April 7, 2009, Nibei Foundation Japan Study Club
Speaker: Mr. Bill Clark
Theme: Japanese Art in the U.S.
On April 7, the Japan Study Club hosted a lecture by Mr. Bill Clark, founder of the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture in Hanford, California. The hall in the Terasaki Laboratory building was packed with near 100 attendees in audience for Mr. Clark.
Mr. Clark spoke about the overview of Japanese art museums in the U.S. and the world and went into explaining in detail about collections at the Clark Center.
In attendance were the Consul General of Japan in Los Angeles, Junichi Ihara and his wife Makiko, Mr. Koki Kanno, executive director of the Japan Foundation Los Angeles Office, Mr. and Mrs. Shigeru Kimura, executive director of JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization), Ms. Joan Marshall, executive director of the Pacific Asian Museum as well as many professors from UCLA.
As diversified as the museums are in the U.S., there are a few museums which are solely dedicated to Japanese art. Other than the Clark Center, the only other museum in the country that focuses exclusively on Japanese art is the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens in Delray Beach, Florida.
Mr. Clark designed his own museum from the ground up and the center’s collection is considered one of the major ones in the United States. The Clark Center, founded in 1995, features works dating from the 8th century to the modern era, has special exhibitions quarterly, and receives approximately 5,000 visitors a year.
Mr. Clark has been interested in Japan since grammar school. Mr. Clark stared to collect Japanese arts when he was assigned as a Naval office on reconnaissance planes from Hawaii to Japan in 1950s. But his collection began to increase when he entered the worldwide distribution business of frozen bull semen and used his profits to acquire Japanese art.
Mr. Clark approached renowned Japanese art expert Dr. Sherman Lee, who was an advisor to General Douglas MacArthur during the U.S. Occupation in Japan, when he heard Dr. Lee's advice service to John D. Rockefeller, III was cancelled due to Rockefeller's death by auto accident.
Working without compensation during the following years, Dr. Lee advised on the purchase of many priceless works. Today, the museum features 500 hanging scrolls, 19 hand scrolls, 45 screens, 11 sculptures, 250 wood block prints, 300 contemporary ceramic, 125 bamboo baskets and bamboo sculpture and 100 kimonos and a major bonsai garden.
In April 7 lecture, Mr. Clark showed some of the more unusual works of art in his collection, such as the Daiitoku Myoo wood sculpture. In what has been said to be one of the finest esoteric sculptures in the U.S., this Buddhist figure sits atop a bull with crystal eyes that respond when flickering candles are placed in front.
When officials of the Agency of Culture of Japanese government visited the Clark Center and recognized the Daiitoku Myoo sculpture, they expressed their concern that Mr. Clark had smuggled the national treasure level art from Japan to the U.S.
Mr. Clark showed them all the documents of purchase and export of the piece which they agreed was legal but stated they would not permit its exportation if asked today.
Also discussed was a slide of "Butterfly" by Uematsu Chikuyu, who studied bamboo basket-making in Beppu, Kyusuhu and works in such incredible detail that he creates just one large work a year.
The baskets were traditionally created for Ikebana flower displays, but Uematsu's
pieces truly speak by themselves as pure sculpture.
One unique kimono during Taisho Era (1920s) in the collection features ice blocks and penguins which, of course, are not native to Japan. Research determined that this kimono was made around the same time that Kool brand cigarettes were introduced to Japan and must have influenced the artist.
The Clark Center has festivities on the site for the New Years' celebration, Spring Festival and A Fall Festival/Gala. The next festival is the Spring Festival on May 16.
For the first time in the U.S., A Kazari Bonsai Competition will be held on May 16 and 17. The competition will be based on the art of displaying bonsai, with two other art works in a “Tokonoma” rather than the judging of the trees themselves. The leaders of California Bonsai will be a participating at this first ever juried exhibition with 3 prises totaling $4,000 and sponsored by Mr. Rick Dyck of Tokyo to honor of his late friend, Mr. Tom Uyeoka, founding member of Atatsuki Bonsai Club of Fresno and a member of the famed 442nd battalion during the World War II.
The Clark Center's website is found at www.ccjac.org. Their phone number is (559) 582-4915. It is open Tues -Sat, 1:00-5:00, closed in August.
In May 2009, Mr. Bill Clark was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Neck Ribbon from Japan’s government because he contributed to introduction of Japanese art and towards promotion of cultural and educational exchange between Japan and the U.S.
(This summary was prepared by Cultural News)