Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture Collection

Collection

Identifier: RA-Clark

Staff Only

Online items

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Scope and Content of Collection

Among the highlights of the collection are Buddhist paintings and sculptures from the 13th and 14th centuries; Edo period (1615-1868) paintings of various schools and celebrated masters; the single greatest resource collection of Nanga material in the world; and collections of modern and contemporary bamboo art and ceramics, the latter featuring numerous porcelain sculptures representing the career of Fukami Sueharu (1947-).

In addition, the Center housed one of the largest collections of works by Kamisaka Sekka outside of Japan, as well as approximately 200 woodcut prints designed by the Yoshida Family and their students.

Dates

Creation: 700-[ongoing]

Language of Materials

Japanese Chinese English

Access

This collection is open for research. A portion of the records have been digitized and are freely available online. The analog records are now located at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Publication Rights

Property rights now reside with the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. The Regents of the University of California have the rights to a non-transferable, irrevocable, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to the digital files. Transmission or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission of the copyright owners. Works not in the public domain cannot be commercially exploited without permission of the copyright owner. Responsibility for any use rests exclusively with the user. For additional information, please contact the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Biography

The Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture was founded in 1995 by Willard G. Clark and his wife, Elizabeth. Long attracted to the art and culture of Japan, the Clarks began acquiring Japanese art seriously from the 1970s, and their collection, though supplemented with later gifts, still comprises the core of the holdings. The Clarks named the Institute in honor of their longtime friend and acquisitions advisor, Dr. Sherman Lee, former Curator of Asian Art at The Cleveland Museum of Art. Initially establishing the Institute as a scholarly project, the Clarks decided to open the museum to the general public in 1998, and held quarterly exhibitions. In 2013, the Clark Center collection was transferred to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

Extent

25 Gigabytes

Additional Description

Abstract

The Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture (formerly known as the Ruth & Sherman Lee Institute for Japanese Art at the Clark Center) in Hanford, California housed a broad range of Japanese art, in diverse media and from multiple periods. The collection includes Japanese screen and scroll paintings, sculptures, prints, ceramics, textiles, metalwork and woven bamboo art, with works dating from the tenth century to the present day. Areas of particular emphasis within the representative collection include Buddhist sculpture and painting, screens and scrolls of the Edo Period (1615-1868), literati-style (Nanga) painting and calligraphy, modern kimono and woodblock prints, bamboo flower baskets and sculpture, and the ceramics of the contemporary Sueharu Fukami.