Transcending Forms: Japanese Bamboo Baskets

For thousands of years, Japanese farmers and artisans have plaited woody grasses of the bamboo family into practical containers. Utilitarian and unsigned by their maker, these containers were used for fishing, winnowing or even flower display for the refined tea ceremony. 

During the 1950s, a small number of bamboo artists moved beyond functional baskets to experiment with purely sculptural forms. Drawing from works in the Morikami collection, this exhibition will trace the evolution of the humble Japanese bamboo basket from its agricultural beginnings to the revolutionary bamboo expressions of avant-garde artists of the 20th and 21st centuries.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website