Title: The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated Exhibition
Date: 04/03/2019
Location: Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
Duration: 3’29
SHOTLIST:
1. Buddhist monks performing a consecration ceremony before the opening of the ‘The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated’ exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
2. Buddhist monks performing a consecration ceremony in front of a statue of Buddha.
3. Buddhist monks performing a consecration ceremony.
4. People looking at scrolls in ‘The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated’ exhibition.
5. Artwork on a scroll.
6. Statue of the Buddha of Limitless Light (Amida Nyorai).
7. Buddhist altar copied from the Ishiyamadera Temple featuring a statue of Dainichi Nyorai (Esoteric Buddha).
8. SOUNDBITE: (English) Melissa McCormick, Professor of Japanese Art and Culture at Harvard University and Guest Curator, The Tale of Genji : A Japanese Classic Illuminated
"So, this is an exhibition about what is often called the world’s first novel, written about a thousand years ago by the court lady, Murasaki Shikibu. It’s a novel that a lot of people have read, around the world, and what we are doing in this exhibition is bringing together a thousand years, essentially, of art works, inspired by the book.”
9. Genji artwork.
10. Scrolls and writing box.
11. Writing box.
12. Scroll.
13. Robe and palanquin.
14. SOUNDBITE: (English) Melissa McCormick, Professor of Japanese Art and Culture at Harvard University and Guest Curator, The Tale of Genji : A Japanese Classic Illuminated
"So when we combined those works [from the Met], with some marvellous paintings and objects from Japan, including lacquer works and robes, as well as paintings, as well as important collections around the United States, it really made for the most comprehensive Genji show, outside of Japan, ever.”
15. People in ‘The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated’ exhibition.
16. Japanese National Treasure, the Lotus Sutra with Each Character on a Lotus scroll.
17. Japanese National Treasure, the Lotus Sutra with Each Character on a Lotus scroll.
18. Japanese National Treasure, the Lotus Sutra with Each Character on a Lotus scroll.
19. Japanese National Treasure, the Channel Markers and The Barrier Gate screens.
20. Japanese National Treasure, the Channel Markers and The Barrier Gate screens.
21. SOUNDBITE: (English) Melissa McCormick, Professor of Japanese Art and Culture at Harvard University and Guest Curator, The Tale of Genji : A Japanese Classic Illuminated
"This really shows you what we can learn from studying the past, studying the way that people interpreted the story before, because we tend to read the Tale of Genji or any ancient work of literature, with our own kind of presentist biases. The Tale of Genji really forces you to reflect upon what those biases are, and consider how people may have read it differently.”
22. Pair of Noh masks.
23. Exhibition gallery.
24. Robe and scrolls.
25. Buddhist monks leaving gallery at end of consecration ceremony.
26. Buddhist monks leaving gallery at end of consecration ceremony.
STORYLINE:
Buddhist monks helped open ‘The Tale of Genji: A Japanese Classic Illuminated’ exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City with a consecration ceremony in front of a statue of Buddha in one of the exhibition rooms.
The exhibition focusses on the art about The Tale of Genji, a Japanese classic written around 1000 by the noblewoman Murasaki Shikibu (ca. 978–ca. 1014). It is often referred to as the world’s first novel.
Comprising 54 chapters, the book centres on the life, death and descendants of Prince Genji.
The book has had a huge influence on Japanese art and artists in the thousand years since it was written and the aim of the exhibition is to study that relationship.
The exhibition comprises more than 120 pieces, taken from the Met’s own collection, as well as from 32 public and private collections in Japan and the United States.
The pieces on display include National Treasures and Important Cultural Properties, most of which have never left Japan.
The two National Treasures are a pair of screens by the Rinpa master Tawaraya Sotatsu (ca. 1570-ca. 1640) - Channel Markers and The Barrier Gate - on loan from Seikado Bunko Art Museum and the Heian-period Lotus Sutra with Each Character on a Lotus, from the Museum Yamato Bunkakan.
Both will be on view for six weeks and then rotated with other masterpieces over the course of the exhibition, which finishes on June 16th, 2019.
END