The Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro presents the exhibition Encore! Japanese Actor Prints from the Permanent Collection. On view now through August 7, 2011.
The show examines the subject of Kabuki and Noh actor prints from the Edo period (1603-1868). Artists in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries tapped into the enthusiasm for Kabuki and Noh theater with a wide range of imagery that catered to the experiences and desires of its fans. Dramatic compositions and colorful designs effectively captured and transmitted the theatrical experience long after the performance ended. The exhibition also considers the role these prints played in popular culture and in advancing Japanese aesthetics and cultural traditions. Work by some of the major leaders of the prominent ukiyo-e schools are featured, including Torii Kiyonaga, Katsukawa Shunshô, and Utagawa Toyokuni. These prints demonstrate the complexity of the printmaking and theater genres, as well as how these forms intertwined with the fields of poetry, literature, music, and entertainment.
Featuring 41 ukiyo-e prints and 1 watercolor by 23 multi-generational Japanese woodblock designers, the exhibition is presented as part of the Weatherspoon Art Museum’s 70th Anniversary year, which is highlighting many works from the permanent collection. The majority of prints on display were gifted to the Weatherspoon Art Museum by Dr. Lenoir C. Wright (1911-2003), a professor emeritus of History and Political Science at the UNCG. The Lenoir C. Wright Collection of Japanese Prints is the only collection of its kind and depth in North Carolina, numbering in excess of four hundred and fifty works of art.
This exhibition is organized by Elaine D. Gustafson, Curator of Collections, Weatherspoon Art Museum. Special thanks to Dr. David Phillips, Associate Professor, Program in Humanities and Core Faculty, Women’s and Gender Studies at Wake Forest University for assistance with reading the Japanese text. Funding for this exhibition was made possible through the generous support of the Blue Bell Foundation and Fairway Outdoor Advertising.
Image: Torii Kiyonaga (Japanese, 1752-1815), Degatari: Kabuki Actors Iwai Hanshiro IV and Sawamura Sôjûrô III as Koharu and Kamiya Jihei in the drama “Shinju ten no Amijima” (“The Love Suicides at Amijima”), 1784, Woodblock print on paper, Gift of Dr. Lenoir C. Wright, 1998.
The Weatherspoon Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro acquires, preserves, exhibits, and interprets modern and contemporary art for the benefit of its multiple audiences, including university, community, regional, and beyond. Through these activities, the museum recognizes its paramount role of public service, and enriches the lives of diverse individuals by fostering an informed appreciation and understanding of the visual arts and their relationship to the world in which we live.
Weatherspoon Art Museum
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Spring Garden and Tate Streets, PO Box 26170
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170, 336.334.5770
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weatherspoon.uncg.edu