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Ancient Tea Tradition Inspired Great Art

*by Roger Catlin | The Hartford Courant
January 29, 2009

There is a simple grace to the new exhibit at Yale Art Gallery, “Tea Culture of Japan,” which opened this week in New Haven.

Like the life-size portable tearoom that is a showpiece of the spare exhibit, there is exquisite restraint to the examination of 1,000 years of tea culture, largely through the display of rare artifacts.

Exhibition curator Sadako Ohki, the gallery’s Japan Foundation Associate Curator of Japanese Art, says the show, subtitled “Chanoyu Past and Present,” may be the first of its kind in the U.S.

Rarely have so many artifacts — about 100 — been gathered to tell the story of a culture that developed over centuries, was cherished by families, and continues today. Part of the reason is the cost of the pieces, some of which date from the ninth century, when the practice brought from China to Japan.

Families tended to keep the pieces as heirlooms. Ohki says collectors only recently developed a taste for the pieces. Much of the current show is from the collection of Peggy and Richard M. Danziger.

“Chanoyu,” a term meaning “hot water for tea,” is a method of preparing tea that involves a tea ceremony, though that term has fallen out of favor due to its religious connotations.

The simple approach that began in medieval times (with tearoom entrances kept small so that all had to bow when entering) has remained constant; the calligraphy and shapes continue in the modern age, with snow falling gently on bamboo on a video screen now instead of rice paper.

“Tea Culture of Japan” continues through April 22 at the Yale University Art Gallery, where admission is free.

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*Source: http://www.courant.com/entertainment/museums/galleries/hc-artweek0129.artjan29,0,2467621.story

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