The works of art in the current exhibition of selections from the Ellen and Edwin Reingold collection were created at a time of transition for Japanese printmakers. Spanning several decades from the end of the Pacific war they are representative of new ways of looking at old themes, and the use of new techniques and materials as they became available. As foreigners came to appreciate the work of these artists and carried the work abroad during the Occupation (1945-52), and as the artists were emboldened to enter, and to win, prizes in international art competitions, this eclectic group attained a new status at home and abroad. Some were able, for the first time in their lives, to support themselves by their art. The American writer, James Michener, described his Japanese artist friends: “they are as fine a group of men as I have ever known: schoolteachers, mechanics, intellectual hermits, wild gusty men who loved to drink, mountaineers, factory workers, poets of the most exquisite sensibility, laughing men, sober men, tragic men." These men, and a considerable number of women, nourished and furthered the print movement by their creativity, verve, and audacity. The traditional woodblock print, employing the simplest materials -- wood, paper, ink -- has not died, but has mutated through new uses and combinations of materials, modern technical means, and new subject matter, and a new sense of what at art can be. All of these qualities are clearly displayed in this exhibition.

Events in Conjunction

Norman Tolman "The World of Postwar Japanese Prints"

Opening Night Keynote Speaker

January 8, 2009, 5:30 PM

SMSU room 294

Walk-through Tour 1: led by Ed and Ellen Reingold, collection owners

January 13, 2009, Noon at Littman Gallery

"Changing Times, Changing Tastes: The American Discovery of Sosaku Hanga;

Donald Jenkins (Portland Art Museum)

January 15, 2009

6 PM

SMSU room 294

 

Walk-through Tour 2: led by Maribeth Graybill,

Curator of Asian Art, Portland Art Museum

January 20, 2009, Noon at Littman Gallery