November 17, 2001 - April 21, 2002
This
exhibition, presented at the Asia Society in the newly renovated
Mr. and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller 3rd Gallery, commemorates the
gift of the collection to the Society in 1978. The collection
itself was the impetus for building the new headquarters, with
gallery space, at 725 Park Avenue in 1981. The collection very
much reflects the personal tastes of the Rockefellers. It is by
no means a survey of Asian art, but is a carefully selected group
of objects of uniformly high quality, gathered together over a
quarter of a century and giving evidence of a deep appreciation
and understanding of the peoples and cultures of Asia.
With
its concentration of masterpieces of traditional Asian art, the
Rockefeller Collection is the subject of much scholarly interest
worldwide. The collection was published by the Asia Society 1994
in Treasures of Asian Art. Aspects of the collection have
been published in countless journals and catalogues and shown
in innumerable exhibitions, many of them presented at the Asia
Society. Each publication and exhibition to date has presented
the collection with scholarly art historical commentary.
For
this exhibition, artists from a wide range of disciplines have
selected the objects to be included and have written the accompanying
commentaries. Some of these texts are scholarly, some poetic,
some personal, and some all three. This presentation at AsiaSociety.org
allows visitors to see the exhibition organized by individual
artist’s choices and also by individual object and the artists
who chose it.
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