Exhibitions
On The Road: Two Visions of the Tokaido
June 26 - September 13, 2009
In the summer of 1959, the printmakerJun’ichiro Sekino embarked on an ambitious project to reimagine one of the most famous series of Japanese woodblock prints, namely Ando Hiroshige’s (1795-1858) “53 Stations of the Tokaido.” More than fifteen years later, the fifty-five prints comprising Sekino’s recently-completed “New Tokaido” series were exhibited at the University of Oregon Museum of Art (now the JSMA): this marked both the first time that they had been shown outside of Japan, and the first time that they were ever shown side-by-side with Hirosh
ige’s counterparts.
On The Road: Two Visions of the Tokaido brings all 110 prints back to the public as a celebration of the 50th anniversary of Sekino’s artistic embarkation. It also celebrates the generosity of Yoko and Robert McClain, who made a gift to the museum of the complete Sekino series in 1991.
On the Road will reproduce the insightful explanatory comments on the prints that were originally published by Mr. McClain in a 1978 catalogue that has long been out of print.
It will also feature a small, complementary installation (including carved wooden blocks, printmaking tools, and prints from different stages of the printing process) that demonstrates how traditional Japanese color woodblock prints are made.
Image Credits (Left to Right) Ando Hiroshige (1797-1858), Japanese, Edo period (1603-1868), Kyoto: The Great Sanjo Bridge, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, 1833-1834, Color woodblock print, 10 x 15-1/8 inches, Murray Warner Collection of Oriental Art, MWJ51:H6; Junichiro Sekino (1914-1988), Japanese, Kyoto: Sanjo Bridge in Snow, 1973, from the series Fifty-three Stations of the Tokaido, 1960-1974, Color woodblock print, 16-3/4 x 22-3/4 inches, Gift of Yoko McClain, 1991:4.55
Binh Danh: In the Eclipse of Angkor: Tuol Sleng, Choeung EK, and Khmer Temples
April 11 - June 28, 2009
Vietnamese-American photographer Binh Danh explores ancient and modern Cambodian sites through daguerreotypes and chlorophyll printing (a unique process for transferring images onto leaves and other plant materials). More Information
This exhibition is made possible in part by the Farwest Steel Endowment Fund.
Image Credit: Binh Danh, Angkor Wat, 2008, Daguerreotype, Frame 12.75 x 15.5 x 1.25 inches/Plate 9 x 12 inches, Courtesy of the artist and Haines Gallery/San Francisco
Iconicity
On-going
The term icon (from a Greek word for “resemblance” or “likeness”) is commonly used to refer to a broad spectrum of visual representations, ranging from sacred objects that serve as the focus of religious rituals to the folders and other symbols that typically comprise a computer desktop. What these widely disparate usages share is the underlying notion of an image that embodies certain quintessential features which render it immediately and easily recognizable.
All of the works included in Iconicity depend upon the premise of easy recognition, though in most cases that is merely a starting point for exploring a variety of other issues such as the commodification of religious imagery, the nature of cultural and political icons, the creation of personal icons, and the often blurry line between icon and stereotype.
14 Views of Mt. Fuji
On-going
The works on view here are selections from a larger suite of prints devoted to “Sacred Mt. Fuji” by Saitˆo Kiyoshi (1907-1997), one of the preeminent modern Japanese woodblock printmakers. In the West, the practice of exploring the same pictorial subject repeatedly is closely associated with Claude Monet, who in the 1880s began his “series” paintings of grainstacks, Rouen cathedral, and poplar trees, among others. In Japan, this practice has a long history, and is especially associated with representations of Mt. Fuji.
Hokusai’s “Great Wave Off Kanagawa” (c. 1829), for example, probably the single best-known Japanese woodblock print (ukiyo-e) ever published, is the first in a series of “36 Views of Mt. Fuji,” which actually comprises 46 images. Interestingly enough, Monet owned a copy of the “Great Wave,” as well as many other Japanese prints, and his very notion of the series no doubt owes a significant debt to ukiyo-e.
Saitˆo was one of the major proponents of “creative printmaking” (sˆosaku hanga), whose practitioners rejected the traditional collaborative system of artist-carver-printer-publisher, and advocated instead that the individual artist should be responsible for every aspect of the work. For Saitˆo, then, while his choice of subject (the iconic Mt. Fuji) and his medium (the woodblock print) align him squarely with traditional practices, his rejection of the collaborative process and his formal emphasis on abstraction and two-dimensionality exemplify his modernism.
Elizabeth Keith in Korea
On-going
From the
Murray Warner Collection of Oriental Art, a series of woodblock prints by Scottish artist Elizabeth Keith are on display in the Huh Wing. Keith lived in Asia for many years, recording scenes of everyday life first in paintings and later by using traditional woodblock printing; she was also one of the first Westerners to depict the topography, costumes and social customs of Korea. The colorful scene of a traditional marriage ceremony depicted in "Country Wedding Feast" exemplifies Keith's close observations of the rituals of daily life. In 1937, The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art (then the UO Museum of Art) became the first university art museum to exhibit Keith's work, and in 1974 it mounted the first retrospective subsequent to her death in 1956.
Also on View
In addition to our 4,000-square-foot Changing Exhibition Gallery, you will encounter a selection of galleries that reflect the range of the museum's 12,500-piece art collection and the mission of the museum. Opening exhibitions in our collections galleries will present works from the museum, as well as pieces loaned to the museum. Highlights within each gallery will rotate regularly, offering new perspectives to returning visitors.
Collections Galleries Exhibitions:
Not Far From Here: Modern and
Contemporary Art in America
Schnitzer Gallery
Status and Authority in Imperial China
Soreng Gallery
Art and Everyday Life in Japan
Preble/Murphy Wing
True Views: Traditions of Korean
Painting
Huh Wing and Jin Joo Gallery