The Abbey Collection
A spectacular loan exhibition (13.06.2017 - 04.02.2018) devoted to masterworks of Japanese bamboo art—including award-winning works by six artists who were designated as Living National Treasures—will go on view at The Metropolitan Museum of Art beginning June 13. Featuring more than 90 works dating from the late 19th century to the present, Japanese Bamboo Art: The Abbey Collection will explore the refined beauty and technical sophistication of Japanese bamboo, which has been little known in the West until recent years. Opening with a monumental bamboo sculpture by Tanabe Chikuunsai IV (b. 1973) - a site-specific installation created for The Met - the exhibition will highlight key stages in the modern history of Japanese bamboo art while introducing the main lineages of bamboo masters and showing the emergence of a contemporary bamboo art. The Diane and Arthur Abbey Collection is one of the finest assemblages of Japanese baskets and bamboo sculpture in private hands. The majority of the works have never before been presented to the public, and more than 70 are recent promised gifts to The Met. (Text: The MET New York)