"Hiratsuka: Modern Master"
2001-08-04 until 2001-09-16
Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA

Hiratsuka Un’ichi (1895–1997) was among the first group of 20th-century woodcut artists to break away from the tradition to which the art form was still firmly rooted. Influenced by progressive Japanese painters who had adopted watercolor and oil painting techniques during their time abroad, Hiratsuka embraced the Western technique of carving directly into the woodblock. Although he earned acclaim for his early color prints, his continued experimentation with wood-engraving techniques led him toward black-and-white compositions.

Hiratsuka was part of a printmaking revival in Japan known as the Creative Print Movement. Under the slogan “self-designed, self-printed,” these artists sought to reclaim control from publishers over the production of prints. Whereas some of the proponents adapted German Expressionist or French pre-Cubist styles, Hiratsuka delved into the history of Japanese woodblock prints, researching early Buddhist imagery and traveling to historical sites in Korea and China. Hiratsuka’s prints, teachings, and handbooks on printmaking influenced a number of artists, including the celebrated Munakata Shiko.

Hiratsuka: Modern Master presents 120 of the artist’s late woodblock prints from the collection of the Art Institute and that of the family of Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Van Zelst. The exhibition also pays tribute to the artist’s legacy in the United States, where he eventually moved. It includes a number of works with American subjects in addition to his more familiar motifs: quiet landscapes, flowers and birds, buildings and bridges, and nudes. The exhibition will be shown in two installments, thefirst on view June 16 through July 29, the second August 4 through September 16.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of Illinois

Other Important Exhibitions in Chicago