EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS

Evocative Shadows: Art of the Japanese Mezzotint

October 26, 2019 to July 5, 2020

Mezzotint means “half-tone,” referencing the technique’s capacity to produce a broad range of deep blacks through bright whites. When first developed in Europe in the seventeenth century, mezzotint’s tonal richness caused a sensation and was used to create reproductions of paintings. After the invention of photography, it nearly died out. Its revival can be credited to Japanese printmakers who exploited its expressive possibilities. Co-curated by Art History Professor Akiko Walley and Anne Rose Kitagawa, this exhibition featured mezzotints by various Japanese artists, focusing on Hamanishi Katsunori (born 1949), about whom the JSMA published a monograph with support from Elizabeth Moyer and Michael Powanda.

Rhapsody in Blue and Red: Ukiyo-e Prints of the Utagawa School

October 3, 2020 to July 17, 2021

In 2020, Art History Professor Akiko Walley and Anne Rose Kitagawa taught a course on Japanese prints of the Utagawa School. Fifteen UO undergraduate and graduate students studied the formation and development of this important artistic lineage and learned about exhibition planning and design in order to contribute to this installation, which featured loans from the Lee & Mary Jean Michels Collection. Organized by Walley and Kitagawa to reflect the students’ ideas and research, it also included Japanese paintings, armor, and assorted decorative and modern arts that were the focus of various classes.