Japanese Textiles and Fashion
Investing in the continuity of history, culture, and art
Installation photo, Kimono for a Modern Age, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), July 5, 2014– October 19, 2014. Photo © Museum Associates / LACMA.
While we have all admired the beauty and creativity of kimono, investing in Japanese textiles is an exacting business. On January 27, the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan Alternative Investment and Women in Business Committees jointly welcomed one of the world’s leading experts on the subject, Sharon Sadako Takeda, who is senior curator and the head of the Costume and Textiles Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). In her presentation entitled Japanese Textiles and Fashion: Investing in the Continuity of History, Culture, and Art, she delivered a detailed and fascinating look at the techniques, artisans, and works that capture the rich history of Japan.
Art and Heritage
A third-generation Japanese American, Takeda was born and raised in the rural town of Hanford, in California’s San Joaquin Valley halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco. She recalls Japanese traditions, such as Hinamatsuri (Girls’ Day), that were part of her childhood, and dressing in kimono to represent Japan in the annual Christmas Around the World event at her grammar school. “Besides being very uncomfortable, I remember that my obi would always come undone as I ran around with schoolmates after the program.”
Such memories—and the stories told by her parents—would ultimately influence her career path as she studied at the University of California, Los Angeles. A love of art, sprung from elective art history courses, led to an early decision to change her pre-pharmacy major to art and design.
Young Woman’s Samurai-Class Outer Kimono (Furisode, Uchikake) with Cherry Blossoms, Chrysanthemums, Hollyhock Leaves, Peonies, Wisteria
“In searching for what I wanted to say with my paintings, I had an identity crisis. Who was I? What did I want to express with my art? Why was I an Asian born in a primarily Caucasian society,” Takeda said.
She would go on to graduate with a master of arts and was the recipient of a 1983–84 Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) scholarship (then called Monbusho), which brought her to Japan to study traditional Japanese dyeing and weaving techniques at the Kanazawa University of Arts and Crafts. She also conducted field research in Niigata Prefecture on a traditional snow-bleached textile designated an Intangible Cultural Property by Japan’s Agency for Cultural Affairs.
Ultimately, this led her to LACMA, where she has curated many important exhibitions and helps the museum build its permanent collection.
Takeda’s love for Japanese textiles is shared by many in the United States and around the world. One of her exhibitions—When Art Became Fashion: Kosode in Edo-Period Japan—attracted many Japanese artisans, scholars, and kimono-clad women to glimpse treasures typically unseen in their home country.
Collectors’ Commitment
Acquiring works of art is more challenging for LACMA than for some museums. “Unlike our counterparts on the East Coast, who have more than a century of building their collections based on wealthy philanthropic families, and have acquisition endowments worth millions of dollars, LACMA has no major acquisition endowment, so we have to work hard to raise funds for acquisitions,” she explained.
Stylized Cloud Pattern, Late Edo Period (1615–1868), early 19th century, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Costume Council Fund. Photo © Museum Associates/ LACMA.
One way the museum does this is through its annual Collectors Committee, a distinguished group of donors who help decide acquisitions for LACMA’s permanent collection. Membership is available at three levels: $15,000, $30,000, and $60,000. Dues are pooled and used to build the collection through a special annual weekend event.
“Each year, until the pandemic, LACMA has held a Collectors Committee weekend,” she said. The spring gathering, first held in 1986, features art, food, and wine, and culminates in the Collectors Committee Gala, at which members vote for curator-selected artworks they would like to acquire for LACMA’s permanent collection.
“Through this process, we are able to bring forth major pieces of high value that normally would be difficult for us to obtain,” she continued. “The bar has been raised after many years, and we currently propose artworks that can range from $100,000 all the way up to $1 million.”
Takeda explained that members of the Collectors Committee gather on the Friday evening for one of several intimate dinners hosted by LACMA trustees or major collectors. At each venue, often a major art collector’s home, gourmet dinners are prepared by a celebrity chef and paired with wines from a boutique California vintner. She shared photos from past events attended by singer- songwriter Nick Jonas, radio and television host Ryan Seacrest, actress Diane Keaton, and record, film, and theater producer John Legend, who performed at one of the events while attendees dined.
The following morning, a booklet of proposed acquisitions is distributed as members attend a buffet breakfast at LACMA.
Typically, nine or 10 major works are on display in a special one-day exhibition. Members of the Collectors Committee get to leisurely look at the artworks and attend a morning session where each curator gives a 10-minute illustrated presentation explaining the importance of their chosen piece and why it should be in LACMA’s permanent collection.
