was built, he referred to it as: “The first Hindu temple in the whole Western world dedicated to the cause of humanity.” Swami Trigunatita wrote that: “This temple may be considered as a combination of a Hindu temple, a Christian church, a Mohammedan mosque, a Hindu math or monastery, and an American residence.” In 2018 the Old Temple received a California Heritage Council award, which honors those “historic buildings and sites whose owners have significantly enhanced the historic values of their properties by appropriate preservation, restoration, or re-use.” In 2017 the temple was one of fifteen “magnificent building projects” to receive the North American Copper in Architecture Award (NACIA).
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“Topeng” Maskerdans, Bali, approx. 1940-1943, by Anak Agung Gede Sobrat (Indonesian, 1911-1992). Ink and colors on paper. Asian Art Museum, Gift of David Salman and Walter Jared Frost, 2016.284. Photograph © Asian Art Museum.
Wesley Tongson, Plum 5, ink on paper, 2011. Image courtesy of the Tongson Family.
The Old Temple
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UPPER CATEGORY MEMBER EVENTS
Preview of Spring 2019 Upper Category Member Events
Membership at Upper Category levels is required. To learn more about the benefits of Upper Category Membership, please check out the various membership categories at https://www.societyforasianart.org/membership.
Invitations with details will be emailed to Upper Category Members in 2019.
Scholar Conversations
Saturday, February 9 in the East Bay Traditional East Asian Architecture Saturday, March 16 in San Francisco Contemporary Japanese Architecture Saturday, April 13 on the Peninsula Architecture of the Mughal Empire
Sponsor and Donor Level Event
Saturday, May 18 in the East Bay Contemporary Artist Studio Visit
MEMBER EVENTS
Genghis Khan – Hero or Tyrant With Larry Mock
When: Saturday, February 16 Time: 10:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Place: Samsung Hall, Asian Art Museum, San Francisco Fee: $15 Society members; $20 non-members (after museum admission)
Larry Mock, SAA Board Member and Asian Art Museum Docent, will give a Community Speakers Program slide presentation on Genghis Khan and his descendants, who dominated the largest land empire in history. The history of the Khans will be told using objects from the Asian Art Museum’s collection. Come and see how his legacy continued to influence history for over eight hundred years.
Larry Mock has been an Asian Art Museum Docent for four years. He graduated from the University of California Berkeley with a Master of Architecture degree and is a partner in the architectural firm of Mock/Wallace Architects. He currently lives in Berkeley.
Annual Spring Dinner
When: Tuesday, February 26 Time: 6:00 p.m. Place: Fang Restaurant, 660 Howard Street, San Francisco Fee: $60 Society members; $75 non-members
Join us to celebrate the Year of the Pig and the coming of spring in many cultures across Asia. We will feast on a tasty multi-course dinner at the elegant and friendly Fang Restaurant. Sign up now to ensure your place at this most enjoyable social event!
Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Green-Sah
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LITERATURE AND CULTURE SPRING 2019 COURSE
Ireland and Great Britain: Top Asian Art Collections — October 1 - 12, 2019
Come travel with the SAA to see the major Asian art collections in Ireland and Great Britain. Please see trip details in the trip flyer and reservation form on our website.
The trip application form and deposit payment (payable by check or credit card) will be accepted BY MAIL ONLY. Priority will be determined by the earliest postmark date, and a waiting list will be established. This trip is limited to 20 people, and is expected to fill immediately. You are encouraged to mail your completed application form and trip deposit immediately to Travel Muse Inc., 369 Montezuma Avenue, #319, Santa Fe, NM 87501.
This trip is open to Society members only. You may join online at our website, https://www.societyforasianart.org/membership. You may also mail a separate check payment for membership to the SAA office at 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.
Image © Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
TRAVEL
Global Routes of Travel Writing With Aria Fani
When: Sundays, January 27, February 10, February 24, March 10, March 24, and April 7 Time: 10:15 a.m. to 12:15 p.m. Place: Resource Room on January 27, Education Classrooms on February 24, March 10, and March 24, Asian Art Museum, and the Community Room at Opera Plaza, 601 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco on February 10 and April 7 (subject to change) Fee: $135 Society members; $160 non-members (after museum admission)
The Spring 2019 Literature and Culture series, Global Routes of Travel Writing, will meet on 6 Sundays. In this course we will examine 4 travelogues. We will travel to Egypt, Palestine and Arabia with the 11th century Asian poet and traveler, Nasir-I Khusraw. Ibn Battuta’s 14th century text will take us across Africa, Asia and Europe. Gertrude Bell registers her impressions of 19th century Persia. In her 20th century account, Halide Edibe meditates on the process of nation building in pre-partition India.
