Exhibitions

A portion of the records documenting the activities of this department consist of correspondence and a set of files identified as "Institutional Literature." Both groups were maintained in alphabetical order and cover the years of 1991 to 1995. The earliest material, from 1991, was compiled when the department operated as the Far Eastern Art department. Most of the material, nearly 8 linear feet, documents a seminal exhibition that opened in 1994 and presented modern Japanese design to audiences in America, Europe and Osaka, Japan. Entitled "Japanese design: a survey since 1950," the exhibition featured more than 250 objects such as furniture, housewares, electronics, packaging and clothing to demonstrate Japan's contribution to modern design. The exhibition later traveled to Milan, Dusseldorf, Paris and Osaka. Curators Felice Fischer of East Asian Art and Kathryn Bloom Hiesinger of European Decorative Arts after 1700 produced the exhibition, and the architect and theorist Dr. Kisho Kurokawa designed its installation. An index resides with the files, which are arranged alphabetically.

For earlier records of the department, created prior to its designation as "East Asian Art," see the Far Eastern Art Department Records. For additional records of the 1994 "Japanese design" exhibition, see European Decorative Arts after 1700 Department Records.