Regional Oral History Office University of California The Bancroft Library Berkeley, California Terese Tse Bartholomew THE ASIAN ART MUSEUM ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Interviews conducted by Martin Meeker in 2013 Copyright © 2013 by The Regents of the University of California Since 1954 the Regional Oral History Office has been interviewing leading participants in or well-placed witnesses to major events in the development of Northern California, the West, and the nation. Oral History is a method of collecting historical information through tape-recorded interviews between a narrator with firsthand knowledge of historically significant events and a well-informed interviewer, with the goal of preserving substantive additions to the historical record. The tape recording is transcribed, lightly edited for continuity and clarity, and reviewed by the interviewee. The corrected manuscript is bound with photographs and illustrative materials and placed in The Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley, and in other research collections for scholarly use. Because it is primary material, oral history is not intended to present the final, verified, or complete narrative of events. It is a spoken account, offered by the interviewee in response to questioning, and as such it is reflective, partisan, deeply involved, and irreplaceable. ********************************* All uses of this manuscript are covered by a legal agreement between The Regents of the University of California and Terese Tse Bartholomew dated August 14, 2013. The manuscript is thereby made available for research purposes. All literary rights in the manuscript, including the right to publish, are reserved to The Bancroft Library of the University of California, Berkeley. Excerpts up to 1000 words from this interview may be quoted for publication without seeking permission as long as the use is non-commercial and properly cited. Requests for permission to quote for publication should be addressed to The Bancroft Library, Head of Public Services, Mail Code 6000, University of California, Berkeley, 94720-6000, and should follow instructions available online at http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/ROHO/collections/cite.html It is recommended that this oral history be cited as follows: Terese Tse Bartholomew, “The Asian Art Museum Oral History Project: Terese Tse Bartholomew”, conducted by Martin Meeker 2013, Regional Oral History Office, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 2013. Terese Tse Bartholomew Photography by Dr. Jane M. Li v Table of Contents—Terese Tse Bartholomew Interview #1 March 28, 2013 Audio File 1 1 Birth in in Guangzhouwan, China, in 1943 – Cantonese-speaking family, raised Catholic – Grandfather, a merchant from Macao – Family lived in Yunnan Province during World War II – Growing up bilingual – Attending Sacred Heart School and Maryknoll School in Hong Kong – Content of education in Hong Kong Catholic schools, including religion – Learning Chinese culture from her mother’s side of the mother – Learning Chinese arts and calligraphy from her paternal grandfather – Seals, seal carvers, and proverbs – Leisure and social life as a teenager in Hong Kong – Holidays and festivals – Enrolling in Holy Names College in Oakland, California, in 1962 – Course of study at Holy Names – Interest in studying the arts and art history – Living off-campus rather than a dormitory – Comparison of Asian and Western arts – Enrolling in the Master of Arts in Art History at UCLA – Siblings’ life trajectories Audio File 2 31 Art History at UCLA – Key faculty members at UCLA – Studying iconography, motifs, and puns in Chinese art – Studying with Professor LeRoy Davidson – Variety of jobs while in graduate school – Pressured to write a thesis on Chinese bronzes rather than on Chinese “popular culture” – More comparison of Asian and Western arts – Assisting with the first exhibition of Indian sculpture in Los Angeles – Securing a summer internship with the de Young Museum in San Francisco in 1968 – Assigned to the Brundage Collection at the de Young Museum for the summer – The work of a summer intern, first exposure to the Brundage Collection, studying and writing labels for individual items in the collection Interview #2 April 4, 2013 Audio File 3 47 More on serving as an intern at the de Young / Brundage Collection – Cataloging and writing descriptions of Indian sculpture – The practice of identifying sculpture through visual content and type of stone – Fred Cline and the establishment of a library within the Brundage Collection – Working with Rene d’Argencé, the director of Brundage Collection, and Clarence and Sylvia Shangraw, curators – Other key staff members from the 1960s – Preparators, conservators, curators, and registrars and