Our travel guide will be Aria Fani, who has taught classes on travelers’ tales at UC Berkeley, but this class has been designed specifically for the Society for Asian Art Literature and Culture series.
Aria Fani is completing his Ph.D. in the Near Eastern Studies Program at UC Berkeley. He studies the contemporary poetry and literary historiography of the Persianate world as well as the social space of Persian in South Asia.
274. Umber, View of the old city from the Dewan Kana, approx. 1875–1900. India; Amber, Rajasthan state. Albumen silver print. Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, From the Collection of William K. Ehrenfeld, M.D., 2005.64.485. Photograph © Asian Art Museum of San Francisco.
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LOTUS LEAVES
The Fall 2018 Issue is Available Online!
This issue features three articles. The first is an article by Patricia Yu, doctoral candidate at UC Berkeley on Chinese gardens in the United States, including the Portland and Huntington Gardens. The second article is by Albert Dien, Professor Emeritus at Stanford University, on the Sogdians and how aspects of culture have been brought to life by tombs excavated in China. The third article in this issue also inaugurates a new annual feature, "Around the Asian," which will focus on artworks in or around the Asian Art Museum. Bob Oaks writes about the statue of Ashurbanipal on the south side of the Asian Art Museum; how it came to be and why it is there.
To access online issues of Lotus Leaves:
• Go to the SAA website, https://www.societyforasianart.org
• Click on the “Lotus Leaves” button on the banner along the top of the screen. This will open the Lotus Leaves page.
• Click on “View PDF” of the issue you would like to read
To print a copy of Lotus Leaves:
• Press “Ctrl and P” on your keyboard at the same time
• Follow the commands your computer gives you to print a copy
Cover of Fall 2018 Issue of Lotus Leaves. © Society for Asian Art.
SAA members listening to a presentation on antique Shigaraki jars during a busy weekend at Orientations in Monterey.
Photograph courtesy of Ehler Spliedt.
SAA members visiting the Shiva-Vishnu Temple in Livermore. Photograph courtesy of Ehler Spliedt.
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q January 12 The Journey: Paintings by Wesley Tongson with Abby Chen$15 Members $20 Non-Members
q January 19 Freeze Frame: Picturing Dance in a Still Medium with Forrest McGill$15 Members $20 Non-Members
q January 25 - April 26 Spring 2019 Arts of Asia Lecture Series: The Architecture of Asia$175 Members $200 Non-Members
q January 26 Visit to the Vedanta Society and the Old Temple of 1905$15 Members $20 Non-Members
q January 27 - April 7 Spring 2019 Literature & Culture Course: Global Routes of Travel Writing$135 Members $160 Non-Members
q February 16 Genghis Khan - Hero or Tyrant with Larry Mock$15 Members $20 Non-Members
q February 26 Annual Spring Dinner at Fang Restaurant$60 Members $75 Non-Members
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REGISTRATION FORM
How to Register 1. Go to our website, www.societyforasianart.org, sign up and pay online; OR
2. Print and fill out this registration form, and send it with a check or the credit card information to: Society for Asian Art, 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102.
SAA does not issue tickets or confirmations. You will be contacted ONLY if your registration cannot be completed. Requests for refunds are granted for cancellations received by the SAA office no later than one business week before the start of the event.
Paid Programs Fee Quantity Subtotal
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Save the Date for the Book Sale Friday, April 5, 2019 12:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m., Asian Art Museum Loggia
We are now collecting books for the 2019 Book Sale! So if you move, downsize or are tired of all the books collecting dust in your home, please donate them to our Book Sale. We are accepting books with Asian subjects only, be it art, culture, novels, history, travel, cooking, exhibition catalogues or others.
Due to construction at the museum, we are unable to accept book donations at the SAA office. You can drop off books at the Friday morning Arts of Asia lectures at UC Hastings. If you have a lot of books, we are happy to pick them up from your home within the Bay Area. Please contact the SAA office at 415-581-3701 or [email protected] for details.
