Oetsu-e Demon hanging
scroll, artist unknown, Edo Period. Ink and colors on
paper.
HANFORD, CALIF. - The Ruth & Sherman Lee Institute for
Japanese Art at the Clark Center will reopen after its annual
summer break with an exhibition that explores "traveling images"
of Japan through September 28.
At a time when nearly 100 Japanese masterpieces from the Lee
Institute Permanent Collection have traveled back to their
original home for a one-year, five-museum tour, such a theme
seems perfect for an exhibition at the Lee Institute.
The Japanese government of the Edo period (1615-1868) placed
tight controls on travel both within and to and from Japan. By
the end of the Seventeenth Century, however, the roads were
positively teeming with travelers, and foreign influence was
spreading throughout the land from the remote trading port of
Nagasaki.
Using works from or related to the period, this exhibition
explores travel's role in Edo-period pictorial arts. The title
phrase "traveling images" refers both to images of real travel
and to the journey of pictorial styles and themes between
different countries, ages and even between members of the same
artistic school.
Among the best-loved "traveling images" of Edo-period Japan were
woodblock prints of travel by Hiroshige. The institute will
exhibit a selection of these, on loan from the Pacific Asia
Museum in Pasadena. Also showcased will be a newly acquired
folding screen and paintings on long-term loan from the Carol
Brooks Collection and the Addiss-Seo Collection of Nanga Art,
along with rarely seen works from the Lee Institute Permanent
Collection.
The Lee Institute holds a superb collection of significant
Japanese screen and scroll paintings, sculptures and art objects
ranging in date from the Eighth to the Twentieth Centuries. It is
considered one of the finest collections of its kind in the
United States.
The Lee Institute for Japanese Art is located six miles south
of Hanford at 15770 Tenth Avenue. The gallery and reference
library are open to the public Tuesday to Saturday from 1 to 6
pm. Docent tours of the exhibition are held each Saturday at 1
pm. Special docent-led group tours can be arranged in advance by
calling 559-582-4915. Admission is free.
