Eastern Expansion | Yale University Art Gallery
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Lee Lawrence
CONNECTICUT---Only a handful of U.S. museums devote space to the cultures of the Indian and Pacific Oceans—and they often scatter the works among different departments. We are in the Yale University Art Gallery's new department of Indo-Pacific art, opened in December as part of a $135-million renovation and expansion. The initial installation, showcasing works from Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and coastal regions of mainland Southeast Asia, is a rare treat. Here they are kept together, inviting us to see connections and explore diverse cultural expressions, from refined court arts to the spiritually charged talismans of headhunters. The genesis of the gallery dates back about a dozen years, when the museum was embarking on its expansion and Thomas Jaffe, Yale '71, was looking for a home for his tribal-art collection. These are mostly ritual objects, architectural carvings and representations of ancestors made for veneration, often featuring the clean, simple lines we now readily associate with modernism, another of Mr. Jaffe's interests. [link]
By Lee Lawrence
CONNECTICUT---Only a handful of U.S. museums devote space to the cultures of the Indian and Pacific Oceans—and they often scatter the works among different departments. We are in the Yale University Art Gallery's new department of Indo-Pacific art, opened in December as part of a $135-million renovation and expansion. The initial installation, showcasing works from Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan and coastal regions of mainland Southeast Asia, is a rare treat. Here they are kept together, inviting us to see connections and explore diverse cultural expressions, from refined court arts to the spiritually charged talismans of headhunters. The genesis of the gallery dates back about a dozen years, when the museum was embarking on its expansion and Thomas Jaffe, Yale '71, was looking for a home for his tribal-art collection. These are mostly ritual objects, architectural carvings and representations of ancestors made for veneration, often featuring the clean, simple lines we now readily associate with modernism, another of Mr. Jaffe's interests. [link]
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