Untamed Beauty: Tigers in Japanese Art

Saturday, January 10, 2009 - Sunday, March 8, 2009

Kawamura Jakurin (1721-1801) Japan, Edo period, Tiger Crossing a Stream, undated, Ink and colors on paper; hanging scroll

Untamed Beauty: Tigers in Japanese Art presents paintings by 21 Japanese artists, many of whom are among the most famous painters of the last 300 years. Tigers are not indigenous to Japan, but their absence spurred fanciful ideas about their nature and physical form. The idea of such giant, powerful cats so captivated Japanese imaginations that they produced innumerable paintings of them over the course of their history – most without the benefit of firsthand observation. This exhibition is organized by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and on loan from the private collection of Harriet and Edson Spencer.