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Sylvan Sounds: Freer, Dewing, and Japan
"For those who have the power to see beauty, all works of art go together, whatever their period."
- -- Charles Lang Freer
Charles Lang Freer, the founder of this museum, believed fundamental aesthetic connections exist between the art of different cultures and historical epochs. His collection of Asian antiquities and American art of the Aesthetic movement reflects a cosmopolitan ideal based on cross-cultural interchange and formal affinities in color, texture, and mood. When Freer embarked on his first trip to Asia in 1894, he already owned a significant collection of Japanese ceramics and woodblock prints, many of which complemented the landscape paintings by Dwight Tryon and Thomas Dewing that decorated his home in Detroit.
Following his return from Japan the next year, Freer began to expand his collection of Japanese art to include painted screens and hanging scrolls that relate to his preference for the work of Whistler and Dewing. A leading artist of the day, Dewing was known for his subtly toned, enigmatic paintings of women in sparsely appointed interiors or in atmospheric landscapes. He enjoyed a close relationship with Freer, advising the collector on interior decoration, gardening, and acquisitions of Asian art.
Freer acquired many of these works from 1896 to 1900, when he connection with Dewing and Japan was strongest. |