The Gitter-Yelen Foundation is pleased to announce a major gift of Japanese paintings to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, finalized in late 2021.
The MFA Houston states, “This transformative acquisition increases the Museum’s holdings of Japanese painting several times over, establishing the growing collection as one of the most significant in the United States.” Cited by the museum as a “historic agreement,” it comprises 73 works from the Edo, Meiji, and Taisho Periods, representing nearly every major school of Japanese painting, including Rinpa, Kano, Ukiyo-e, Bunjin, Maruyama-Shijo, and Zenga, and spans a range of genres, including landscape, calligraphy, and ritual painting from over nearly seven centuries.
“I am enormously pleased that the Museum has been able to fulfill key collection priorities with these exceptional, recent acquisitions,” commented MFAH Director Gary Tinterow. “We now will hold one of the leading collections of Edo period painting outside of Japan.”
Kurt Gitter expresses, “Alice and I could not be more thrilled to partner with the MFA Houston to enrich its holdings of Japanese art as we have done with other institutions over the past five decades. These artworks have provided us with endless joy and allowed us to engage many different audiences and communities to raise awareness of Japanese culture over the years via scholar and student visits to our study center, loans to museums, and publications. The MFA Houston’s magnificently designed exhibition of our screens and ceramics Unfolding Worlds, Japanese Screens and Contemporary Ceramics from the Gitter-Yelen Collection (2015) demonstrated how a world-class museum can enhance the viewer’s experience and appreciation of Japanese art, in all its visual splendor and cultural specificity. We are inspired by the vision of Director Gary Tinterow, whom we have had the privilege of calling a friend for many years and are excited by the many new ways in which these artworks will be able to delight and instruct audiences in their next home.”
To read more about this significant gift, visit the links below: