Art History Essay #1: Museum Visit to the Crow Collection of Asian Art

This past spring I enrolled in a couple of classes at North Lake College.  One of these was an art history class which involved field trips to a variety of museums in the DFW metroplex.  After each trip we were required to write a short essay about a piece of art at the museum.  I thought I would share these with you.  There will be four total.  Enjoy!


The exhibition Stitching the Seasons: Contemporary Japanese Quilts features a quilt by Yoko Ueda, entitled Autumn Grass for the Harvest Moon.  Created in 2006, this piece is a silk triptych quilt consisting of three equivalent panels approximately two feet wide by five feet tall.  The background is composed of a charm block pattern of simple squares, and sparkles with metallic gold and blue thread embroidered on it.  The colors of the blocks range from subdued, autumnal colors of rich browns, greens and purples in the lower section of the quilt, to pastel shades of blue, gold, purple and green in the upper portion.  The middle panel is dramatically emphasized by a bold red vertical column inserted into the predominately pastel and autumn-toned color palette of the quilt’s background pattern.  The squares of the red column are smaller than the rest of the blocks.  On the far right panel, an elaborately embroidered elongated oval shape composed of bronze, silver, green, and deep blue material floats behind a gentle swirl of sheer lilac fabric.  Overlaying this surface is an appliquéd scene of autumn grass and fall foliage.  A cluster of plants is located on the far left panel and the tall grass and leaves drift as if caught in a fall breeze across the right-hand panels.  Some of the grass, which is made of a deep green silk, is tipped with delicate pink flowers.

The subject and color of this quilt represent the changing of the seasons from summer to fall, in a manner that pays homage to the tradition of Zen simplicity.  The image of autumn grass has been a long-used motif in Japanese art and symbolizes the transitional period of the harvest.  In her artist’s statement, Yoko Ueda said, “Autumn grasses...appeal to the Japanese idea of beauty, especially simplicity.  I am deeply impressed with those...artists who had eyes to raise the simple autumn grass blade into a beautiful art form like Zen philosophy.”  She sees herself as working very much within that tradition.  By using the triptych format, Ms. Ueda transforms her quilt from a household item that is meant to be used to a purely aesthetic object, intended to be viewed and contemplated as something beautiful and healing in and of itself. 

This quilt caught my attention primarily due to the triptych format, which I had never seen before in a quilt and thought was decidedly different.  The red column on the middle panel also is extremely eye-catching and serves as a visual focal point that centers the quilt.  I believe the composition is successful, particularly in the way the leaves scatter across the three panels, effectively binding them together as one piece of art.  The intricacy and sparkling quality of the background embroidery, which is characteristic of Ms. Ueda’s work, added an interesting level of detail that appealed to me.  It is a strikingly beautiful piece of work that I believe fulfills the artist’s intentions of working within the Japanese aesthetic of Zen philosophy and simple beauty.