Antoniya Puleva
AR 107
Professor Percy North

Art History: Ancient to 1400 Term Paper Assignment

Last week I visited the Freer museum in Washington DC. The museum is relatively small so I was able to take my time and look at all the art. The Freer museum is located on the third level of the building and the different rooms flowed well because of the layout of the floor plan. The museum had art from a variety of countries, most from Asia. There were 22 rooms and more than half of it had Japanese and Chinese art. The rest of the gallery was filled with South Asian, Himalayan, American, Korean and some Islamic art. Due to the variety of countries included in the exhibition, the variety of objects displayed was even broader. The Japanese part of the museum had a lot of paintings on scrolls and some of it was about military events or love stories and others were simply an illustration to popular tales like the Tale of Genji. Parts of the Japanese art collection included stoneware ceramics, tea-ceremony items, calligraphy hand scrolls, folding screens and prints. Chinese art also took a large space in the museum and was mostly represented by ancient metalwork, jade ceremonial objects, animal carvings, ceramics, lacquer, paintings and calligraphy.
As I walked in through the Freer museum, I started my tour with the South Asian and Himalayan art exhibits which took two rooms. Both exhibitions included beautiful Buddhist, Jain, Hindu and Islamic objects, as well as masterpieces of Mughal and Rajput paintings. Divided into several sections, the Buddhist art shows the emergence of the Buddha image in India and its transmission throughout Asia and includes fine Buddhist images from Nepal, Tibet, Southeast Asia and China. The next two rooms were filled with the Arts of the Islamic World. The works shown in the exhibition were representing the architecture, the calligraphy, illustration, bookbinding, and the arts of the objects such as ceramics, metalwork, glass, woodwork and textiles. On display were brass bowls and candlesticks, folios from the Koran, earthenware and ceramics, and paintings representing the traditions of Iran, Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and other parts of North Africa, Turkey, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan. Next in my tour was the Japanese art that took about one third of the entire floor. This exhibit was divided in three sub categories: the Edo art period, screens and the religious art of Japan. Items that were on display here include scroll paintings, pottery, folding screens and prints. The next exhibition was confined to one room and it was the special exhibition, which included the Silk Road Luxuries from China. This room included goods such as textiles, mirrors, silvers and ceramics. Further along my tour was the American art, which included the Peacock room. I originally thought that room was moved and recreated from China but as I read the information posted about the room I found out that it was designed for a British shopping magnate who wanted a place to showcase his blue-and-white Chinese porcelain collection in his London home. Later in 1904, Freer purchased the Peacock Room and moved it from London to his mansion in Detroit. Freer filled the shelves with pots he had acquired from Egypt, Iran, Japan, China, and Korea. As I walked through the rest of the American art exhibit I did not get the feeling that it was American since it was strongly influenced by Asia and the artist was James McNeill Whistler. Only one small room of the American exhibition had a non-Asian feel to it, including a series of landscape views of the Thames from Whistler's Chelsea residence and a pair of full-length portraits. At this point of my tour I was half way done. My next stop was the Korean art exhibition. It was only one room and the main focus of it was the distinctive Korean ceramic technique known as Sanggam. Sanggam is inlaying white and black pigments into stamped or carved motifs to create images of cranes, clouds, ducks, lotuses, and willows that appear to float within a limpid green glaze. The last part of the museum was dedicated to Chinese art. On display were items such as paintings of Buddha, ancient Chinese jades and bronzes that had powerful animal motifs. Clay, jade, and bronze were the dominant materials used in the art of ancient Chinese pottery. Objects such as pots and containers were great examples of Chinese art. Ceramics in the shades of white, green, blue, brown, and black were part of the Chinese exhibition too.
My favorite work of art in the Freer museum were the four guardians located in the Japanese part of the museum, in room 6 – Zocho-ten, Guardian of the South, Komoku-ten, Guardian of the West, Tamon-ten, Guardian of the North and Jikoku-ten, Guardian of the East. These four sculptures were the guardians of the four directions. There were about 18 inches tall and represented the Kamakura period (1185-1333). In addition, they were placed within a temple sanctuary and their function was to protect one or more Buddhist images. Each sculpture was in a different pose and represents a different symbol. All four guardians stand on a writhing demon, symbolizing dominance over any enemies of Buddhism. In addition the statues were made out of wood, polychrome, gold and crystal. These figures are excellent examples of a hyperplastic style that came to prominence in Japanese Buddhist sculpture in the thirteen and fourteen centuries. Growing up my mom was always interested in Japanese culture and she has passed down her interest to me. My mom specifically used to read Asian books and read me stories about samurais. Another reason these sculptures are special to me is because of the art of tattooing. My favorite style in tattooing is Japanese and guardians like these are very frequently tattooed and used in the same aspect that those four sculptures were – to protect the person that carried it on their body. I can relate to the four guardians since I have Asian tattoo that includes a panda bear samurai guardian. Since the sculptures portray power and strength it is another reason why this artwork appeals to me. In conclusion, walking through the museum was a great learning experience and I have greatly expended my knowledge on Asian and Western cultures.
The largest work in the museum was a pair of Konogorikishi figures placed on the opposite ends of the hallway; the size of the wooden sculptures was about 9 feet tall. “They were originally created stand guard in one of two alcoves on either side of the entrance gate to Ebaradera, a temple located in the city of Sakai , near Osaka. These “benevolent kings” (Ni-o) were said to have followed and protected the historical Buddha when he traveled throughout India. The figure’s open mouth is rendered to suggest the shape necessary to form the sound ‘a,’ while its closed-mouthed partner forms the sound ‘un.’ Named for the different sounds they mouth, they are known respectively as agyo and ungyo. The sculptural style is typical flamboyant realism popular in the Kamakura period.”