The Role of Japanese Art in the Early Days of the Royal Asian Art Society in the Netherlands (KVVAK)

抄録

This article examines various records of the Society of Friends of Asian Art (Vereeniging van Vrienden der Aziatische Kunst, now the Royal Asian Art Society in the Netherlands), hereafter VVAK, focussing on its founding period, to clarify trends in Japanese art. The primary founding members of VVAK were active in collecting Asian art. To do so, they visited Japan and other Asian countries and also attended auctions in Europe. VVAK organised six exhibitions before the end of the World War II. This article focuses on the 1919 and 1936 exhibitions that included the Japanese art collection. At the 1919 exhibition, 44 of the 75 works exhibited were Japanese art, but more than half were from the collections of other institutions. At the 1936 exhibition, on the other hand, 91 of the 556 works exhibited were Japanese art; most of from the pieces were from the collections of VVAK members. In both cases, ukiyo-e prints were not emphasised, and there was a particularly high proportion of paintings and ceramics. From the VVAK Bulletin, it can be ascertained that there was initially a strong exchange with the East Asian Art Society in Berlin (GOK). GOK board members visited Amsterdam when the VVAK exhibition room was opened, frequently contributed to the VVAK Bulletin, and loaned the board's collection for exhibitions. After 1933, however, relations between the two associations gradually ceased. Based on the elements identified in this article, it is necessary to clarify how VVAK and GOK interacted and the similarities between the two associations’ treatments of Japanese art.