Eugene weekly., January 22, 2009, Page 13, Image 13

East Sussex,
by Bill Brandt
JSMA Director Jill Hartz and
Harry Bertoia’s Floral Spray
PHOTO BY TODD COOPER
by Otagaki Rengetsu, a late 19th-century Japanese
Buddhist nun. “It’s crude-looking and misshapen, a quality
that’s prized in the Japanese tea ceremony,” he says. If you
look closely, you’ll see poetry incised on the garlic-shaped
incense burner.
That incense burner — a recent acquisition — is but
one of the more than 13,000 items in the collection at the
J-Schnitz, up from the 3,000 items that Gertrude Bass
Warner gave to start the museum in the 1920s. Warner’s
focus lay in Asian art, and collector Virginia Haseltine
balanced the collection with Northwest artists, Jill Hartz
says. “Women have been important to this museum,”
Hartz adds. Lachman notes that much of the regular Asian
collection comes from Warner’s bequest, so the exhibit
focuses more on other items, like the two new paintings
of the Diamond Mountains by North Korean artist Seon U
Young. “We may be the fi rst museum in North America to
exhibit North Korean art,” Lachman says.
Maggie Gontrum, a longtime exhibition interpreter,
says the two new pieces remind her of her favorite exhibit
from the pre-renovation days, “The Fragrance of Ink.”
Because of limitations in controlling the climate inside the
older building, she says, that exhibit “was the most high-
quality art we were ever able to show.”
Sometimes, the museum receives surprising presents
like the Frog Drum that comes from Southeast Asia.
Lachman describes the tall, well-traveled piece as “an
unexpected gift.”
Then there are donors like Portland-area doctor Robert
Shiomi, whose chauffeur pulled up to the security door
one day and offered Charles Lachman two 17th-century
Japanese screens. “He just knocked on the back door,
and in the rain, brought in these two screens, wrapped in
blankets,” Lachman says. “He said Dr. Shiomi thought I
might like to have them.” Though those screens, Scenes
in and Around Kyoto, are on display in the show, you’ll
only see a fraction of the collection at any one time — 5
to 7 percent, usually. Like many of the J-Schnitz’s shows
from its collection, “Lasting Legacies” provides the
opportunity for curators to rotate what’s on display.
Fong, who specializes in post-WWII American art,
doesn’t want you to miss a new group of prints hanging
in the American art gallery just off of the main exhibition
space. The prints, including images by Roy Lichtenstein,
Louise Nevelson, Nam June Paik and Richard Serra, show
the fl exibility of the medium and demonstrate an awareness
of color that balances some of the Korean calligraphy in
the main hall. Also in the American art gallery, two Aaron
Siskin photos demonstrate the importance of technology to
late 20th century art.
Though there aren’t any ultra-contemporary multimedia
pieces in the show, Fong is particularly glad to display
Refl ecting Pool, a video by artist Bill Viola that makes the
challenges of editing on acetate tape look as easy as today’s
digital manipulations.
Editing or creating a story provides a subtext to much
of the artwork, including the Japanese pottery with incised
poetry and Heaven, Earth and Men, a contemporary piece
of Korean calligraphy that refers to the invention of the
Korean alphabet and refl ects several layers of meaning.
Scenes in and Around Kyoto gives viewers a different look
at entertaining stories, with tiny archery competitions,
wrestling matches, bell-ringing and a variety of other
human activities that take place in a capital city.
Some of the juxtapositions make for interesting visuals.
One of the few pieces of Indian art owned by the museum,
Shiva Nataraja (Shiva as Lord of the Dance), sits near the
wall of photography, where a tough French porter, arms
folded, stares at the Hindu god.
The photography collection, Fong notes, is huge, and
he could only choose only a few photos for this show.
Fong picked “interesting photos that I didn’t have any
idea we owned,” Gontrum says. Those include British
photographer Bill Brandt’s startling East Sussex and two
images by Andy Warhol, part of a recent gift of more than
100 original Warhol black and white photographs. Fong
says the photos show Warhol’s eye instead of his genius at
reproduction and color.
Untitled Hand,
by Roy Lichtenstein
Monday | January 26th
Half Priced Flights & Glasses
New fl ights, glasses and bottles unveiled
Wednesday | January 28th
5-7pm Complimentary Tasting
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Exciting Global Flights
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EUGENE WEEKLY JANUARY 22, 2009 13