Asian Art Lectures Will Take Center Stage at Ringling Museum
SARASOTA, Fla. – (Feb. 2, 2006) – Fine art connoisseurs who hold a special fascination for the complexities and beauty of Asian art will have the chance to hear two nationally-known Asian art experts lecture on the subject as part of the Ringling Museum of Art’s ViewPoints lecture series. The lectures, which cost $12 for Ringling Members and $15 for non-Members, take place in the Cook Theater in the Florida State University (FSU) Center for the Performing Arts. Both lectures are sponsored by Sarasota philanthropist and Asian art collector Dr. Helga Wall-Apelt as part of a multi-faceted $50 million gift to the Ringling Museum that includes 700 Asian sculptures and original photographs as centerpiece to create the “Dr. Helga Wall-Apelt Gallery of Asian Art.”
On Saturday, Feb. 11, from 10:30-11:30 a.m., Charles Mason will lecture on “Beyond Beautiful Women: Aspects of Female Life and Culture in Later Chinese Imperial Art.”
Mason is Chief Curator and Cofrin Curator for Asian Art at the Samuel P. Harn Museum, University of Florida, Gainesville. The University’s Asian collection contains more than 700 artworks, including ceramics, sculpture, and painting. Before coming to the Harn, Mason was curator of Asian Art at the Allen Memorial Art Museum at Oberlin College in Oberlin, Ohio where he coordinated exhibitions relating to ancient Asian Art as well as current issues in Asia. Mason received his bachelor’s degree from Queen’s College, Cambridge University in 1991. In 1993, he received his M.A. from the University of California, Berkeley and is currently working on his Ph.D.
Then, on Saturday, March 4, 10:30-11:30 a.m., Amy Poster will lecture on “American Collectors of Asian Art.”
Poster has been affiliated with the Brooklyn Museum’s Asian Art Department since 1969. Currently serving as Department Head and Curator, Poster is a recognized expert in the fields of Asian Art and Museum Studies. She has organized numerous special exhibitions of Indian and Asian art focused on the Museum’s Asian Art collections. Her publications include Journey through Asia: Masterpieces of Asian Art in the Brooklyn Museum of Art (London, Philips, 2003) Hiroshige: One Hundred Famous Views of Edo (1986 and 2000), Crosscurrents: Masterpieces of East Art from New York Private Collections (Japan Society, 1999), Realms of Heroism: Indian Paintings in the Brooklyn Museum (1994), and From Indian Earth: 4,000 Years of Terracotta Art. Poster has taught Museum Studies at New York University and the Bard Graduate Center in the Decorative Arts and led specialized tours throughout India and Asia for the Museum’s Asian Art Council. She completed her Master's degree in East Asian Studies at Columbia University in 1989.
For more information on these and all lectures, visit the Museum’s Education Page at www.ringling.org. Advance tickets can be purchased by calling 941.358.3180.
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