Ishida Yūtei (石田幽汀; 1721–1786), Flock of Cranes, second half of the 18th century. Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink, color, and gold on gilded paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
MINNEAPOLIS, MN.- Highlights from the magnificent collection of Japanese and Korean art assembled by Mary Griggs Burke and formally gifted to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts goes on view September 27, 2015, through May 8, 2016, in the exhibition “Gifts of Japanese and Korean Art from the Mary Griggs Burke Collection.” This special exhibition will be shown in 16 newly installed galleries devoted to Japanese art and Korean art. At 11,000 square feet, the Japanese galleries are some of the most expansive of any museum in North America and tangibly demonstrate the museum’s commitment to the arts of East Asia.
Utagawa Toyohiro (Japanese, 1773–1828), Summer Party on the Bank of the Kamo River, around 1800. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
The Burke bequest to the MIA comprises nearly 700 objects, from prehistoric to contemporary times, adding depth to the museum’s existing collection of Japanese and Korean art. The exhibition will include various media spanning the prehistoric era to the late 1800s, with paintings from the Edo period (17th–19th centuries) at the core of the 175 objects featured in the exhibition.
Shūtoku (周徳; fl. first half of 16th century), Early Spring Landscape, Muromachi period. Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Matthew Welch, PhD, Deputy Director & Chief Curator at the MIA, who knew Mrs. Burke personally, said, “This generous gift cements the MIA’s reputation as one of the nation’s principal repositories of Japanese art. Mrs. Burke’s generous gift enters our existing Japanese art collection and enriches and deepens it so that we are poised to be a leading center for the study of Japanese art.”
Namikawa Yasuyuki (並河靖之; 1845–1927), Covered bottle, Meiji or Taishō era, 19th–20th century. Cloisonné. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Exhibition themes such as “The Floating World,” “Narrative Painting,” and “Encounters with the Outside World” convey the scope and beauty of this collection. Highlights include stunning ink paintings such as Kichizan Minchō’s (1352–1431) interpretation of the Buddhist bodhisattva Monju; a pair of folding screens of hollyhocks and plum trees by Ogata Kenzan (1663–1743); a rare 16th-century water jar (mizusashi) known as a “Burst Bag” from the kilns in Iga for use in tea ceremony; a pair of screens of Chinese children playing “crack the whip” and examining an elephant by the eccentric artist Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754–99); and a luminous celadon Korean maebyong vase from the 1100s inlaid with a pattern of a crane amid clouds. Since cranes were a personal favorite of Mrs. Burke, a gallery has been dedicated to paintings featuring these magnificent birds.
Kichizan Minchō (吉山明兆; 1352–1431), Monju Bosatsu (文殊菩薩), Muromachi period, 15th century. Hanging scroll; ink and gold on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Ogata Kenzan (尾形乾山; 1663–1743), "Plum Trees; Hollyhocks", Edo period. Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and color on gilded paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
“Burst Bag” freshwater jar (mizusashi, 水指), Momoyama period, 16th–17th century, Iga (伊賀) ware; stoneware with natural ash glaze. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Nagasawa Rosetsu (長沢蘆雪; 1754–1799), Chinese Children at Play, Edo period. Pair of six-panel folding screens; ink and gold on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Maebyeong (梅瓶) with flying cranes and clouds, Goryeo dynasty, 12th century. Stoneware with inlaid design under celadon glaze. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
In recognition of Mrs. Burke’s generosity, Andreas Marks, PhD, was named the Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese and Korean Art. The gift joins the museum’s existing Japanese art collection that now rises to nearly 8,000objects, making it one of the most significant encyclopedic collections of Japanese art in the nation. In addition, a new curator has joined Marks in working with the Japanese collection. Aaron M. Rio, who recently completed his doctorate at Columbia University, will become the Mellon Assistant Curator of Japanese and Korean Art.
Portrait of a Lady, Edo period, early 17th century. Hanging scroll; ink, color, and gold on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
The exhibition will open to the public on September 27. At the same time, the museum will unveil “Seven Masters: 20th Century Japanese Woodblock Prints from the Wells Collection,” featuring gifts to the museum from the late Frederick B. Wells III. On Sunday, September 27, Matthew Welch will deliver a lecture about the Burke collection and Andreas Marks will speak about prints in the Wells collection.
