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The artist who made this basket, The Shimmering of Heated Air, was among the first generation of bamboo craft artists who transcended tradition and infused basketry with individual expression. According to the artist’s son, this work was intended to represent the refraction of candlelight through faceted crystal. It represents a great leap into new territory, with its dynamic interplay of structured geometry and shimmering, overlapping lines of bamboo that seem to dance as the eye moves around it. In 1967, Shounsai was named a “Living National Treasure” in bamboo craft, the first of three bamboo artists so honored. In the postwar period, the Japanese government grew concerned with the decline of its unique artistic heritage, especially in the performance and craft arts. To preserve and foster these traditions, the Cultural Properties Protection Act was promulgated in 1950, and artists were designated Intangible Cultural Properties, now called Living National Treasures. See commentary by Robert T. CoZand in Joseph N. Newland, ed., Japanese Bamboo Baskets: Masterworks of Form and Texture from the Collection of Lloyd Cotsen (Los Angeles: Cotsen Occasional Press, 1999).
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