‘Art of the Samurai’ has just opened at the Metropolitan Museum. In the wake of controversy, protests, and rather scathing (anti-)Orientalist accusations leveled against the San Francisco museum for their Lords of the Samurai exhibition barely a month ago, one might think the Met would have rethought their exhibition schedule. But, of course, these things are planned out way in advance, and one month ahead of time is far too short notice to cancel or change things, except in the most extreme of situations.
In any case, I’m sure it’s an excellent exhibition, and I regret that I won’t be able to be home in New York to see it.
The New York Times’ review can be found at: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/23/arts/design/23samurai.html
It also includes some great photos, providing a glimpse at the kinds of things, including a number of National Treasures, on display: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/10/22/arts/20091023-SAMU_index.html
hey toranosuke,
asians art museum here. thanks for mentioning our project, and for your substantial contributions to the dialogue.
did you hear the latest: we had our artwork censored by the de Young Museum, and it would seem that the Asian Art Museum had no small part in the matter. Right before a juried art show that we had been invited to was about to open at the de Young, their bigwigs came down, Asian Art Museum counterparts on the phone, and demanded that a big part of our installation be removed. The banned content included your comments/our dialogue.
more info here:
http://asiansart.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/censored-by-de-young-museum/