TAM Docents: Japanese print new research_for docents

Hello Docents-

Read below for updates in Japanese woodblock prints.

-Jana

 

Jana Wennstrom
Manager of Public and Volunteer Programs

& Interim Director of Education

TACOMA ART MUSEUM
T: 253.272.4258 x3030

 

 

 

From: Zoe Donnell
Sent: Thursday, October 21, 2010 4:05 PM
To: Jana Wennstrom
Subject: Japanese print new research_for docents

 

Dear Jana,

 

I wanted to let you, and the docents, know of some new information about one of the prints on view in Edo to Tacoma.

 

The work is on that first wall of oldest prints and it is object number 1971.102. The label currently states that the artist is Torii Kiyomasu but there is a conflict between his birth/death dates and the date of the print. There is some discrepancy in the object history file as to whether the artist is Torii Kiyomasu I or Torii Kiyomasu II. Given the object date it suggests Kiyomasu II, but due to the inconsistency in the file we will now note it as “Attributed to Torii Kiyomasu II.”

 

I also discovered in this research that unfortunately I have listed the wrong technique in the gallery label. It is not benigirai-e (in which no red is used), but rather a benizuri-e print (a “rose printed picture”) in which the red has completely faded out.  I have made a new label with both of these corrections on it and will put it up in the gallery tomorrow morning. Here is the new extended text:

 

This early work is an example of the transition from hand-colored prints to the use of a few printed colors. Called benizuri-e (“rose-printed pictures”), these prints were produced most often using reds and greens. In this print the red color called beni, a highly fugitive pigment, has completely faded.

 

Would you please share this with our docents so that they are aware of this new information? The error is entirely my own and if any of the docents want to talk about it further with me I would of course be happy to.

Thank you,

Zoe

 

 

Zoe Donnell

Curatorial Coordinator

 

TACOMA ART MUSEUM

1701 Pacific Avenue

Tacoma, Washington 98402

T: 253.272.4258 x 3032

F: 253.627.1898