Art in the U.S.-Japan Relationship: Curators’ Perspectives

JAS is very excited to partner with the Pulitzer Arts Foundation for the first time in presenting this FREE event.

Dr. Xiaojin Wu will introduce us to the renowned Japanese art collection at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM) and explain its collection history, featuring the Museum’s founding director Dr. Richard Fuller (1897–1976). A family trip to Asia in 1919 ignited Dr. Fuller’s life-long passion in collecting. Over the forty years (1933–1973) of Dr. Fuller’s tenure as director, he built an incredible collection of Japanese art with the support of SAM benefactors and with professional advice from scholars, most notably Sherman Lee, who served as the Museum’s associate director from 1948 to 1952.

Sushi and Sake Reception
Following the presentation, visitors will be invited to a sushi and sake reception featuring authentic Japanese sake and a sushi buffet prepared by Japanese chef Naomi Hamamura of Chef d’Art Catering. These receptions are a signature feature of many events provided by the Japan America Society of St. Louis and offer an authentic “taste of Japan.”

Dr. Xiaojin Wu is the Curator of Japanese and Korean Art at the Seattle Art Museum (SAM). Among the many exhibitions she has curated at SAM’s Asian Art Museum, two were among the best attended exhibitions in the museum’s recent history: Deco Japan: Shaping Art and Culture, 1920–1945 (2014) and Chiho Aoshima: Rebirth of the World (2015). Before joining SAM, Dr. Wu worked at the Princeton University Art Museum as Associate Curator of Asian Art. A specialist in pre-modern Japanese painting, she received her Ph.D. in Japanese art history from Princeton University. (photo: Scott Areman)

The Pulitzer Arts Foundation is a hidden gem in St. Louis located in a space designed by world-renowned and Pritzker-prize-winning Japanese architect, Tadao Ando. The Foundation opened to the public in 2001 in the city's Grand Center Arts District. Since then, it has operated as "a non-collecting art museum that would organize and present special exhibitions of historic and contemporary art from around the world." In 2015, the museum renovated its lower level, incorporating more public spaces and new galleries, and expanding its collection by some 50 percent. JAS is truly delighted to bring this event to the people of St. Louis in this wonderful space, and looks forward to a long relationship with this beautiful museum with a strong Japanese connection.