De Young Museum presents Asian/American/Modern Art 1900-1970

Written by Ian Rowbotham Thursday, 08 December 2011 20:37

 

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - Asian/American/Modern Art: Shifting Currents, 1900–1970, on view October 25, 2008, to January 18, 2009, at the de Young Museum is the first comprehensive survey of Asian American modernism. This exhibition of works by artists of Asian ancestry who lived and worked in the United States seeks to showcase some of the most important individuals contributing to the canon of Asian American art and advance awareness of this under-represented group in American art history. Their art reflects the currents of identity and style that shift between aesthetics of diverse international geographies. Exhibition curator Mark Johnson says, "This body of work is rich in variety and demonstrates the wealth of Asian American art using masterpieces spanning 70 years as examples."

Nearly 100 works by over 70 artists of Japanese, Chinese, Filipino, and Korean ancestry, many of whom had their work exhibited at the de Young Museum or Legion of Honor in earlier decades, are included. Asian/American/Modern explores the wide range of influences across cultural boundaries on artists such as Ruth Asawa, Chang Dai-chien, Yun Gee, Dong Kingman, Isamu Noguchi, Chiura Obata, Yoko Ono, Alfonso Ossorio, Nam June Paik, and Tseng Yuho. Included in the exhibition:

Toshio Aoki’s Untitled (Thunder Kami), ca. 1900––the earliest piece in the exhibition is a work on paper featuring a sacred Shinto spirit; the piece demonstrates the passion for Japanese art and design in America at the turn of the twentieth century.

Nam June Paik’s TV Clock, 1963––one of Paik’s groundbreaking works, it is among the earliest works of conceptual art to incorporate televisions as sculpture, and explore the relationship of video and time. Tseng Yuho’s mural Western Frontier, 1964––likely the largest public artwork ever created by a female Chinese artist before 1970; commissioned by Golden West Financial, now Wachovia Bank, featuring paper collage on a mural scale.

Carlos Villa’s Painted Cloak, 1970–71––the most recent work in the exhibition is a painted canvas with taffeta lining and feathers; this mixed media object points to the artist’s search for a cultural identity as a Filipino American.

This exhibition is organized by the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco and the Asian American Art Project at Stanford University in collaboration with San Francisco State University. Exhibition co-curators are Daniell Cornell, former curator of American art at FAMSF and current deputy director of the Palm Springs Museum of Art, and Mark Johnson, professor of art at San Francisco State University. Asian/American/Modern Art will travel to The Noguchi Museum and be on view February 18 to August 23, 2009.

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