Japanese Art

Pavilion for Japanese Art: Artworks on view

Designed by the architect Bruce Goff (1904-1982), the Pavilion for Japanese Art houses the museum’s collection of Japanese works dating from around 3000 B.C. to the twenty-first century. The second-level West Wing gallery is devoted to archaeological materials, Buddhist and Shinto sculpture, ceramics, lacquer wares, textiles, armor, and cloisonné; the East Wing features paintings, primarily of the Edo period. On the plaza level, the Raymond and Frances Bushnell gallery offers a rich array of the miniature sculptures known as netsuke.

Japan

Mizusashi (water container for Tea Ceremony) in the form of a Wooden Bucket

Anonymous

1573–1615

Haniwa: Tomb Sculpture of a Seated Warrior

Anonymous

c. 500–600

Preparing Raw Fish

Kitagawa Utamaro

18th century

Wild Boar amidst Autumn Flowers and Grasses

Mori Sosen

c. 1800

A Peek into Paper Conservation

July 17, 2009

For every work of art on paper featured in an upcoming exhibition, our lab in conservation examines it to determine its condition and whether any treatment is needed. So when we received a woodblock print from Yoshitoshi’s Demons, an installation of works from one of Japan’s top print artists of the Meiji era (opening at LACMA tomorrow), we noticed a disfiguring gray patina over some of the image’s red areas...

New Acquisition

April 20, 2011

This large head was originally part of an eight-foot- tall seated Buddha, probably that of Amida, ruler of the Western Paradise of Ultimate Bliss. Made of cypress wood, it was lacquered in black and covered with gold leaf, traces of which remain. It bears the requisite characteristics of a Buddha: the crystal Urna in the forehead emitting infinite light, the 656 tight curls of hair, and the all-hearing elongated ears...

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