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Exhibition
Archives Winter/Spring 2001 The 100 color woodblock prints in this exhibition chronicle the transformation of old Tokyo into a modern city. On view in its entirety, this rare set is one the most important collections of its kind in the country. In 1923, Tokyo was devastated by an earthquake that destroyed half of its buildings and virtually all of the city's older areas, including the town center. In the rebuilding process, low, wood structures of the past were replaced by multi-story buildings of concrete and steel in an European style. Motorways for automobiles, a subway system, parks, dance halls, theatres, and cafes -- all associated with life in modern cities of the Western world -- became a part of this "new" Tokyo. One Hundred Views of New Tokyo (Shin Tokyo hyakkei), published between 1929 and 1932, is the work of eight artists who collaborated to produce a collection of woodblock prints depicting the city's buildings, public spaces, and social customs. Their collective portrait preserves a vital and vibrant culture that was again lost when Tokyo was destroyed by the bombs of World War II. Among these eight printmakers were such famous artists as: Onchi Koshiro, perhaps the greatest and most admired modern printmaker in Japan; Hiratsuka Un'ichi, later to become famous for his prints of American scenes; and Maekawa Senpan, whose work has long been admired by modern print connoisseurs. These artists traveled the city and its environs, capturing the energy of the modern urban environment and using innovative printmaking techniques. Thomas Rimer, professor and chair of East Asian languages and literatures at the University of Pittsburgh, exhibition curator, and Linda Batis, associate curator of fine arts, have organized the exhibition to reflect the transformation of the city, rather than focus on the artists. Featured are some of the traditional sites that survived the earthquake along with completely new structures that reflect the increasing influence of the West on Japanese culture, such as gas stations, coffee shops, baseball stadiums, a miniature golf course and dance halls. In order to place these prints in the ongoing flow of change within the city, this exhibition is also accompanied by a series of recent photographs of the same locations recorded by the printmakers in the 1920s and '30s. On
Paper II The varied uses of
paper as a medium for contemporary artists is the focus of On Paper
II, an exhibition on view in the museum's Forum Gallery. Some
fifty recently acquired works on paper in the museum's collection
have been created from methods as ancient as woodblock printing to
the digitally captured and inkjet printed images of today. Three early Philip Pearlstein drawings depict
the daily life of American GIs during World War II and illustrate
drawing's time-honored role in a fresh and intimate way. Prints
in this show range from wood engravings to lithographs, linocuts
and serigraphs. Examples include Vija Celmins wood engraving Ocean
Surface 2000, 2000, Helen Frankenthaler's Madame Butterfly,
2000, a woodcut in three parts, and Brice Marden's Untitled,
2000, a series of seven prints, which includes two-color etchings
and four-color lithographs. Kara Walker's Emancipation Approximation,
1999-2000, first seen as a work of paper in the 1999 Carnegie
International, has been made into a series of serigraphs; two
are on view. Photography, today, is the most widespread
form of art on paper. Twelve color photographs from Olafur Eliasson's
1999 Iceland Series and Chuck Close's Self Portrait,
1999, are in this show. An earlier work by Close, Lorna I,
is also on view. The Forum Gallery is supported by grants from The Heinz Endowments and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Folds, Blobs + Boxes: Architects using software intended for animation and aeronautics design are creating an avant-garde digital architecture best described as smooth, supple and morphed. Folds, Blobs + Boxes demonstrates how the computer, in the past decade, has significantly changed architects' perceptions of space, enabling them to push the boundaries of theory and practice. To understand this phenomenon, the exhibition will also look at predigital, 20th-century architects and designers whose work has influenced this movement. Art Nouveau Tiles: Fantastic Flowers A superb exhibition of 294 glazed tiles from the private collection of James Baker is on display in the museum's Treasure Room. Art Nouveau, literally "new art," flourished in Europe and the United States in the decades from 1890 to 1914 and is considered the first modern style in the decorative arts to incorporate themes from nature. In its day, the Art Nouveau style graced everything from household objects to buildings, and went by various names depending on the country of origin (Jugendstil in Germany, Modernista in Spain, Arte Nova in Portugal). All the tiles in this exhibition came from European building interiors, mostly from England and Germany, with a few from Belgium and one tile from Hungary. They were used to protect walls and other surfaces in shops, domestic kitchens, and lavatories from moisture, heat, damage, and wear, or were simply adornment. Until the interruption of regular commerce during World War I, there was a ready market for decorative ceramic tiles. A centuries-old tradition of making tiles by hand in Europe, particularly in Holland and England, coupled with improvements in production, transport, and marketing, helped create a consumer demand for the new machine-made Art Nouveau tiles. Most of the tiles on view are 6-inch squares manufactured by machine. Art Nouveau's treatment of natural and floral themes was a dramatic departure from the period's dominant and historically inspired classical and revival styles. The stylized floral motifs in Japanese art were another major source of inspiration for the Art Nouveau artists. Other influences included the English Arts and Crafts movement and Celtic designs. Light!
The Industrial Age: 1750 -
1900 During the Industrial Revolution, the ways people understood and used light changed enormously. As a result, many artists, such as the Impressionists, made light the subject of their art. In Light! The Industrial Age 1750-1900, works of art, science, and technology demonstrate how light changed the artist's studio, the inventor's laboratory, city streets, and the home. This cross-disciplinary exhibition combines masterpieces of the visual arts with hands-on demonstrations and creations of light experiments and experiences from previous centuries. Organized by Carnegie Museum of Art and the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, the exhibition will be seen in these two venues alone. |
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