MON takes Asian collection to the north of Paraná
The Oscar Niemeyer Museum (MON) promotes the traveling exhibition “Japanese Art in the MON Collection”, with part of the Asian collection belonging to the institution. The opening will be on May 16th, at the Japanese Immigration Memorial of Assaí, in the north of the state. This place has a large Japanese community directly linked to the colonization and history of this city.
The exhibition presents a part of the collection of traditional Japanese Ningyos dolls, as well as masks, wood engravings, and utensils, such as trays and vessels. The exhibition has 63 works of art that are part of the Asian art collection comprising more than three thousand pieces donated to MON in 2018 by Ambassador Fausto Godoy.
“The Oscar Niemeyer Museum remains firm in its mission to promote broad access to culture and decentralization of art by the State, a fundamental guideline of our management at the State Secretariat for Culture and Government of Paraná”, states Luciana Casagrande Pereira, Secretary of State for Culture. “It is a great joy to see the touring project of MON's beautiful Asian collection arrive in Assaí, a city that has a massive presence of Japanese descendants, connecting art, history, and cultural identity", she says.
Juliana Vosnika, the Director-president of the Museum, comments that the magnificent Asian collection, which today belongs to the MON and the people of Paraná, was competed for by other institutions in Brazil and by collectors from abroad.
“With this exhibition, the Oscar Niemeyer Museum goes beyond the limits of its walls, democratizing access to its collection and reaching even larger audiences”, she says. “It is important to highlight that this would not be possible without the special attention that the State of Paraná, especially through the Secretariat of Culture, has dedicated to this important sector, always prioritizing the decentralization of the arts so that it reaches all audiences”, declares Juliana.
She also comments that MON's main proposal for itinerancy is to facilitate dialogues between cultures and territories through art. “The exhibition instigates and demonstrates that multiple and transversal knowledge crosses cultures, territories, and eras”.
Ningyos
Traditionally, Ningyos are auspicious gifts to wish longevity, health, and fertility to newborn babies. Families also display them on special dates, and they are assigned the mission of protecting and purifying the homes that receive them.
The meaning of the word Ningyo is “human form”: nin (human, people) and gyo (form). “These objects presented here have spanned the last 200 years of Japan and show a little explored, but extremely rich, aspect of the Japanese soul and culture”, comments Fausto Godoy, donor of the collection to MON and curator of the exhibition.