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A Major Gift of Japanese Treasures

/ Collections - Recent Acquisitions

Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; Gift of Dr. Roy T. Ward.
Collection of the Art Fund, Inc. at the Birmingham Museum of Art; Gift of Dr. Roy T. Ward.

By Donald A. Wood, PhD, Senior Curator and The Virginia and William M. Spencer III Curator of Asian Art

Dr. Roy T. Ward from Watkinsville, Georgia, has been a friend of the Museum for over twenty years. His first donation of Japanese prints to the collection came in 1995, and, since then, he has generously donated other outstanding Japanese prints and woodblock printed books to the Museum. This past summer Dr. Ward invited me to visit and choose gifts for the Museum from his collection.

182.2013_p01The result is a treasure trove of some one hundred 18th, 19th, and 20th-century Japanese woodblock prints and woodblock printed books. Such great artists as Hokusai, Hiroshige, Utamaro, Hasui, Yoshida, and many more are all part of this generous gift. This is the largest and most important donation of Japanese prints and books ever to the BMA. Over the next months we will begin rotating works from this significant gift throughout the Japanese galleries.