Free First Thursday Spotlight: New Japanese Woodblock Exhibit at Seattle Asian Art Museum

Image via SAAM websiteTrying to pick which museum to hit today for Free First Thursday?  The Seattle Asian Art Museum's new "Fleeting Beauty" Japanese Woodblock Prints exhibit is opening today.  The museum is open until 9pm tonight.

Also! Families! SAAM is free on Saturdays for families AND they will be showing a free family film, too.  This week it is an animated Japanese film called "My Neighbors the Yamadas."

Normally I don't like to just reprint a press release, I'm an Added Value kinda gal, but today I have a cold so I'm running low on value to add. So here goes:

Beginning April 1, 2010, the Seattle Asian Art Museum (SAAM) in Volunteer Park will introduce the region to an exceptional collection of prints from Japan’s most renowned artists of ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world.” Fleeting Beauty: Japanese Woodblock Prints includes evocative works by the artists Harunobu, Utamaro, Hokusai, Hiroshige and more. More than sixty works from the Mary and Allan Kollar collection – many of which are promised gifts to the museum – represent the pulsating urban culture of Edo (Tokyo), Japan. Images of alluring women, dramatic kabuki actors and jewel-like landscapes spotlight the stylish, lyrical and, at times, sensational swagger of Edo-period culture. The exhibition will be on view through July 4, 2010, in the Tateuchi Galleries at the Seattle Asian Art Museum, 1400 Prospect Street, in Seattle’s Volunteer Park. 

The term “ukiyo” evokes life’s ephemeral and evanescent qualities – the transient pleasures of a day at the theater, the momentary delight of a one-night liaison, the fleeting beauty of sunset in a plum garden or a wave caught at its thundering peak. Ukiyo-e, or “pictures of the floating world,” depict the star turns and erotic dalliances of the men and women of Edo’s demimonde, capturing their magnificent robes and elaborate coiffures in sinuously carved lines and bold blocks of color. The prints, produced for the masses, functioned as playbills for the latest shows and advertisements for the next new thing. The kabuki theater – with its on-stage performances and off-stage dramas – was a central element in this culture. Actor prints by Shunshô, Bunchô, Sharaku and Toyokuni portrayed the star turns of the male protagonists and their cross-dressing counterparts, while pictures of beauties by Eishi and Utamaro marketed charm and allure. 

Fleeting Beauty also features a range of works from the major landscape series of Hokusai and Hiroshige, including two of Japan’s most celebrated artworks: The Great Wave and Red Fuji, both from Katsushika Hokusai’s series Thirty-six Views of Mt. Fuji. Both impressions are in excellent condition. The Kollar collection also boasts prints from Hiroshige’s major series, including several each from the 53 Stages of the Tôkaidô Road and One Hundred Views of Edo.