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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 17, 2007

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - The Asian collection at the Harn Museum of Art is among the largest and finest in the southeastern United States. Comprising more than 1,200 objects and expanding every year, the collection is divided into three geographical sub-collections: Chinese Art; Japanese and Korean Art; and Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art. Objects in the collection range in date from approximately 2500 BCE to contemporary and include a wide variety of genres and media, from paintings, prints and sculpture to ceramics, bronzes, jades and lacquers.

Ceramics form the core of the Harn’s Chinese collection, which contains significant examples of many important ceramic types and styles produced in China from Neolithic times (before 2000 BCE) to the end of the imperial era in 1911. The collection is particularly rich in monochromatic ceramics from the Song, Yuan and early Ming dynasties (10th-15th centuries). Other strengths of the Harn’s Chinese collection include bronzes, lacquers and paintings. Most of the Chinese paintings date from the Qing dynasty (1644-1911) and include works by famous artists such as Chen Shu (1660-1736), Zhang Zongcang (1686-1756), Shen Quan (1682-1760), Huang Shen (1687-1770), Wang Xuehao (1754-1832) and Gai Qi (1774-1824). Chinese sculpture is best represented in the Harn collection by a rare 11-12th century Buddhist stupa tower that originally stood in a temple courtyard.

Most of the objects in the Japanese and Korean collection date between the 17th and 20th centuries. The Japanese holdings include several complete series of woodblock prints by artists such as Utagawa Hiroshige (1797-1858) and Utagawa Kunisada (1786-1865), along with scroll paintings by Kano Korenobu (1753-1808), Yokoi Kinkoku (1761-1832), Okamoto Shuki (1807-1862) and Kishi Chikudo (1826-1897). Japanese decorative arts of the Meiji Period (1868-1912) are also well represented by ceramics, bronzes, cloisonné enamels and lacquers. The Harn’s Korean holdings are anchored by a group of Koryo (918-1392) celadon ceramics and Choson (1392-1910) blue and white porcelains donated by General James A. Van Fleet in 1988. General Van Fleet also gave the museum a small collection of Korean paintings that includes an important early scroll by the modern master Kim Un-ho (1892-1979).

The Harn’s Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian collection contains many Hindu and Buddhist religious sculptures ranging in date from the 2nd or 3rd century to the early 20th century. These sculptures, some of which were acquired by former University of Florida professor Roy C. Craven in the 1960s and 70s, represent a diverse assortment of subjects and regional styles. Professor Craven’s legacy at the Harn Museum also includes a small collection of Indian miniature paintings dating from the 17th to the 19th centuries, and an important collection of modern Indian paintings by the famed 20th-century artist Jamini Roy (1887-1972). The Harn’s Southeast Asian holdings are rounded out by a group of more than 100 Thai, Vietnamese and Cambodian trade ceramics dating mainly from the 15th to the 17th centuries.

Selections from the Harn Museum’s Asian collection are always on view in the Robert H. and Kathleen M. Axline Gallery. Approximately 10 percent of the collection is on view in this gallery at any time and the selection of objects changes periodically. Temporary thematic exhibitions of Asian art drawn from the Harn collection and other institutional and private collections are also regularly presented in the museum’s changing exhibition spaces.    

Samuel P. Harn Museum of Art
The Harn Museum, at SW 34 th St. and Hull Rd., Gainesville, Fla., is one of the southeast’s largest university art museums with more than 6,200 works in its collection and an array of temporary exhibitions. Admission is free. The museum enhances the activities of the University and serves a culturally diverse audience through educational programming. The Harn expanded by more than 18,000 square feet in Oct. 2005 with the opening of the Mary Ann Harn Cofrin Pavilion, which includes new educational and meeting areas and the Camellia Court Cafe, the first eatery for visitors of the University of Florida Cultural Plaza. Museum Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday. The Camellia Court Café is open 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Saturday and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday. For more information call 352.392.9826 or visit www.harn.ufl.edu.

Media contact :
Tami Wroath, Director of Marketing and Public Relations
Harn Museum of Art
352.392.9826 x116
twroath@harn.ufl.edu