Mingei International Museum

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Mingei International Museum
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Mingei International Museum
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Location within San Diego
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Mingei International Museum (California)
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Mingei International Museum (the United States)
Established1978 (1978)
Location House of Charm
Balboa Park, San Diego, California
Coordinates 32°43′52″N117°9′4″W / 32.73111°N 117.15111°W / 32.73111; -117.15111
Type Art museum
DirectorJessica Hanson York
Website mingei.org

The Mingei International Museum is a non-profit public institution in Balboa Park in San Diego, California, that collects, conserves and exhibits folk art, craft and design. The museum was founded in 1974, and its building opened in 1978. [1] The word mingei, meaning 'art of the people,' was coined by the Japanese scholar Dr. Sōetsu Yanagi by combining the Japanese words for all people (min 民) and art (gei 芸).

Contents

History

Mingei International Museum was founded by Martha Longenecker, Professor of Art Emerita, San Diego State University. As an artist craftsman who studied pottery-making in Japan, she became acquainted with and learned from the founders and leaders of the Mingei Association of Japan. Under her guidance, the museum was established and developed over more than 27 years.

In May 1978, Mingei International Museum of World Folk Art opened at University Towne Centre in San Diego with the exhibition, Dolls and Folk Toys of the World.

In August 1996, Mingei International was relocated to the historic House of Charm on the Plaza de Panama in Balboa Park. It shares the central square with the San Diego Museum of Art and the Timken Museum of Art.

In 2003, Mingei International opened a second museum in downtown Escondido, in North San Diego County. The premiere exhibition, Niki de Saint Phalle Remembered featured Niki de Saint Phalle's work from the museum's permanent collection and loans from the Niki Charitable Art Foundation.

In its 30-year history, Mingei International has presented 140 exhibitions, accompanied by related lectures, films, demonstrations, workshops, music, theater and dance.

Mingei International Museum closed its Escondido museum galleries to the public on June 26, 2010.

Collections

The museum's collections comprise 17,500 objects from 141 countries. The collections contain artifacts from the 3rd century BCE to the present day and include objects as diverse as ancient clay vessels and 21st-century Venetian glass. [2]

Several regions of the world are represented.

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References

  1. Showley (1999), p. 183
  2. Collections

Further reading