Society for Asian Art Newsletter for Members

November - December 2014 No.6

The Society for Asian Art is a support organization for the

Getting Around with the SAA !These photos represent just a few of the many events sponsored by the SAA in

2014 in addition to the Arts of Asia lecture series and the numerous speaker events held at the Asian Art Museum. We look

forward to having you join us as the SAA rolls out more fabulous events in 2015.

SAA Japan Arts, Crafts, and Architecture tour with Mr. Masatoshi Izumi

Curated tour at the Berkeley Art Museum with Julia M. White

Conversation with Dr. Massumeh Farhad, U.S. organizer of Roads of Arabia

Curated tour at SF International Airport with Timothy O’Brien

Cooking demonstration with Nazneen Spliedt

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Society for Asia Art!November - December No.6 !

Members’ Newsletter Edited by Jeanne Dorward,

Judy Fraschella and Jean Karnow published bimonthly by: !

Society for Asian Art 200 Larkin Street

San Francisco, CA 94102 www.societyforasianart.org !

Copyright © 2014 Society for Asian Art !Board of Directors 2014-2015 !

President Linda Lei Vice President Anne Adams Kahn Vice President Maureen Hetzel Past President Phyllis Kempner Secretary Jeanne Dorward Treasurer Mel Hetzel Asst. Treasurer Vince Fausone ! Richard Beleson Deborah Clearwaters* Anne Dorsey Sheila Dowell Judy Fraschella Elizabeth (BJ) Johnson Jennifer Kao Kristl Lee Sheryln Leong Forrest McGill* David Menke Julie Kim Nemeth Greg Potts Merrill Randol Teri Sandison Peter Sinton Nazneen Spliedt Lucy Sun Alice Trinkl Kalim Winata Barbara Wirth *ex officio

IN THIS ISSUE

UPCOMING EVENTS (subject to change)

Tuesday, October 28 Lecture: Maqamat al-Hariri – A 13th Century Arab Manuscript with Heather Elgood !Saturday, November 8 Lecture: Dilmun – A Bronze Age State Based in Bahrain and Eastern Saudi Arabia with Benjamin Porter and Alexis Boutin !Saturday, November 15 Study Group: Wellsprings of Indian Culture and Spirituality with Prasad Vepa !Sunday, November 16 Artist’s Studio Visit with Jung Ran Bae !Tuesday, December 9 SAA Holiday Party at Tansu Design in the SF Design Center !Friday, January 9 Lecture: Untold – The Story of Prophet Muhammed’s Wives and Daughter Fatima with Tamam Kahn !Fridays, January 23 - May 1 Arts of Asia Spring Lecture Series

Tuesday, January 13 Member Event: An Afghani Feast !Friday, March 13 Annual SAA Book Sale !

!Society Book Sale 2015 !

Donations for our Annual Book Sale are accepted throughout the year. If you have any Asian related books on art, culture, travel, cooking or novels, please call the SAA office. If you have a couple of boxes, we will pick them up from your home in the Bay Area!

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ARTS OF ASIA SPRING 2015 LECTURE SERIES

January 23 Introduction Dany Chan, AAM !January 30 Indonesian Dagger Handle Natasha Reichl, AAM !February 6 Shang Rhino Jay Xu, AAM !February 13 The Buddha Triumphing over Mara Susan Huntington, Ohio State University !February 20 Shiva and Parvati Forrest McGill, AAM !February 27 Travelers among Valleys and Peaks Stephen Little, LACMA !March 6 Kangxi Mallet Vase Robert Mowry, Harvard University !March 13 Goryeo Ewer with Lid Hyonjeong Kim Han, AAM

Masterpieces and Iconic Artworks of the Asian Art Museum !When: Fridays, January 23 - May 1 Time: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm Place: Samsung Hall Fee: $175 Society members, $200 non-members (for the series after Museum admission) $20 per lecture drop-in (after Museum admission, subject to availability) !Sign up for the Spring 2015 Arts of Asia lecture series, and learn why certain artworks in the Asian Art Museum’s collection are considered “masterpieces” or “iconic.” The series will begin with an overview of how the museum’s collection was assembled given by instructor of record, Dany Chan. Subsequent lectures will be delivered by AAM curators and preeminent scholars including Robert Mowry, Susan Huntington, and Samuel Morse. Each speaker will focus on a single object or pair of objects which has been designated a “masterpiece” or “iconic.” In addition to aesthetic qualities, other pertinent aspects will be discussed such as context (historical, cultural, and artistic), usage, and production technique. Bearing in mind the approach of the museum’s 50th Anniversary, the Spring series will not only showcase the AAM’s most celebrated artworks but also provide opportunities to familiarize the SAA audience with the museum’s exceptionally talented and knowledgeable curators.

