A major exhibition, "Fleeting Beauty: Japanese Woodblock Prints," opened April 1 at the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Capitol Hill's Volunteer Park. These 60 works are from Mary and Allan Kollar's collection, and many are promised gifts to the museum in honor of the Seattle Art Museum, 75th anniversary.
The Kollars are not software-megabuck billionaires but rather former schoolteachers who started collecting prints in the mid-1970s.
Collections have a way of reflecting the personality of their creator's tastes and passions. This print collection was assembled with an eye on a serious gap in the Seattle Art Museum's Asian Art collection. The exhibition is simply a game-changer for all of Seattle.
The works represent the dynamic vibrant urban culture of Edo (Tokyo), Japan. Here is where you will find images of alluring women, dramatic kabuki actors and breathless landscapes that focus on the stylish, lyrical and, at times, epic bravado of Edo-period culture. Featured works by the most famous artists of the period (Harunobu, Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige) are shown in depth and cultural context.
Ukiyo-e, or "pictures of the floating world," evokes an emerging sense of urbanism of the men and women of Edo's demimonde. These prints capture their couture and elaborate hairstyles in fluid carved lines and bold blocks of color.
Produced en mass for the public, the prints functioned as theater programs for the stage and as hype for the next new thing in fashion. The kabuki theater and the personalities of the time was a central element in this culture. Actor prints by Shunshô, Bunchô, Sharaku and Toyokuni portrayed the stars on stage. These were male actors who also played female roles, just as in Shakespeare's time.
There are also pictures of beautiful courtesans by Eishi and Utamaro, which project both élan and allure.
Perhaps the most well known work in this exhibition is Katsushka Hokusai's "In the Well of the Wave off Karagawa," from the folio "36 Views of Mt. Fuji." Giant waves dominate the left foreground, leaving Japan's most recognizable mountain dwarfed in the central background. Small fishing boats engulfed by the turbulent waves serve as a metaphor for man's inconsequence in the palm of power of nature's might.
This image has been as widely reproduced as Van Gogh's "Starry Night" or Grant Wood's "American Gothic," and the opportunity to view a fine, high-quality example is not to be missed.
Eight works by one artist is an example of this exhibition's strength of presenting a fuller picture of the artist's body of work.
Also on view is Hokusai's "South Wind, Clear Dawn," from the same folio.
The collection also features prints from Utagawa Hiroshige's major series, including several each from the well-known folios, "53 Stages of the Tôkaidô Road" and "One Hundred Views of Edo."
Remarkable snow scenes abound from this artist, once again highlighting the collection's depth and allowing the viewer to get a better idea of the signature style of each artist.
Kitagawa Utamaro's "Bamboo Blind" illustrates the complex nature of multi-color woodblock printing. Working with master carvers and printers, the artist designs a multifaceted work of texture, color and composition.
By using registration marks, the artisans were able to execute sophisticated design elements to create a fiction of looking through a window half-obscured by a bamboo shade. The courtesan looks at a mirror while the viewer sees both her reflection and her gaze.
"Courtesan Drinking while Admiring the Moon," by Tori Kiyomasu, is an early example of this art form. She elegantly holds her sake cup in one hand while leaning on a railing with her neck craned skyward.
The use of diagonal balance in the composition will have a profound influence on later artists such as Edgar Degas, Mary Cassatt and Henri Matisse.
Gallery after gallery, the vibrant story of the Edo period reveals itself to the viewer with rich explosions of color and composition. The high quality and amazing depth of work on display should encourage the viewer to make repeated visits.
The gift of this collection means that artists in all of Seattle have a new source of information and inspiration. The Kollar collection is just another manifestation of what is known as the Seattle spirit, a gift that will keep on giving for the next generation forward.
The exhibit is on display through July 4.
Steven Vroom is the director of 911 Media Arts Center (www.911media.org).[[In-content Ad]]
