TMA Welcomes Curator Annie Van Assche for Spring Lecture Program to Open Exhibition

TYLER, TX—The Tyler Museum of Art is celebrating the debut of its major summer exhibition, Fashioning Kimono: Art Deco and Modernism in Japan, with the final program in its 2009 Spring Lecture Series on Sunday, June 7.

Annie Van Assche, independent curator and editor of the catalogue that accompanies the Fashioning Kimono exhibition, is scheduled to present the lecture titled “The Kimono and Western Dress in the Early 20th Century: A Revolution in Fashion” at 2 p.m. in Tyler Junior College’s Jean Browne Theatre. A book signing will follow the program at the TMA, where copies of the exhibition catalogue will be available for purchase in the Museum Gift Shop. Lecture tickets are free for TMA members, $5 for seniors and students, and $7 for adult non-members (price includes exhibition admission).

Ms. Van Assche is a textile artisan and Japanese art historian specializing in Japanese textiles. For the past 10 years, she has worked as curator of textiles for the celebrated collection of Jeffrey Montgomery, an American residing in Lugano, Switzerland, who is recognized throughout the globe as a peerless collector of Japanese arts and crafts. The Montgomery Collection is composed of more than 1,200 items, approximately 300 of which are textiles. Fashioning Kimono is drawn from that group, focusing on different varieties of kimono created in the late 19th- to mid-20th centuries. A collection of period photographs, on loan from the International Hokusai Research Center in Milan, Italy, accompanies the exhibition.

During the span of her work with the Montgomery Collection, Ms. Van Assche has curated several exhibitions, including Giappone color indaco (The Color Indigo; 2003, Biblioteca di via Senato, Milan, Italy), and Avvolti nel Mito (Wrapped in Myth; 2005, Palazzo Ducale, Genoa, Italy). Prior to this, she worked as curator of education for the Japan Society of New York, collections manager for the Morikami Museum and Japanese Garden in Delray Beach, Florida, and as curatorial assistant for the Honolulu Academy of Arts in Hawaii. In addition to authorship of catalogues for various exhibitions she has curated, her essays have appeared in Five Tastes (2001), Timeless Beauty (2002) and Taisho Chic (2002). She is editor and principal author for Fashioning Kimono: Dress and Modernity in Early Twentieth-Century Japan (2006, 5 Continents Editions, Milan, Italy), the catalogue that accompanies the Fashioning Kimono touring exhibition. She holds an M.A. in Japanese Art History from the University of Hawaii, and resides in New York City.

The Spring Lecture Series program featuring Ms. Van Assche commemorates the public opening of Fashioning Kimono at the TMA, which continues through Aug. 16 in the Museum’s North Gallery. Underwriter for the opening lecture is Mildred H. Grinstead.

Major underwriters for the exhibition are Amy and Vernon Faulconer, and The Julietta Jarvis Foundation, with additional support provided by Agnes and Frank Ward, and Food Fast Convenience Stores. Collectors’ Circle Sponsors are June and Steve Hillis, Amy and Bill Lively, Bette King and Myrtis D. Smith. Corporate Member Sponsor is Southside Bank. Media Sponsor is KLTV-Channel 7.

Fashioning Kimono is organized and circulated by Art Services International of Alexandria, Virginia, with support for the national tour and catalogue provided by The E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. Honorary Patron of the exhibition is His Excellency, Ichiro Fujisaki, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the United States of America.

The Tyler Museum of Art, accredited by the American Association of Museums, is located at 1300 S. Mahon Ave., adjacent to the Tyler Junior College campus off East Fifth Street. Regular hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, and 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday. (The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays.) Lunch is available in the Museum Café from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Tuesday through Friday, and the TMA Gift Shop is open during exhibition hours. For more information, call (903) 595-1001 or visit www.tylermuseum.org.