March 20 Korean Chaekkeori Kumja Paik Kim, AAM !March 27 Portrait of Toyotomi Hideyoshi Yuki Morishima, AAM !April 3 Howdah John Henry Rice, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts !April 10 Timurid Jade Cup Qamar Adamjee, AAM !April 17 Bonten and Taishakuten Samuel Morse, Amherst College !April 24 338 Buddha Michael Knight, AAM !May 1 Two Himalayan Thangkas Jeff Durham, AAM !

Ritual vessel in the shape of a rhinoceros, probably 1100–1050 BCE. China. Bronze. The Avery Brundage Collection, B60B1+.

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STUDY GROUP

Wellsprings of Indian Culture and Spirituality: Vedas and Vedanta With Prasad Vepa !When: Saturday, November 15, 2014 Time: 10:30 am - 3:30 pm Place: Education Studios Fee: $45 Society members, $55 non-members (after Museum admission), includes lunch !This Study Group will be a rare opportunity to deepen our understanding of the religious and philosophical roots of India's ancient and complex cultural heritage. For nearly four millennia, the Vedas and Vedanta have influenced every aspect of Indian civilization – values, beliefs, customs, rituals, religion, psyche, and consciousness – not to mention art, music, and literature. !Prasad Vepa will walk us through this fascinating progression of Indian thought through time, reviewing the history, historical context, and content of the four Vedas and their interplay with Vedanta, the sublime, philosophical counter-balance to the ritual-oriented Vedas. We will look at how the Hindu faith – Sanatana Dharma, the Perennial Order – has continued to evolve, surviving various foreign as well as competing domestic challenges. Vedic rituals were myriad enough to absorb new practices from outside, while Vedanta was robust enough to stay profoundly relevant even in the face of compelling new movements such as Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. Mr. Vepa is especially conversant with the Upanishads and will discuss the timeless principles revealed in these texts and how modern leaders like Aurobindo and Gandhi drew inspiration from and adapted these ideas to bend the arc of their struggles towards justice. !Prasad Vepa holds a Master's degree from MIT in Political Science, as well as an MBA and an undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering from India. Before leaving India he worked as assistant to the Chairman of ISRO, India’s space agency. In parallel with a successful career as a corporate executive in Silicon Valley, he pursued a long study of Vedanta. He is a trustee and former Board Chair of the California Institute of Integral Studies, and he gives lively and regular lectures on Vedanta, the Bhagavad Gita, and Living the Vedantic Way. He is a spiritual seeker and an avid hiker and photographer.

!Maqamat al-Hariri – A 13th Century Arab Manuscript With Heather Elgood Tuesday, October 28, at 2:00 pm in Samsung Hall ($15 Society members, $20 non-members after Museum admission). !Al-Maqamat is a book of 50 short stories recounting the adventures of Abu Zayd, a roguish hero in northern Syria. The tales use humor to exhibit subtle and indirect criticism of the existing social order, and the illustrations are an incomparable mirror of medieval Arab society. !!Dilmun – A Bronze Age State Based in Bahrain and Eastern Saudi Arabia With Benjamin Porter and Alexis Boutin !When: Saturday, November 8 Time: 2:00 pm - 3:30 pm Place: Education Studios Fee: $15 Society members, $20 non-members (after Museum admission) !Dilmun, a 2nd millennium BCE polity that interacted with Bronze Age Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley civilizations, was first identified by a young Harvard graduate student, Peter Cornwall, in 1941. His excavations focused on the large burial features that were conspicuously arranged across the island of Bahrain, leading him to recover several skeletons and objects with which they were buried. His finds are deposited in the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology at UC Berkeley. This talk will describe the collaborative research of Benjamin and Alexis on Cornwall's collection as well as recent findings and analyses, and what they reveal about beliefs on death and the afterlife among the ancient societies of Bahrain. !Dr. Benjamin Porter, an SAA Advisor, is Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Archaeology at UC Berkeley and the curator of Near Eastern Archaeology at the Hearst Museum of Anthropology. He specializes in the Bronze and Iron Age societies of the ancient Middle East. Dr. Alexis Boutin is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Sonoma State University and Coordinator of their graduate Cultural Resources Management program. She specializes in the bio-archaeological analysis of ancient Middle Eastern societies.

13th century Arab manuscripts from Syria and Baghdad: with specific reference to the study of the illustrations of the “Maqamat al Hariri”a novel of anecdotal tales.

