This fall, visitors to Seattle Art Museum will witness how the Japanese and Westerners appreciated each other’s cultures by viewing 142 treasures from the Kobe City Museum, many of which have never traveled outside of Japan before.
The exhibition features rare paintings, prints, maps, ceramics, lacquer ware, metal ware, glass ware, leather ware and textiles.
The exhibit, “Japan Envisions the West: 16th-19th Century Japanese Art from Kobe City Museum,” will be presented in two parts. Part one is under way and runs through Nov. 25. Part two begins Dec. 1 and continues through Jan. 6 at the museum, 1300 First Ave., Seattle.
This exhibit provides a window into the early interaction between Japan and the West. In presenting the exhibit, SAM hoped to advance the knowledge of the rich art and culture of Japan and “offer keen insight into the history of cross-cultural exchange,” Seattle Art Museum director Mimi Gates said in a prepared statement.
“Japan Envisions the West” includes rare works such as “Depiction of the Island of Japan” by Luis Teixeira, which is the first map of Japan published in Europe. There’s also a four-panel screen “Foreign Emperors and Kings on Horseback” by an unknown Japanese artist created under the direction of a Jesuit missionary.
The exhibit also includes “namban,” or “southern barbarian” art, which was created in response to Japan’s introduction to Portugal and Spain and shows the way Japan adopted new techniques.
The exhibition highlights the period of seclusion from 1639 to 1853. Japan’s seclusion ended in 1853 when American Commodore Matthew Perry arrived in Edo, today’s Tokyo. The exhibit helps demonstrate how Japanese artists assimilated Western conventions into traditional Japanese aesthetics.
Halfway through the exhibition there will be a changeover in works on paper, which includes all the prints and maps. Exhibited works in part one and two can be viewed at www.seattleartmuseum.org.
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Couples who make art together: At Stanwood House Gallery, visitors will find love: the kind of love spouses share that produces art.
The new exhibit, “Couples in Collaboration,” will showcase artistic co-existence between couples. It opens with a meet the artists reception set for 5 p.m. Saturday at Stanwood House Gallery, 9915 270th St. NW, Stanwood. The exhibit will run through the rest of the year.
The artists in the exhibit are: Mark and Vicki Dodge, Patrick Arthur and Ella Hope, Chaim Bezalel and Yonnah Ben Levy, the owners of the gallery who say that sometimes artists marry muses, or patrons or other artists, but sometimes relationships can combine all three of these types.
Mark and Vicki Dodge are photographers. Patrick Arthur and Ella Hope work as artist and model, though the model in this case oftentimes chooses locations, poses and even themes. Chaim Bezalel and Yonnah Ben Levy are showing Skagit River Triptych I &II from their “Pacific Scrolls” series, which combines his photography and her painting.
Enjoy a pleasant visit: A visit to Rexville in Skagit County is almost like a visit back in time. All that charm gets an additional boost this weekend with the opening of the Pleasant Ridge Gallery at Rexville Holiday Show.
The show begins at 10 a.m. today and includes a party from 6 to 9 tonight at the Rexville Grange Hall, 19299 Rexville Grange Road. The show continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday through Monday. For more information, go to www.geocities.com/rexvillegallery. There will be food, wine and live music.
Pleasant Ridge Gallery features the work of fine artists and crafts people from around Western Washington. Open only twice a year, the gallery’s collection focuses on art with a Northwest feel and includes landscape and botanical painting, ceramics and Raku pottery, handcrafted jewelry and clothing, gourmet foods and body care products made with local and organically grown fruits, herbs and flowers. Artists will also be demonstrating their craft.
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