Japanese Woodblock Prints Come to Riverside Art Museum

Genji’s World in Japanese Woodblock Prints

September 20, 2014 – January 11, 2015

Free Fall Exhibition Celebration on Friday, October 3, 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m.

For more information, visit www.riversideartmuseum.org

Riverside CA – The Riverside Art Museum (RAM) proudly presents Genji’s World in Japanese Woodblock Prints, running from September 20, 2014 – January 11, 2015, with a free, open-to-the-public Fall Exhibition Celebration on Friday, October 3, from 7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. Featured in this exhibition is a rich array of woodblock prints by many of Japan’s leading print artists, including work referencing the original Genji story (on loan from the Ruth Chandler Williamson Gallery at Scripps College) and works predominantly drawn from the foremost collection of prints of A Rustic Genji, the extensive holdings of Paulette and Jack Lantz.

The Tale of Genji (Genji monogatari), written over 1,000 years ago by the court lady Murasaki Shikibu (c.973–1014/25), has greatly influenced Japanese culture, as seen in paintings, short stories, novels, noh plays, operas, movies, manga, and anime. Genji is today celebrated both in Japan and abroad, but in the 19th century it emerged only sporadically as a motif in popular woodblock prints and it was another, Genji-related, story that was a resounding success.

In the late 1820s, when the writer Ry?tei Tanehiko (1783–1842), the print designer and book illustrator Utagawa Kunisada I (1786–1865), and the publisher Tsuruya Kiemon sat down together in Edo to plot the inaugural chapter of the serial novel, A Rustic Genji by a Fraudulent Murasaki (Nise Murasaki inaka Genji), it is doubtful that any one of them envisioned that their actions would generate a new genre, Genji pictures (Genji-e), in Japanese woodblock prints that would flourish until the turn of the century. During these sixty years, almost 1,300 original designs were created, of which many were very popular at their time of release.

Dr. Bruce A. Coats, Professor of Art History and Humanities, Scripps College, Claremont, California, where Genji’s World in Japanese Woodblock Prints was on view in winter 2012, organized the exhibition. “This exhibition includes more than 50 prints that were issued in the 19th century but are in mint condition, with intense colors, intricate details and dramatic compositions - displaying some of Japan's best woodblock printing techniques,” says Dr. Coats. “The artists Kunisada I and his followers were able to visually capture the excitement and emotions of the narratives and depicted A Rustic Genji in appropriate and beautiful landscape settings.”

The story of A Rustic Genji, set in fifteenth-century Japan, is in many respects drawn from the classic novel. It retells the amorous adventures of Mitsuuji—the counterpart to Genji's Prince Genji—and is delivered in contemporary dialogue combined with kabuki theatrics. By 1838, and concurrent with the release of new Rustic Genji chapters, woodblock-print publishers and artists set out to exploit its success through the creation of individual-sheet prints that depicted the principal characters and the most exciting scenes. Under Kunisada’s lead, the theme enjoyed enormous popularity and the craze that gave birth to these publications peaked in the 1850s and continued into the 1860s. Over eighty publishers had Rustic Genji designs on offer, and they engaged an increasing number of artists.

An elaborately illustrated book, written and edited by Dr. Andreas Marks, with contributions by Dr. Bruce A. Coats, Dr. Michael Emmerich, Dr. Susanne Formanek, Dr. Sepp Linhart, and Rhiannon Paget, accompanies the exhibition.

A private dinner reception for Paulette and Jack Lantz, Dr. Bruce Coats, exhibition donors, as well as prominent members from Scripps, RAM, and the Riverside art and international relations community, will be held on Wednesday, September 24, 2014.

“We are so pleased to work with our Trustee Rose Mayes to bring exhibitions and programming to RAM that resonates with our diverse community,” says RAM Executive Director Drew Oberjuerge. “We are also grateful to Scripps Professors Mary MacNaughton and Bruce Coats for loaning us this well-received exhibition.”

The art museum will also be holding a special Saturday afternoon art class for youth on November 15 centered on Japanese-style woodblock prints and symbolism. The students will also get a tour of this exhibit as part of the class. For more information on signing up for the class, please visit the museum’s website.

RAM relies on the generosity of members and donors to support its exhibitions, education programs, and special events. A 60-plus-year-old, private, non-profit cultural arts institution housed in a National Historic 1929 building designed by Hearst Castle and AIA Gold Medal-winning architect Julia Morgan, the museum welcomes over 50,000 visitors a year. The museum is open Tuesday – Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. and Sunday, 12:00 noon – 4:00 p.m. For information on exhibits, events, classes, memberships, or sponsorship opportunities, visit www.RiversideArtMuseum.org. Find us on Facebook (www.facebook.com/riversideartmuseum), Twitter (RAMRiverside), Instagram (@riversideartmuseum), and Pinterest (www.pinterest.com/ramarts).

Sponsored by: Robert Harris & Susan M. Rothermund | Walter and Betty Parks | Deborah Kotaka & Jim Ferrari | Japanese American Citizens League – Riverside Chapter 

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Caption info:

2012.8.4.jpg

Utagawa KUNISADA (1786-1865)
Published by Izumiya Ichibei
No. 4 (Yon ), from the series His Figure: Related Copies of Other Pictures ,
or Magic Lantern Slides of That Romantic Purple Figure ( Sono sugata
yukari no utsushi-e ), 1850
Woodblock print; ink and color on paper
Oban
Scripps College Collections
Gift of Mrs. Frederick S. Bailey,  2012.8.4

46.1.76.jpg

Attributed to Okumura MASANOBU (1686-1764)
Published by Yorozuya Seibei and Yorozuya Hikotaro
Murasaki Shikibu , from the book Mirror of Beauties, 1709
Hand-colored woodblock print; ink and color on paper

11 7/8 x 7 13/16
Scripps College Collections
Gift of Mrs. James W. Johnson, 46.1.76

Ai Kelley

Riverside Art Museum Communications

akelley@riversideartmuseum.org | 951.684.7111x303