Collections

The Asian Art Photographic Distribution (AAPD) project was established at the University of Michigan in 1970 with excess funds left over from the Palace Museum Archive from the National Palace Museum in Taiwan. From 1971-2006, AAPD produced and sold sets of 35mm slides depicting Asian artworks from various museum collections and exhibitions.

Slides are grouped into sets based on the repository or exhibition of the artworks documented. The objects represented by this collection came from public and private collections as well as traveling exhibitions. Subjects cover a wide range of artistic media including painting, sculpture, calligraphy, etc. Geographic regions include China, Japan, and central Asia. Time periods covered range from ancient to twentieth century.

Supplementing the slides are two file folder cabinet drawers, approximately three linear feet in total, of documentation relating to the creation and sales of AAPD slide sets.

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The Kozo Sasaki collection is comprised of approximately 3,185 images of Asian artwork. The images are a compilation of slides and black & white photographs taken by Dr. Kozo Sasaki. The artwork ranges from the Momoyama period (1573-1603) to the Taisho period (1912-1926).

The Kozo Sasaki collection contains 3,033 slides and 152 black & white photographs taken by Dr. Kozo Sasaki himself. The slides and photographs depict Asian artwork, primarily Japanese, ranging from the late 16th century to the early 20th century and cover the Momoyama (1573-1603) to Taisho periods (1912-1926). The majority of the images are Edo period paintings and hanging scrolls. Many of the slides were taken of art in situ. Also included in the collection are images of sculptures, ceramics, mandalas, woodblock prints, sketches, illustrations, decorative arts, and photographs of temples. A set of twelve Japanese handscrolls are captured in a series of 152 black & white photographs.

The Palace Museum Archives Collection was part of a project from 1963 to 1964 to create and distribute a photographic record of the holdings of the National Palace Museum in Taiwan. The archive is composed of three primary collections, the National Palace Museum (NPMT), the Chinese Art Treasures (CAT), and Chien-Mu, and contains the negatives and master file prints of all the photographs taken throughout the project.

The Palace Museum Archives Collection was part of a project from 1963 to 1964 to create and distribute a photographic record of the National Palace Museum, Taiwan's holdings. The archive contains two main series, which reflect the two mediums of the collection, Negatives and Master Files. The Negatives were originally produced during the photograph reproduction project at NPMT, while the Master Files are the black and white prints of the negatives. These series are further divided by the three main collections that make up the PMA, the National Palace Museum (NPMT), the Chinese Art Treasures (CAT), and the Chien-Mu. The photographs and negatives within these collections are then arranged by the dynasty during which the original artwork was created and finally by the medium.

The NPMT and CAT both contain paintings, various albums, and various medias. The Painting series contains handscrolls, hanging scrolls, calligraphy, and portraits. The portraits contain approximately 79 portraits of various emperors of China. For many of them, the artist and the dynasty they were commissioned during are unknown. Several of the earliest paintings depict mythical emperors or subjects who did not have portraits painted of them during their lifetimes. The Various Albums contains approximately 42 multi-leaf painting albums and they contain various artists, subjects, and dynasties. The Various Medias series contains photographs of objects made from bronze, ceramic, fa-lang, ink stone, ink sticks, jade, k'ossu, lacquer, silver, or wood. The Chien-Mu collection only contains handscrolls, hanging scrolls, and various albums and these items are generally understood to be lesser or more unreliable in terms of authenticity than those found in the NPMT or CAT.

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