Installation photo, Reigning Men: Fashion in Menswear, 1715–2015, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), April 10–August 21, 2016. Photo © Museum Associates / LACMA.
“Soon after they hear your presentation, they can go and examine the artwork with renewed eyes—so it’s really about educating them as to what to look for,” Takeda said.
This is followed by an alfresco luncheon at LACMA and another opportunity to visit the exhibition before returning home to study their booklet of proposed acquisitions. The evening begins with cocktails before attendees are seated for dinner and a live auction to raise additional funds that go into the acquisition-fund pot with Collectors Committee membership dues.
“Each member receives an electronic voting device,” she ex- plained. “Throughout the dinner, rounds of voting occur. You vote each round for a piece that you want the Collectors Committee to purchase. It typically takes multiple rounds until one piece gets the majority of votes. The first artwork to get a majority is bought, the purchase amount is subtracted from the pot, and they keep going until there are no longer funds to purchase another piece.”
This isn’t the only way works can be acquired on the special night. Often, Takeda says, a trustee or collector will decide to purchase an artwork outright for the museum before the auction.
“It’s a very exciting evening. In the old days, one or two pieces might get purchased. But in the past few years, all or nearly all of the presented artworks are acquired through Collectors Committee funds, a consortium of Collectors Committee members, or a single donor. This means that millions of dollars’ worth of art is acquired in one evening.”
LACMA’s collection comprises more than 142,000 objects that illuminate 6,000 years of artistic expression across the globe, with 6,850 items listed in the Japanese art and textile curatorial area.
Curator’s Eye
One of Takeda’s tasks as senior curator is to conceive exhibitions that draw from this vast collection. Her passion and expertise showed through as she took attendees of this ACCJ event through a virtual tour of her best-known LACMA exhibitions.
Talking about how curators select artworks for the museum and exhibitions, she said they build upon the strengths of the permanent collection and exhibit many examples of exquisite and rare pieces. She also shared how some examples from Japan’s Edo Period (1603–1868) became available.
“When the Meiji Restoration eliminated the feudal domains and established a centralized prefectural system, feudal lords living in the capital permanently returned to their fiefdoms. The simultaneous dismantling of warlords’ households resulted in their possessions—too numerous and expensive to be transferred back to the respective fiefdoms—becoming available on the art market.”
Installation photo, Kimono for a Modern Age, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), July 5, 2014– October 19, 2014. Photo © Museum Associates / LACMA.
Items such as samurai-class women’s kosode (literally small sleeves), the predecessor of the modern kimono, moved into the hands of Japanese art dealers and, ultimately, on to European dealers. They, in turn, sold them to collectors and artists such as French painter and illustrator James Tissot (1836–1902), who painted a Western woman in a very similar samurai- class kimono in his 1864 painting Japonaise au Bain at the Beaux, which is now in the Musée des Beaux- Arts de Dijon.
National Treasures
“One of the most significant Japanese pieces that was bought with the Collectors Committee fund is Kun-en, or Fragrant Garden, a kimono created in 1968 by Moriguchi Kako,” Takeda said. “It depicts a single chrysanthemum blossom that radiates to the outer limits of the kimono form.”
In 1967, Moriguchi was designated a Living National Treasure of Japan. Established in 1950, with the passing of the Law for the Protection of Cultural Properties, the designation acknowledges individuals who embody technical artistry. He received the honor for mastering and revitalizing the traditional paste and dyeing technique known as yuzen.
His son, Kunihiko, now aged 80, was himself designated a Living National Treasure in 2007. In 2000, LACMA acquired his kimono, Kikkei Kahen Zensomon (Gradation of Triangular Petals), which he made in 1990. Takeda said he has become a personal friend and they have shared numerous conversations about why preservation of these art forms and traditions matters.
“He says that it’s not only yuzen that is being challenged. He’s conscious of the fact that the number of craftsmen making traditional handmade tools, such as brushes or even the dried leaves that he uses as part of his art-making process, are diminishing,” she said.“He’s concerned that, if the traditional tools change or disappear, it will influence the hand or the quality of the traditional textiles. So, it’s really a critical time right now, I think.”
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THE JOURNAL
Vol. 58 Issue 2
A flagship publication of The American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (ACCJ), The ACCJ Journal is a business magazine with a 58-year history.
Christopher Bryan Jones, Publisher & Editor