Hon’ami Kōetsu (本阿弥光悦; 1558–1637), Tawaraya Sōtatsu (俵屋宗達; d. ca. 1640), Poem from Kokin wakashū (古今和歌集), Momoyama period, early 17th century. Album leaf, mounted as hanging scroll; ink and gold on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Background
In March 2015 it was announced that the Japanese art collection of Mary Griggs Burke, long considered the finest private collection of its kind outside of Japan, was bequeathed to the MIA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Mrs. Burke, who was born in 1916 in St. Paul, and raised there, maintained a lifelong association with the city and its cultural institutions. Her maternal grandfather, Crawford Livingston, and paternal grandfather, Colonel Chauncey Griggs, were two St. Paul civic leaders who made fortunes in lumber, railroads, and utilities. The young Mary Griggs grew up in an Italianate mansion in St. Paul that was awash in 18th-century French objects as well as some Japanese pieces that her mother had acquired. Mrs. Burke’s mother, Mary Livingston Griggs, visited Japan on a world tour in 1902. The trip inspired Mrs. Burke, who visited Japan for the first time in 1954 and made more than 30 subsequent trips in her lifetime.
Sesson Shūkei (雪村周継; ca. 1504–ca. 1589), Landscape with Pavilion, Muromachi period. Hanging scroll; ink and light color on silk. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Lady from “Kawachigoe” (河内越), episode 23 of Ise monogatari (伊勢物語), Edo period, second half of 17th century. Hanging scroll; ink and color on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Stem table (takatsuki, 高坏), Muromachi period, 1482. Red and black lacquer with gold leaf. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Kosode with plum trees and Chinese poem by Zhang Xiaobiao (章孝標, fl. ca. 830), Edo period, second half of 17th century. Silk, embroidery, and tie-dyeing. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Geiai (芸愛; fl. ca. 1489), Sparrows among Millet and Asters, Muromachi period. Hanging scroll; ink on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Hidemori (also known as Shūsei [秀盛]; fl. first half of 15th century), Early Spring Landscape, Muromachi period. Hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Writing box (suzuribako, 硯箱) with Nanban (南蛮) figures, Edo period, ca. 1633. Black lacquer with gold and silver maki-e, polychrome lacquer, and gold and silver foil inlay. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Jar, Yayoi period, 3rd century A.D.. Earthenware. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
The Thirty-sixth Stage, from Zenzai Dōji’s Fifty-five Pilgrimages (華厳五十五所絵巻), also known as Zenzai Dōji emaki (善財童子絵巻), Kamakura period, early 14th century. Handscroll fragment, mounted as hanging scroll; ink and light color on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Fujiwara Teika (藤原定家), from Ikkasen isshubon (一歌仙一首本), Kamakura period, early 14th century. Handscroll fragment, mounted as hanging scroll; ink and color on paper. . Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Sakai Hōitsu (酒井抱一; 1761–1828), Lilies and Hydrangeas; Hollyhocks, Edo period, 1801. Two-panel folding screen; ink, color, and gold on silk. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Yosa Buson (与謝蕪村; 1716–1783), Two Birds on Willow and Peach Trees, Edo period, 1774. Hanging scroll; ink and color on silk Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Kaihō Yūshō (海北友松; 1533–1615), River and Sky in Evening Snow, from Eight Views of the Xiao and Xiang Rivers (瀟湘八景 江天暮雪), Momoyama period, ca. 1602–3. Panel of a folding screen, mounted as a hanging scroll; ink and gold on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Suzuki Mutsumi (鈴木睦美; 1941–2009),Suzuki Misako (鈴木美佐子; b. 1945), Tea caddy (natsume, 棗) with autumn fire, Shōwa era, 20th century. Black and red lacquer with gold maki-e. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
One Hundred Children at Play, Joseon dynasty, late 19th century. Ten-panel screen; ink and color on paper. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Pair of rank badges (hyungbae, 胸背) with double cranes, Joseon dynasty, 19th century. Silk thread embroidery on silk. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Maebyeong (梅瓶) with peonies, Goryeo dynasty, 11th–12th century. Stoneware with iron-brown design under celadon glaze. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.
Maebyeong (梅瓶), Goryeo dynasty, 13th century. Stoneware with incidental ash glaze. Mary Griggs Burke Collection, gift of the Mary and Jackson Burke Foundation.