Fashion and Affection in the Historic Arts of Asia

What role does culture play in creating and projecting images of love, affection, and gender? This installation showcases fourteen works from the Museum’s permanent collection that provide some insight. For example, Buddhist texts describe Bodhisattva as gender neutral beings, neither female nor male. Bodhisattva can attain nirvana (a state of non-being) but choose to remain in this world of suffering (samsara) to assist all beings in attaining enlightenment, an act of profound love and affection. The most famous is the Bodhisattva of Compassion, called Avalokiteshvara in Sanskrit, Guanyin in Chinese, Kanon in Japanese, Gwanum in Korean, and Chenresig in Tibetan. This installation highlights images of them from these traditions.

The Japanese government’s attempt to legislate gender in the 1600s is recorded in many prints of Kabuki actors. Although Japanese women created Kabuki theatre in the early 1600s, men soon made it illegal for women to perform. Men then played all female characters, and some plays showcased wakashū, youths who were described as occupying a “third gender.” By 1642, female characters were banned, but love stories continued. When, in 1652, female characters (but not actresses) returned to the stage, the government decreed all actors must shave the front and top of their heads. For stage purposes, actors portraying women wore a purple scarf to conceal their shaven foreheads.

More images and items of love and affection between humanity and the divine, as well as family and friends of different ages and genders, are portrayed throughout the galleries.

Image caption:
Kōno Bairei 幸野 楳嶺, Japanese, 1844–1895, Sudhana Visits Avalokitesvara (Kannon 觀音), Bodhisattva of Compassion, about 1880, Meiji period (1868–1912), ink and color on silk; Museum purchase, 1990.32