| Zen Figure Painting Exhibit at Japan Society |
| Friday, 18 May 2007 09:37 | |||
Awakenings: Zen Figure Painting in Medieval JapanMarch 28-June 17, 2007Admission: $10; students and seniors $8; Japan Society members and children under 16 free  Japan Society Gallery333 East 47th St. (between 1st and 2nd Aves.) 212-832-1155 japansociety.org {mgmediabot}http://timessquare.com/media/uploads/Japan_Society.flv|false|600|400{/mgmediabot}
   On view from March 28th-June 17th, the exhibition explores the origins and traditions of figure painting associated with Zen Buddhist communities of medieval Japan, an era of singular artistic merit. "Awakenings" introduces a contemporary shift in the way that scholars and art historians intrepret, look at, and think about Zen paintings. It explores the significance of figural painting in presentation, performance, and perpetuation of religious lineage in medieval Chan/Zen monastic settings. This exhibition searches for new ways to understand Zen communities in medieval Japan as embodied in representations of the Zen "pantheon": the Buddha Sakyamuni and various bodhisattvas, the First Patriarch of Chan/Zen, Bodhidharma and other figures. "Awakenings" proposes that figure paintings, often graced with calligraphic inscriptions, played an indispensable role historically in the fashioning of representations of Chinese Chan and Japanese Zen Buddhists in relation to themselves and to the communitties that supported (or competed with) them. Including hanging scroll paintings and painted sliding door panels (fusuma-e), the works in the exhibition depict Zen Buddhist monks in spirit-infused states: sleeping, dreaming, walking and reaching awakening. Communicating an "ideal self," these painted images gave their creators a sophisticated format to "perform" and record their awakened status for themselves and subsequent spiritual followers, while also preserving their distinct works. "Awakenings" traces the roles that monks performed in relation to other members of society, from patrons to dignitaries to laypeople. The exhibition also highlights the visual characteristics of these paintings--their brushwork, compositions, and subtle gestures and poses--and demonstrates that the styles and practices that flourished briefly in China in calligraphy and other forms were transmitted to and further developed in Japan. "Awakenings" illuminates the artistic, philosophical, literary and religious dimensions of this genre within the art of Zen as it evolved in religious communities in Japan in dialogue with the Asian continent. Co-organized by Japan Society and the Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan, and the Independent Administrative Institution National Museum of Japan, "Awakenings" is made up of 47 Japanese (Zen) and Chinese (Chan) painted works from the 13th to the 16th century, including loans from museums and private collections in Japan, North America and Europe. In addition, the exhibition will feature one Japanese National Treasure, which is making its first trip out of Japan, and eleven Important Cultural Properties, which rarely travel or leave the country. "Awakenings" continues Japan Society's tradition of major Buddhist art exhibitions, with the cooperation of important insitutions in Japan, Europe and the United States. Since World War II, there have only been two major art exhibitions outside of Japan related to medieval Japanese Zen Buddhism.
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