Qal’at al-Bahrain, ancient harbor and capital of Dilmun.

MEMBER EVENTS

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MEMBER EVENTS

Visit to a Ceramic Artist's Studio With Jung Ran Bae !When: Sunday, November 16 Time: 2:30 pm Place: Artist's Studio in Berkeley, address TBA to registrants Fee: $15 Society members, $20 non-members !Jung Ran Bae was born in Seoul and has a background in creative writing. She received an MFA in ceramic sculpture from the California College of the Arts, Oakland. She continues to work on installation and performance art and works predominantly in large clay sculptures and installations incorporating various media. While visiting her studio we will have an opportunity to see her works in progress and talk with the artist. Her work is currently on view in the Korean Gallery at the Asian Art Museum. !!!!SAA’s Annual Holiday Party ‘Tis the Season! Come Festivate! !When: Tuesday, December 9 Time: 5:30 pm - 8:30 pm Place: Tansu Design, San Francisco Design Center, 101 Henry Adams Street, Suite 320,

San Francisco Fee: $45 Society members; $50 non-members Attire: Festive, of course! !The fabulous Inja Yang has once again offered to host SAA’s Holiday party. Her showroom is now consolidated in the Design Center, a stunning spacious venue filled with treasures. Inja will have objects ranging from furniture to sculpture, painting, baskets, ceramics, folk art -- you name it -- from all over Asia. There will be ample unique “small” items appropriate for gift giving as well as a plethora of major pieces on view. We will be divinely wined and dined. Inja’s superb Korean caterer will prepare a beautiful and nourishing buffet dinner. Come join us for this wonderful annual event. !!!!Untold – The Story of Prophet Muhammad's Wives and Daughter Fatima With Tamam Kahn !When: Friday, January 9 Time: 1:30 pm - 3:00 pm Place: Education Studios Fee: $15 Society members, $20 non-members (after Museum admission) !This talk will bring to life the women around the Prophet Muhammad. Western history neglected to tell us stories about Khadija, his wife of 25 years, or mention that she was a successful businesswoman. Why is it hard to find a book in English on Fatima, their daughter, who is as famous as Mary, mother of Jesus? We know almost nothing of his Jewish wives, or the Christian mother of his son, Ibrahim. Discover these nearly forgotten women through these stories and poems distilled from 12 years of research. !Tamam Kahn is a poet and author of Untold: A History of the Wives of Prophet Muhammad, winner of an International Book Award, 2011. In 2009 she was invited by the Royal Ministry of Morocco to read her poetry in Marrakesh. She is presently collaborating with Islamic scholar Dr. Arthur Buehler on a book about Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad. !

“Human Betweens,” 2014 by Jung Ran Bae. Ceramic.

TRAVEL WITH SAA

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SOCIETY FOR ASIAN ART FINANCE COMMITTEE YEAR END REPORT, 2014

October and November, 2014, March 2015 !As you read your newsletter, 20 Society members have left town to explore the arts and culture of Korea, both traditional and contemporary, under the guidance of Professor Robert Mowry and Dr. Hyonjeong (H.J.) Kim Han. Later this year other members will be in Dallas-Fort Worth with Dr. Emily Sano, former Director of the Asian Art Museum. And in March 2015 is our much anticipated first-time visit to Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Oman. Both the Dallas-Fort Worth and the Gulf States trips are already filled, but if either one interests you, please contact Jean in the SAA office to be put on the waiting list. Despite everyone’s best intentions, cancellations do occur. !

Save the Dates 2015 !Looking at your travel calendar for the next twelve months, please save the dates for two SAA trips currently in the planning stages: Ashland, Oregon with a modern Chinese play and private studio visits tentatively set for the weekend of April 17th, 2015, and Asian Art in Northern Europe (think Sweden, Switzerland, and Germany with Dr. Stanley Abe) scheduled for early August 2015. More details on both trips will be announced in the coming months. !

CSA Travel Insurance !Did you know that the SAA is a vendor of CSA Travel Protector Insurance? It is quite easy to buy travel protection insurance by using the CSA policies which are detailed in a brochure available in the SAA office. Each time you use CSA, the SAA earns a commission which goes to our general fund. You can also sign up online at www.csatravelpro.com or you can call an agent at 1-800-834-8853. Please use our Producer Code “20100719” so that we get the credit. There is a wide range of coverage available from emergency medical insurance to complete trip cancellation policies. !

