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. . .The major news. . . .is the debut
of the Indo-Pacific gallery. If you need
one irrefutable reason for a visit (to
the YUAG), this is it. The collection,
primarily promised gifts, is relatively
new to the museum, as is its curator,
Ruth Barnes, who comes from the Ashmolean
Museum at the University of Oxford. For
this inaugural presentation,
she seems to have brought out as much
art as possible, and she’s absolutely
right to have done so. The installation
is enrapturing, as intricately patterned
as the Indonesian textiles and Borneo
carvings that fill it.” Holland
Cotter, New York Times Art
Review 12/13/12 (photo
credit: Bruce
Buck for The New York Times)
"(This)
initial installation, showcasing works
from Indonesia, the Philippines, Taiwan
and coastal regions of mainland Southeast
Asia, is a rare treat. Only a handful
of U.S. museums devote space to the
cultures of the Indian and Pacific Oceans—and
they often scatter the works among different
departments. Here they are kept together,
inviting us to see connections and explore
diverse cultural expressions, from refined
court arts to the spiritually charged
talismans of headhunters. Lee
Lawrence, "Eastern Expansion,"
Wall Street Journal 1/30/13
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HISTORY / BACKGROUND
In March 2009 (see below), the Yale
University Art Gallery announced the
creation of a new curatorial department devoted
to Indo-Pacific art, enabled by the generosity
of Yale alumnus Thomas
Jaffe. Mr. Jaffe also endowed the curatorial
position to create a gallery of Indo-Pacific
art, "establishing the Yale Art Gallery
as one of the country's leaders in the field."
Internationally recognized scholar Ruth
Barnes became the Thomas Jaffe Curator
of Indo-Pacific Art in January 2010. (see
Press
Release). Dr. Barnes is an art historian
in the field of South and Southeast Asian textiles,
with a particular interest in the social history
of material culture and its anthropological
interpretation, and has studied textiles from
South and Southeast Asia, as well as from the
Islamic world, from this perspective. Dr. Barnes
has many years of field experience in Indonesia,
primarily in the eastern part of the archipelago.
YALE
OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS
March 3, 2009 "Jock
Reynolds, Henry J. Heinz II Director, Yale University
Art Gallery, today announced the creation of
a new curatorial department devoted to Indo-Pacific
art, enabled by the generosity of Yale alumnus
Thomas Jaffe,
Class of `71. Mr. Jaffe has provided not only
his extraordinary collection of more than 500
examples of tribal sculpture from Southeast
Asia, augmented by a same-sized collection of
Indonesian textiles, but also the funds to fully
endow a curatorial position and to create a
gallery of Indo-Pacific art. This commitment
firmly establishes the Yale University Art Gallery
as one of the country’s leaders in the
field.
The Jaffe collection consists of exceptional
sculpture primarily from maritime Southeast
Asia, augmented by Indonesian textiles mainly
gathered by Jeff Holmgren
and Anita Spertus, renowned experts and
collectors in that field. In addition, Hunter
and Valerie Thompson have donated their
own outstanding and comprehensive collection
of ancient Javanese gold jewelry and sculpture,
which makes a welcome complement to the Department’s
founding collection........." (See YUAG
Indo-Pacific)
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Link to complete YaleNews press release
and additional information >>
Links to related articles
and press releases:
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"New Collection New Curator" -Yale
Daily News - Jan 2010
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"Gallery forms Indo-Pacific dept."
-Yale Daily News - March 2009
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"New Gifts Enhance Yale University Art
Gallery Collections" -Yale Office of
Development - Jan 2009
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