Foreign Minister’s Commendation - Dr Rupert Faulkner
2020/10/28
On 9 September 2014, Ambassador Keiichi Hayashi conferred the Foreign Minister’s Commendation on Dr Rupert Faulkner, Senior Curator in the East Asian Section of the Asian Department at the Victoria and Albert Museum, for his sterling contribution in furthering mutual understanding and friendship between Japan and the United Kingdom.
2014 marks 30 years since Dr Faulkner joined the V&A Museum. During his long career, he created a valuable database system for re-cataloguing the V&A's extensive collection of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. He also led on expanding the V&A's collection in contemporary Japanese studio crafts which was displayed in the 1995 exhibition, ‘Japanese Studio Crafts: Tradition and the Avant-Garde’. His vision and passion for this exciting area of Japanese art did not stop there and he continued to build upon the museum’s collection resulting in arguably the world’s best and most varied collection of Japanese contemporary craft outside Japan. Also, his versatility brought the Japanese gallery at the V&A ‘Kitty and the Bulldog’, an exhibition of Japanese street-style Lolita fashion, which was accompanied by the surprising sight of the mass appearance of all the London Lolitas at the opening of the exhibition. He also took a central role in the project to restore one of its great treasures, the superb example of 17th-century Japanese export gold and lacquer craftsmanship, the Mazarin Chest.
Dr Faulkner is clearly well respected both in the United Kingdom and in Japan. He regularly lectures on Japanese art outside the museum where he works and is asked to contribute to exhibition catalogues and at conferences around the world. He has published widely, having written and contributed to a number of books dedicated to Japanese art.
The colleagues of the V&A Museum and his family joined us to celebrate Dr Faulkner’s accomplishments. Ambassador Hayashi highly praised his contribution saying that he is a man of many talents and awarding Dr Faulkner this well-merited Foreign Minister’s Commendation is great pleasure for him.
2014 marks 30 years since Dr Faulkner joined the V&A Museum. During his long career, he created a valuable database system for re-cataloguing the V&A's extensive collection of ukiyo-e woodblock prints. He also led on expanding the V&A's collection in contemporary Japanese studio crafts which was displayed in the 1995 exhibition, ‘Japanese Studio Crafts: Tradition and the Avant-Garde’. His vision and passion for this exciting area of Japanese art did not stop there and he continued to build upon the museum’s collection resulting in arguably the world’s best and most varied collection of Japanese contemporary craft outside Japan. Also, his versatility brought the Japanese gallery at the V&A ‘Kitty and the Bulldog’, an exhibition of Japanese street-style Lolita fashion, which was accompanied by the surprising sight of the mass appearance of all the London Lolitas at the opening of the exhibition. He also took a central role in the project to restore one of its great treasures, the superb example of 17th-century Japanese export gold and lacquer craftsmanship, the Mazarin Chest.Dr Faulkner is clearly well respected both in the United Kingdom and in Japan. He regularly lectures on Japanese art outside the museum where he works and is asked to contribute to exhibition catalogues and at conferences around the world. He has published widely, having written and contributed to a number of books dedicated to Japanese art.
The colleagues of the V&A Museum and his family joined us to celebrate Dr Faulkner’s accomplishments. Ambassador Hayashi highly praised his contribution saying that he is a man of many talents and awarding Dr Faulkner this well-merited Foreign Minister’s Commendation is great pleasure for him.
The Embassy of Japan