Cleveland Museum of Art Asian Art department records.

Collection

Identifier: 1111.138

Staff Only

Scope and Contents note

This collection spans from approximately the appointment of Sherman E. Lee in 1952 to about Stanislaw J. Czuma’s retirement in 2005. It is almost equally divided amongst its series: Exhibitions, Dealers Files, Correspondence, Loans, and Subject Files. Though numerous curators served during this timeframe, the majority of materials originate from Michael R. Cunningham and Stanislaw J. Czuma, circa 1975-2003. Additional material about the Oriental Department can be found in the administrative files, Records of the Director’s Office: Sherman E. Lee Collection. Exhibition files from before 1992 may be found in the Exhibition Compendium Collection.

This collection contains records of the following curators, the titles used are their titles upon leaving the museum:

Chief Curator of Oriental Art Sherman E. Lee, 1952-1983

Senior Research Curator for Chinese Art Wai-kam Ho, 1958-1983

Assistant Curator Martin Lerner, 1966-197(1?)

The George P. Bickford Curator of Indian and Southeast Asian Art Stanislaw J. Czuma, 1972-2005

Curator of Japanese and Korean Art Michael R. Cunningham, 1977-2003

Assistant Curator of Chinese Art Elinor Pearlstein, 197(5?)-1986

Associate Curator of Chinese Art J. Keith Wilson, 1988-1996

Curator of Chinese Art Ju-hsi Chou, 1998-2004

Dates

Majority of material found within Bulk, 1975-2003
1952-2005

Creator

Chou, Ju-hsi (Person)

Conditions Governing Access note

Subject to review by archives staff. For more information or to access this collection contact archives staff at archives2@clevelandart.org.

History of Collection

The Asian collection has been a priority for the Cleveland Museum of Art since our founding. In 1913, before the museum opened, Director Frederic Allen Whiting recognized the opportunity for the museum to distinguish itself by selectively collecting Eastern Art not adequately represented in other American museums. He regularly solicited support from the trustees, local donors, and collectors. The museum's first curator, J. Arthur MacLean, appointed in 1914, became Curator of Oriental Art in 1919. The museum also retained Langdon Warner, a noted scholar of Asian art, as an advisor on the development of the collection.

Although gaps existed between tenures of curators of Asian arts, the museum was fortunate enough to find talented professionals. After MacLean left for the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922, it was some years before the museum hired Howard C. Hollis to replace him in 1929. Hollis, who was a pupil of Warner at Harvard, continued to add depth and breadth to the collection and regularly traveled to Europe and Asia for research and possible acquisitions. At the end of World War II, Hollis served in the Arts and Monuments Division of General Headquarters, Allied Powers, in Japan. After his tour, Hollis briefly returned to the museum before resigning and eventually opening his own gallery of Far Eastern Art.

Sherman E. Lee replaced Hollis, first in the Arts and Monuments Division in Tokyo, and later as Curator of Oriental Art and keeper of the Egyptian and Classical collections at the museum. Lee continued building the collection, augmenting and refining its character. He also started an ambitious exhibition program and public education program about the merits of Asian art. In 1958, Lee became the third director of the museum. The following year he hired Wai-kam Ho as Curator of Chinese Art.The two collaborated together and made many superlative acquisitions.

The museum hired Stanislaw J. Czuma as Curator of Indian Art in 1972. As the importance and strength of the Asian collections grew, so did the curatorial positions in the Asian Art Department (so renamed in 1987). In 1983, Michael R. Cunningham became Curator of Japanese Art. He was named Curator of Japanese and Korean Art in 1996.

Timeline

1917 J. Arthur MacLean appointed museum’s sole curator

1919 MacLean becomes Curator of Oriental Art

1921 Maclean leaves for Art Institute of Chicago, Theodore Sizer acts as Curator of Oriental Art until 1926

1926 Henry Sayles Francis in charge of department until 1929

1929 Howard C. Hollis appointed Curator of Oriental Art

1949 Hollis retires as Curator of Far Eastern Art and Curator of Near Eastern Art

1951 William E. Ward begins as Assistant in East Indian Art

1952 Sherman E. Lee hired as Curator of Oriental Art and keeper of Egyptian and Classical collections

1958 Wai-kam Ho hired as Assistant Curator of Oriental Art

1960 Egyptian and Classical collections are no longer under umbrella of Oriental Art Department

1966 Martin Lerner hired as Assistant Curator

1967 Lee becomes Chief Curator. Ho promoted to Curator of Chinese Art

197? Lerner leaves for Metropolitan Museum of Art

1972 Stanislaw J. Czuma hired as Curator of Indian Art

1977 Michael R. Cunningham begins as Mellon post-doctoral fellow, appointed Adjunct Associate Curator jointly with Case Western Reserve University

