Charles Lang Freer’s Japanese Ceramics


At the turn of the twentieth century through its first decades, in the context of an increasingly international and interconnected Japonisme, the collecting activity of Detroit-based industrialist Charles Lang Freer (1854–1919) in the area of Japanese ceramics epitomized a key transition from a collector’s individual taste to the collection’s role in the public discourse on Asian art. This essay traces this evolution by exploring Freer’s collecting patterns, the influence of his network of dealers and advisors, and his relationship with the art market. At the intersection of personal choice and public prominence, Freer’s Japanese ceramics became an instrument of legitimization for emerging canons of Japanese art.