'Shinto' Brings Rare Japanese Works to Cleveland Museum of Art

IDEA STREAM
By Dave DeOreo & Dan Polletta

Illustrated Legends of the Kitano Tenjin Shrine, late 1200s. Kamakura period (1185–1333) Image © The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The current exhibit at The Cleveland Museum of Art - "Shinto: Discovery of The Divine in Japanese Art" - has been a long time coming. CMA curator Sinéad Vilbar first got the germ of the idea in 2006. She began working on the exhibit ten years ago while employed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. When Vilbar was hired by CMA in 2014, she brought the show with her as curator of Japanese art. The show finally went on view last month.Many of these works still belong to Buddhist temples or Shinto Shrines in Japan and they have specific festival schedules. [More]