1980 Ho becomes Senior Research Curator for Chinese Art

1981 Cunningham becomes Associate Curator

1983 Cunningham appointed Curator of Japanese Art

1983 Ho leaves for Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Lee retires, Elinor Pearlstein becomes Assistant Curator of Chinese Art

1986 Pearlstein leaves for Art Institute of Chicago

1987 Department renamed from Oriental Art Department to Asian Art Department, Stephen Little hired as Associate Curator of Chinese Art, Cunningham appointed Chief Curator

1988 J. Keith Wilson hired as Assistant Curator of Chinese Art

1989 Little leaves for Honolulu Museum of Art

1996 Wilson leaves for Los Angeles County Museum of Art

1998 Ju-hsi Chou hired as Curator of Chinese Art

2003 Cunningham's position of Curator of Japanese and Korean Art eliminated

2004 Anita Chung hired as Associate Curator of Chinese Art, Chou retires

2005 Czuma retires

Extent

47.5 Cubic feet (95 boxes)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Chinese Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art's Chinese art collection is one of the most distinguished in the West, representing the highest level of Chinese artistic accomplishment. From prehistory to today, the Chinese art collection spans more than 5,000 years and embraces a diversity of art forms including jades, bronzes, lacquer, sculpture, paintings, calligraphy, furniture, bamboo carvings, and more. The most outstanding sections of the collection are paintings and ceramics. Not only is the sequence of chronological development reasonably complete, but the collection is also represented by works of international significance. It continues to expand in all directions, taking into consideration the rich traditions as well as the ongoing artistic developments of China.

Japanese Art

In 1916, when the Cleveland Museum of Art’s first building opened, its holdings in Japanese art already included some noteworthy Japanese woodblock prints designed by print world luminaries such as Okumura Masanobu (1686–1764) and Kitagawa Utamaro (1754–1806). Today the museum’s Japanese collection comprises some 1,950 works spanning a period of approximately 5,000 years and includes masterworks of painting, sculpture, and prints, as well as ceramics, metalwork, and other decorative arts. The Japanese calligraphy and painting collection is impressive in its breadth, from sacred texts executed in silver and gold characters on dyed paper to expansive ink-painted vistas once intended for sliding door panels. Its selection of folding screen paintings covers many of the major genres, from bird-and-flower compositions to festival scenes, and includes examples by artists such as Sesson Shukei (c. 1504–c. 1589) and Maruyama Okyo (1733–1795). The collection also contains notable works of early Buddhist and Shinto art.

Indian and South East Asian Art

The Indian and Southeast Asian art collection comprises three broad areas: India proper, the Himalayas, and Southeast Asia. The collection covers the period of the entire artistic activity on the Indian subcontinent from the earliest (Neolithic) period until the 20th century. It consists primarily of sculpture (in stone, metal, wood, terra cotta, and ivory) and paintings (book illustrations as well as devotional paintings on cloth as seen in the Himalayan tangkas), but it also includes decorative arts such as jewelry and armor. It is a well-balanced collection, both in its scope and breadth; the focus, however, is on the high points of artistic production during the early and medieval periods from the second century BC to the 18th century. The strength of the collection lies not in its quantity but in its quality.

Korean Art

The Cleveland Museum of Art has been actively acquiring Korean art since 1915. The collection features a robust selection of works in a variety of media. The holdings in ceramics are especially strong, and include a number of fine celadons from the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392). The painting collection contains rare Goryeo Buddhist paintings, as well as Joseon dynasty (1392–1897) paintings such as landscapes and portraits. Its selection of folding screen paintings includes a notable 19th-century example from the genre of “scholars’ accouterments,” or chaekkori, as well as an important pair of 15th-century ink landscape screens by Yi Sumun, a Korean artist who painted in Japan. Bronze Buddhist statuary and ritual objects from the Three Kingdoms period (57 BC–AD 668) through the Goryeo dynasty attest to the sophisticated craftsmanship of these eras. The collection also has significant examples of early earthenware vessels and other archaeological materials.