their various tasks – Reconsecrating holy objects during the period the museum was closed (early 2000s) – Exhibit preparators’ jobs – Curators’ jobs – Assisting the public with identifying privately-held art works – The example of Guiseppe Castiglione – Donation of objects to the museum by the public – Discussion of the donation of jade pieces to the Brundage Collection / Asian Art Museum – Skill of identifying art objects – Early exhibition curatorial work – More on curatorial tasks – Brundage on collecting – Pressure from Brundage on the curators to produce the collection catalog – On the pressure to stage “blockbuster” exhibitions such as the “King Tut” exhibit – The Chang Dai-Chien retrospective (1972) Audio File 4 76 Chang Dai-Chien, a contemporary artist in an antiquities museum – On the Asian Art Museum as an antiquities museum – The controversy of the Venus Transmogrified exhibit – More on the Chang Dai-Chien retrospective – The Cyril Magnin Jade Room – Guest curating an exhibition for the Asia House in New York – Archeological Finds of the People’s Republic of China (1975), a major exhibit for the museum – Dealing with bureaucrats from the People’s Republic of China – Intellectual and physical organization of the Asian Art Museum – Serving as curator for both Indian and Southeast Asian art – Art and cultures that fall outside the museum’s purview – Ethnic art, folk art, and the problem of art from the Philippines – Debates among the curators – Museum directors and the changing direction of the museum – From primarily city funding to primarily private donations – The influence of education curators on the content of exhibits – Security problems at the museum facility in Golden Gate Park – Relationships between staff of the de Young and staff of the Asian Art Museum – Thoughts on Avery Brundage Interview #3 April 25, 2013 Audio File 5 101 Learning display aesthetics from Brundage and Yoshiko Kakudo, Japanese curator – On meeting Bruce Bartholomew, future husband – Common interest in Chinese musical instruments and botany – Parents’ response to engagement with a Westerner – Working with her husband on The Hundred Flowers: Botanical Motifs in Chinese Art (1985) exhibition – Yixing pottery – More on the flowers exhibition – Organizing the exhibition I-Hsing (Yixing) Wares (1978) with the China Institute in America – How to determine quality in Yixing ware – On fakes, forgeries, misattributions, reproductions, and the question of quality in Yixing ware – Reviewing many of the items featured in the catalog for the exhibition I-Hsing (Yixing) Wares (1978) – Scholars, emperors, and collecting Yixing ware – Travel to Yixing, learning to be a potter – Exhibition on Yixing ware at the Hong Kong Museum on Art – More on forgery and quality – The boom in quality Yixing ware in the 1980s Audio File 6 124 More on Yixing pottery – 1978 Sotheby’s auction of Yixing ware and Gu Jingzhou, the master – The rise of female potters – Proposition 13 (1978) and its impact on exhibitions at the Asian Art Museum – Religious Art of Nepal [1980] exhibition – Other exhibitions, early to mid-1980s – Protests over an exhibition of Tibetan art – More on The Hundred Flowers exhibition and flower motifs in Asian art – Exhibition on blue-and-white porcelain – Departure of d’Argencé and arrival of Rand Castile –Damage from the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake – Thoughts on the Old Main Library as the site for the new Asian Art Museum – Connoisseur Art Council of the Museum’s Board of Trustees and the purchase of art for the collection – Outreach and education Interview #4 May 21, 2013 Audio File 7 150 Bartholomew’s aesthetic preferences in Asian art: “I just like things with a deeper meaning” – Myth and Rebuses in Chinese Art (1988) exhibition and Chinese character – Wisdom and Compassion: Sacred Art in Tibet exhibition (1991) – Funding for the exhibit and curatorial vision – Differentiating between Tibetan art and Chinese art – Perils of loaning items for exhibit – Mongolia: The Legacy of Chinggis Khan (1995) exhibition – Travel to Mongolia with Pat Berger – Selecting art for loan from museums in Mongolia – Politics of applying for large grants – Response to the Mongolian exhibition – Items from Mongolia in the museum’s permanent collection Audio File 8 174 Relationship between Mongolia and Buddhism – Relationship between the City of San Francisco and the museum – More on the facility in Golden Gate Park in contrast to the Old Main Library facility – Hidden Meanings in Chinese Art book (2006) and Hidden Meanings: Symbolism in Chinese Art exhibit (2006) – Proposing ideas for new exhibitions – Leadership of Emily Sano and Forrest McGill – Jay Xu, the new museum director – On the place of art museums in contemporary culture – On the changing, and static, image