Nov 2011 –Jan 2012 - Preview

www.portlandartmuseum.org/The Artist’s Touch, The Craftsman’s Hand: Three Decadesof Japanese Prints from the Portland Art MuseumPORTLAND ART MUSEUM, PORTLAND, OR – Oct 1-Jan 22, 2012 The Portland Art Museum owns anextensive collection of over 2500 Japanese prints datingfrom the late 17th century to the present day.This fall through January, the museum will mount itsfirst major exhibition of prints selected from the permanentcollection.Some of the more historically important pieces inthe exhibit were chosen from the Mary AndrewsLadd collection of 750 traditional woodblock printswhich was gifted to the museum in 1932. The exhibitwill also feature rare prints by iconic Ukiyo-e artistslike Suzuki Harunobu, credited as the first to producefull-colour prints, and Katsushika Hokusai, knownfor his series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji. Otherrare works include privately commissioned surimonoprints that were used for special occasions.Quintessential images of Japanese beauties (bijinga)and 18th-century prints of actors are stellar examplesfrom the collection. Works from the 20th centuryinclude a series of emotional landscapes and devastatedcityscapes showing the tragic aftermath of theGreat Kantō Earthquake of 1923. Examples of artisticstyles from the Post-War period are reflected inprints like Kunihiro Amano’s 1975 Op Art piece LostPast #4. Allyn CantorUtagawa Toyohiro, Parlor Puppets: Act VI of The Treasury ofLoyal Retainers (c. 1803), woodblock print [Portland ArtMuseum, Portland OR, Oct 1-Jan 22]THE MARY ANDREWS LADD COLLECTIONTilden, Norman Rockwell andJacob Lawrence, “Our NationalGame”, four key works by threeartists that have defined a nationthrough the American institution ofbaseball; Thru Jan 8 Luminous: TheArt of Asia, the jewels of SAM’sAsian collections, from Chinesebronzes and Japanese lacquers toKorean ceramics and South Asiansculpture and painting; Dec 9-Jul 1Theater Gates: The ListeningRoom, explores the ways history,place and performance intersect,recipient of the 2011-12 GwendolynKnight and Jacob Lawrence Fellowship;Thru Feb 12 John Marshall,“Here and Now”, gleaming silver teaand coffee services representingthree decades of master silversmithMarshall’s career; Thru Jun 17 SAMNEXT Mika Tajima, “After the MartiniShot”, dynamic, architectural installationthat explores the structure andlanguage of painting as well as complicatesthe institutional history ofdisplaying objects in a gallery;Ongoing “Burden of History”, paintingsby Anselm Kiefer, ElizabethMurray and Rashid Johnson andsculptures by Do Ho Suh, KatharinaFritsch and Jeff Koons; AmericanArt in the 1930s and 1940s, aglimpse at the creative forces thatmade the Seattle art scene so distinctivein these years; Light in theDarkness, six paintings in the Europeanart galleries on the theme ofluminescence; OLYMPIC SCULPTUREPARK Ongoing More than 20 sculptureson 9 acres including LouiseBourgeois, Alexander Calder,Mark Dion, Mark Di Suvero,Ellsworth Kelly, Roy McMakin,Richard Serra, Anthony Caro andTony Smith; New sculptures conceivedof objects, often experimentalin concept and execution, thatrespond to the context of the parkenvironment; Thru Mar 4 TrentonDoyle Hancock, “A Better Promise”,site-specific, immersive installationtelling his dramatic storythrough text and images includingwall drawings and some sculpturalelements.★ Seattle Asian Art Museum1400 E Prospect St, Volunteer Park✆206-654-3100www.seattleartmuseum.orgwed-sun 10am-5pm thurs 10am-9pm. Suggested admission: adults$7, seniors (62 and over), studentsand military $5, children 12 & underfree, SAM members free. First Thursfree admission. First Fri seniors free.First Sat families free. Thru Feb 19Painting Seattle: Kamekichi Tokitaand Kenjiro Nomura, two paintersknown in 1930s Seattle for theirAmerican Realist style of landscapepainting who shared the culturallegacy of Japan and the active culturallife of Seattle’s Japantown; Ongo-82 PREVIEW ■ NOVEMBER/DECEMBER/JANUARY 2011/12 ★ OPEN LATE ON FIRST THURSDAYS