BUSEKI Suishin 武関翠心, Flower Basket (hanakago 花籠), about 1920–40. Split smoked bamboo (susudake); 10⅞ × 18 × 17¾ in. Gift of Diane and Arthur Abbey, New York, 2024.727. Photo © and courtesy of Kagedo Japanese Art.

DENVER - Grass Scripts: Bamboo Art from the Abbey Collection delves into how pioneers of modern bamboo in early 1900s Japan sought recognition for their millennia-long tradition as art rather than as craft.

Through modern innovations of form and technique, lyrical titles, and signatures, these masters of bamboo brought their own hands—wrote their own selves—into the bamboo work of art. This exhibition was made possible thanks to the generous gift of bamboo art from Arthur and Diane Abbey.

IIZUKA Rōkansai 飯塚琅玕斎, Whirlpool (Uzukumaru うずくまる), about 1953–55. Split and leached bamboo; 8½ × 9⅜ × 9 in. Gift of Diane and Arthur Abbey, New York, 2024.733. Photo © and courtesy of Kagedo Japanese Art.