The Year-End Balance Sheet reflected total assets of $2,232,181.53: $25,457.22 in cash and $2,206,724.31 in restricted and unrestricted endowment funds. !The committee met quarterly with our investment advisor, Keith Woodland of Smith-Barney, to review investment strategy. Mr. Woodland, who serves pro bono, continued his annual appearances at a Board meeting to present current investment strategy. We are invested conservatively in Time Deposits (65%) and Mutual Funds (35%). When interest rates begin to increase, we will purchase longer-term Time Deposits to retain and ensure continued growth. The committee also hosted Mr. Woodland and his staff at Asian Art Museum exhibitions. !The Year-End Revenue and Expense Report shows a deficit of $21,339.17, owing entirely to our unbudgeted contribution toward the Museum's capital campaign: we will contribute $50,000 in each of 2014, 2015, and 2016, for a total of $150,000. !Our events and programs, including membership, netted $122,506.97. Other income (mainly interest and dividends) totaled $43,486.06. The value of our investments increased by $47,869.89. Our contributions to the Museum totaled $114,000. !The Society's accounts are maintained on a cash basis, where cash receipts and expenses are recorded only when they occur. Fair Market Value increases and decreases of our investments are also recorded monthly and added to unrestricted funds at the end of each fiscal year. !Mel Hetzel Treasurer

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COMINGS AND GOINGS

Phone: 415-581-3701 !Fax: 415-861-2358 !Email: saa@societyforasianart.org !Web: www.societyforasianart.org

Contact Information Society for Asian Art Asian Art Museum 200 Larkin Street San Francisco, CA 94102

You may have seen a new face at the table at the Friday Arts of Asia lectures or heard a new voice if you called the SAA office. Please join the SAA Board of Directors in welcoming Jean Karnow, our new Office Manager. She’s a graduate of the University of San Francisco with a major in Art History/Arts Management. Most recently she assisted Kathy and Paul Bissinger, longtime AAM supporters, in cataloging their art collection. You can expect to continue to receive the same great service from Jean that you did from Jim. !Saying hello to Jean means saying good bye to Jim Frank, the SAA Office Manager for nearly eight years. He has supported all the SAA committees in so many ways and has been a wonderful representative of the SAA to our many members. Jim received his Master’s in Urban Planning at San Jose State University and is launching his professional career with an internship at the City of Millbrae. We wish continued success and all the best to Jim, his wife Diep, and their daughter Asha. Jim, you will be missed!

SOUK is Coming and We Need YOU !Join us October 25–26 at the Fort Mason Firehouse. The quality and variety of donations are the best ever. Come see for yourself what treasures are available for very reasonable prices. !If you still would like to volunteer, email Maureen Hetzel at moraihetzel@gmail.com. We’re in need of vehicles to transport items to Fort Mason on Saturday, and assistance in sales shifts on Sunday. !Saturday 12:00 - 5:00 pm Sunday 10:00 - 2:00 pm

q October 28: Maqamat al-Hariri - A 13th Century Arab Manuscript with Heather Elgood

$15 Members $20 Non-Members

q November 8: Dilmun - A Bronze Age State with Benjamin Porter and Alexis Boutin

$15 Members $20 Non-Members

q November 15: Wellsprings of Indian Culture and Spirituality with Presad Vepa$45 Members $55 Non-Members

q November 16: Artist’s Studio Visit with Jung Ran Bae$15 Members $20 Non-Members

q December 9: Annual Holiday Party$45 Members $50 Non-Members

q January 9: Untold - Prophet Muhammad’s Wives and Daughter with Tamam Kahn

$15 Members $20 Non-Members

q Jan 23 - May 1: Arts of Asia Spring 2015 Lecture Series $175 Members $200 Non-Members

REGISTRATION FORM

Name____________________________ E-Mail ________________________ Total ________________ !Address __________________________________________________ Zip Code ___________________ ! q Visa q MC q Discover _______-_________-________-________ _____\_____ ___-___-___ Card Number Expiration Date CCV# (3-digit # on back) ! ____________________________________________________________ Signature

Paid Programs Fee Quantity Sub-Total

How to Register To Register you may: !1. Go to our website, sign up and pay on-line: www.societyforasianart.org !

OR !2. Print this registration form and send it with a check to: SAA, 200 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA 94102 !

OR !3. Print this registration form and fax it with your credit card information to: 415-861-2358 !Registration is required for all programs unless otherwise noted. If a program becomes fully enrolled, your payment will be returned. Refunds are granted for cancellations up to one business week before the event and take one or two weeks to process. SAA does not issue tickets or confirmations. You will be contacted ONLY if your registration cannot be completed.