Japanese Armor Society Announces Next Symposium In New York

[Shogun8]

We would like to take this opportunity to announce that the Japanese Armor Society has booked the next Japanese Legacy Symposium to take place at New York's venerable Metropolitan Museum of Art on Friday, September 13th.

We have chosen this date because for Japanese and Asian art collectors, the week of September 06-14th is a big week, with all of the top auction houses (Sotheby's, Christies and Bonhams) having their big fall exhibitions and auctions during this time. With any luck, one of these auction houses may even bring back their Arts of the Samurai auctions. We are still in the midst of confirming the curriculum of the symposium itself, but as always we are expecting it to be as revelatory and educational as past editions, with lectures by some of the top scholars in the field of Japanese armor, and perhaps even involvement from the Met's curatorial staff and some hands-on experiences with items from the collection. In addition, we are working on related events around this weekend that will be sure to interest katchu enthusiasts.

Although the symposium is created for the benefit of our members, the invitation is open to non-members by way of a special fee (for example, we have to rent the meeting room at the Met). At this time, costs of the symposium have yet to be finalized and will be determined by overall attendance, but we are asking that if you are interested in attending, to please indicate your interest here, or by sending an email to jas@Japanese-armor.org.

[Bugyotsuji]

Any progress on this, John?

 

No official announcement in Japan yet, I believe.

[Shogun8]

Hi Piers,

 

Coincidentally, Luc and I had a conversation about this yesterday. We are still finalizing the curriculum of the symposium itself as well as the peripheral activities around the event. Our members have overwhelmingly supported the idea that we all stay in the same hotel, so I have managed to secure a hotel in relatively close proximity to the Met (and for those that know New York, the upper east side is a very nice area of the city to visit with its proximity to other great museums, Central Park, etc.). Our members will also be visiting one of the best private collections in the U.S., with the possibility that one or two other collectors will add their items to the exhibition. I am also curating a show for the Japanese artist, Tetsuya Noguchi at a prominent boutique/gallery on the Lower East Side whose opening will coincide with this weekend and of course, all are invited to attend (as with the symposium). Finally, we have been in discussions with the Samurai Collection (the Barbier-Muller Collection in Dallas) to visit their museum as part of our Grand Tour.

 

The problem of course is that we all have real jobs, so things don't move quite as quickly as we'd like. We hope to make a more formal announcement soon - including in Japan. Stay tuned!