BASKETS

These are exciting times for Japanese bamboo art. May 2017 saw the opening of Japan House Sao Paulo, whose inaugural exhibition ‘Bamboo: The Material That Built Japan’ drew over 300,000 visitors. From June 2017 to February 2018 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York mounted another bamboo show that was seen by about 400,000. From 27 November, the Musee du quai Branly in Paris will present the largest-ever exhibition on the subject. This authoritative catalogue of 323 works from the Naej Collection thus appears at a moment when a new global audience has emerged.