Art: Loan from Japan

For centuries, Japan has jealously guarded her art masterpieces, often kept them hidden from the Japanese themselves. Western museums, forced to be content with minor examples of copies, have rarely attempted comprehensive shows of historic Japanese art simply because it was not available.

Last week Japan put aside her longstanding rule, scheduled 178 of her rarest art treasures for shipment to the U.S. Next month, when diplomats meet in San Francisco to sign the Japanese Peace Treaty (see INTERNATIONAL), the works will be on display in San Francisco’s De Young Museum. The man behind the idea: De Young Director Walter Heil. When he read that San Francisco would be the scene of the treaty conference, he cabled the Tokyo National Museum. The Tokyo museum cleared it with the Japanese government, after a cabinet go-ahead gathered the best of the nation’s paintings, sculptures, ceramics, textiles, masks, armor and lacquers from museums, temples and private collections.