The “Fendre l’air, Art du bambou au Japon” exhibition at Musée du quai Branly —featuring bamboo art dating from the late 19th century to the present— looks at how Japanese basket making went from craft to a medium of expression used by contemporary artists (to April 07, 2019).
The exhibition begins by revisiting Meji era artisans who along with early craftsmen took inspiration from Chinese models creating baskets and accessories for tea ceremonies and flower arrangements. It concludes with bamboo sculptures as “objet d’art” —stripped of all functionality— created by seven contemporary Japanese artists who show and sell their work to an international market largely pioneered by such American galleries as Tai Modern in Santa Fe New Mexico. Proof that bamboo is “dans l’air du temps” The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibited last year The Abbey Collection of Japanese baskets and bamboo sculptures.
The “Fendre l’air, Art du bambou au Japon” to April 07, 2019, Musée du quai Branly, Paris.