[Click here for a related Noozhawk photo gallery.]
Receiving an invitation for dinner at the Montecito home of Jill and Barry Kitnick is a win-win. Not only will you have an amazing meal and gracious entertaining, but you’ll have a chance to view their robust collection of art.
After relocating from Los Angeles 25 years ago with their sons, Alex and Zak, the Kitnicks turned their house into a beautiful backdrop for reflecting their love of art, food and world travels.
The Kitnicks each have degrees from UCLA — hers in art history and his in African area studies with an emphasis in anthropology and art history. The second generation is following in their footsteps. Alex, with a Princeton Ph.D. in the history of art and architecture, teaches at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, N.Y. Zak, a successful contemporary artist in New York City, has a BA and will soon have an MFA from Bard.
The Kitnicks’ most recent endeavor is the sharing of their extensive collection of scroll paintings, musical instruments, clothing and ceremonial objects collected during their multiple travels to Vietnam. The exhibit called “How to Make The Universe Right: The Art of the Shaman in Vietnam and Southern China,” will be on display at UC Santa Barbara’s AD&A Museum from Jan. 17 through May 1.
“Interest in Asian art just started by chance,” Barry Kitnick told Noozhawk.
The Kitnicks have traveled extensively for many years, but never to Vietnam or China. Barry said his wife always wanted to go to southeast Asia, in particular Vietnam.
“I did everything I could — legally — not to go to Vietnam during the war years,” he said. “I lost many friends and some relatives during that war.”
That changed when Jill came home one day with a copy of Lonely Planet Vietnam and read him a passage, “Vietnam is a country, not a war!” Six months later, they were on a plane to the destination. And they loved it.
On their second trip, Barry was introduced to someone who had some interesting art objects. A collector since his Peace Corps days in the late 1960s in Liberia, Barry had purchased objects in Paris, New York City, San Francisco, Honolulu and Atlanta — to name a few cities. Vietnam was uncharted territory.
Barry said research is second nature to him, but “there was almost no information on this subject of shaman artifacts.”
“I continued to buy and research, and one day I had a satori, a bingo moment: I’ve got something here,” he recalled.
Thus began a journey to look for someone to help him publish a major catalog.
The process of looking for someone to help him write a major catalog was a huge undertaking. Most academics were afraid of this new field because there was so little published material.
After a two-year search, Barry found Trian Nguyen, an ordained monk in Vietnam who came to the United States, got a BA from San Francisco State University, an MA from Harvard Divinity School and then a Ph.D. in Asian art history from the University of California at Berkeley. He now teaches at Bates College in Lewiston, Maine.
According to Barry, the UCSB exhibition and catalog — a four-year collaboration between the two men — are the first of their kind in any language anywhere.
“I bought what was interesting and authentic and tried to buy complete sets of objects where and when available,” Barry said.
On display at UCSB will be one complete set of 18 scrolls, other complete sets and some sets missing some scrolls, along with some single scrolls. Also on display will be 27 masks and 300 major objects, including large painted scrolls, some dated as early as 1819 and 1899.
The collection includes everything necessary to be a shaman, those individuals entrusted to conduct ceremonies, prayers for the sick and even exorcisms. The exhibit even includes an entire shrine house and installation.
“I wanted to be able to tell the best and most complete story I was capable of presenting,” Barry said. “The group of more that 500 artifacts is an unprecedented collection outside of Vietnam, giving the people of the United States a rich view of almost unknown cultures.”
On their travels, the Kitnicks were amazed to see how these people survived being outsiders in the diaspora of southern China and northern Vietnam. They were forced to live separately from both the Han Chinese and from the Vietnamese.
But using ancient forms of ancestor worship, animism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism and Taoism, Barry said they were able to continually “make their universe right.” Nguyen’s research demonstrates the intensity required to keep a complex 2,500-year-old tradition alive without the benefits of permanent sanctuaries such as temples and churches.
Barry said his hope for this part of his life’s work is that as many people as possible will view that which has never been seen before. He guarantees everyone who attends will be interested, educated and satisfied with the experience.
“This show represents the greatest scholarly effort to date to organize and present full sets of these objects in context,” he said. “These sacred objects, many of which can be regarded as masterpieces, represent the extraordinary artistic range and richness of ritual life in the mountainous regions of northern Vietnam. “
Thanks to the curatorial team of Barry Kitnick; Dan Mills, director of the Bates College Museum of Art; and Nguyen, now an associate professor of art and visual culture at Bates, the UCSB exhibit will be accompanied by an impressive collectable catalog, “How to Make the Universe Right: The Art of the Shaman from Vietnam and Southern China.”
The opening reception will be held from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Friday. Click here for more information and museum hours.
— Judy Foreman is a Noozhawk columnist and longtime local writer and lifestyles observer. She can be contacted at judyforeman@noozhawk.com. Click here for previous columns. The opinions expressed are her own.