Come meet the women of Japanese woodblock prints.Byline: Bob Keefer The Register-Guard A bevy bevy a flock of birds. of beauties awaits you at the White Lotus White Lotus Chinese Buddhist millenarian movement that was often persecuted because of its association with rebellion. The movement had roots in 4th-century worship of the Buddha Amitabha, whose devotional cult inspired Mao Ziyuan to form the White Lotus Society, a pious . These women are elegant, graceful, subtle and charming. They are perfectly poised as well as nicely posed. And many of them are just beginning to make the leap from traditional Japanese society to a world influenced by the West. The women are all depicted in Japanese woodblock wood·block n. 1. See woodcut. 2. also wood block Music A hollow block of wood struck with a drumstick to produce percussive effects in an orchestra. prints from the 19th and early 20th centuries that are on display at the downtown gallery, where owner Hue-Ping Lin has been collecting them for years. Images of elegant women and courtesans are a central part of ukiyo-e, the Japanese art Japanese art, works of art created in the islands that make up the nation of Japan. Early Works The earliest art of Japan, probably dating from the 3d and 2d millennia B.C. tradition that roughly translates as "pictures of the floating world." Produced between the 17th and 20th centuries, the woodblock prints depict landscapes, cityscapes and people of the pleasure districts of downtown Tokyo and other urban centers. The mass produced prints were art for the middle class, people who couldn't afford originals. Some of the prints here are simple and striking, others more complex. "Umbrellas," an 1895 print by Tomioka Eisen, offers a bold composition of a woman's face between two umbrellas. It's as simple and direct as can be. This was the kind of art that would influence European post-impressionist painters from Paul Cezanne Noun 1. Paul Cezanne - French Post-impressionist painter who influenced modern art (especially cubism) by stressing the structural components latent in nature (1839-1906) Cezanne to Vincent Van Gogh. Other prints of the era provide a window into the meeting of two cultures. Mizuno Toshikata's "Reading News- paper" shows a woman holding a Japanese newspaper in front of her as she closes a traditional screen behind her. She seems to be stepping from the past into the future. The oldest print in the show is Kikugawa Eizan's "Courtesan cour·te·san n. A woman prostitute, especially one whose clients are members of a royal court or men of high social standing. [French courtisane, from Old French, from Old Italian cortigiana " from about 1830. On paper that is turning slightly brown with age and that shows marks from having been rolled as a scroll, the image is still fresh and lively. Even the titles of some of the images are tantalizing tan·ta·lize tr.v. tan·ta·lized, tan·ta·liz·ing, tan·ta·liz·es To excite (another) by exposing something desirable while keeping it out of reach. : 19th century master Kunisada's "Famous Places of Edo Compared with One Hundred Beautiful Women," for example, or his ``254 Beauties of the Modern Day.'' Part of the exhibit consists of kuchi-e, a related print genre. Kuchi-e prints of beautiful women appeared in books and magazines at the end of the 19th century as fold-outs - a kind of early centerfold cen·ter·fold n. 1. A magazine center spread, especially a foldout of an oversize photograph or feature. 2. a. The subject of a photograph used as a centerfold, often a nude model. b. . This is a fun show that makes a bright, colorful and cheerful diversion for a late winter day. EXHIBIT REVIEW Bijin-ga: Women in 19th Century Japanese Woodblock Prints Where: White Lotus Gallery, 767 Willamette St. When: Through April 21 Hours: 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. |
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