Selections for the Summer

Exhibition

Exhibition Overview

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Selections for the Summer
July 1, 2006–September 1, 2006
Asia Gallery, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

Guest curator Mary Dusenbury has selected from the Spencer’s collection a variety of paintings, prints and ceramics for the Asia Gallery, each small group with its own theme.

•Mountain Retreats
Two artists have brushed paintings that address the idea of retreating into nature for refreshment, contemplation and inspiration. On the opening wall, Shukuya Aoki invites us to join a fourth-century group of scholars who have gathered somewhere deep in the mountains. The shared wine and mountain setting induce a rarified state of mind in which to compose poetry. On the east wall, Okuhara Seiko, who scandalized and intrigued her contemporaries, has brushed a poem and painting of her own small mountain retreat.

•Earth, Wind & Fire
Ancient and contemporary potters alike experiment with earth, air and fire to explore form – whether for a functional purpose or not – and the transformations that occur within the kiln.

•Flora & Fauna
Okuhara Seiko, Yamada Kōun and Zhao Shao’ang have created vignettes of the flora and fauna that surround us. Their vision helps us to see our own surroundings with more clarity.

•Journeys
Two artists address the idea of a journey. The 17th-century courtier Karasumaru Mitsuhiro’s brushed poems and paintings illustrating a journey between Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo) are in the scroll case on the back wall. On the opposite wall Tanaka Ryōhei’s etchings of an empty road disappearing around a curve in the trees or between thatched-roof houses invite us on an imaginary journey deep into the countryside.
•Social & Political Upheaval
Four artists view China from 1941 to the end of the century. Their varied responses to that tumultuous period are on the southwest wall of the gallery.

We hope you enjoy the exhibition and leave refreshed and with a renewed sensitivity to – and pleasure in – the world around us.

Works of art

Aoki Shukuya
Preface to The Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Edo Period (1600–1868)
Aoki Shukuya
The Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Edo Period (1600–1868)
Aoki Shukuya
Preface to The Orchid Pavilion Gathering, Edo Period (1600–1868)
Morishita Ryōzō
A Weir, 2000
Miyashita Zenji
vase, circa 1980s, Showa period (1926–1989)
Okuhara Seiko
Geese and Autumn Grasses, 1883, Meiji period (1868–1912)
Okuhara Seiko
Landscape, 1901, Meiji period (1868–1912)
Okuhara Seiko
pedestal bowl and cover, 400s–500s, Three Kingdoms period (37 BCE–668 CE)
Ikeda Yoshiro
vessel, circa 1985–1986
Ikeda Yoshiro
spouted vessel, Final Jomon period (1000 BCE–300 BCE)
Ikeda Yoshiro
jar, late 200s–400s, Kofun period (250 CE–552 CE)
Ikeda Yoshiro
flask, 500s–600s, Asuka period (552 CE–645 CE)
Takiguchi Kazuo
untitled, circa 1990s, Heisei period (1989–present)
Soga Shōhaku; Futsukabo
Herons and Reeds, mid 1700s, Edo period (1600–1868)
Gao Qipei
Magnolia in Vase and Cormorant Fisherman, early 1700s, Qing dynasty (1644–1911)
Suzuki Osamu
Akai eboshi (Red Hat), circa 1983, Showa period (1926–1989)
Itō Sekisui V
tsubo, mid-late 1900s
森野泰明 Morino Hiroaki Taimei
vase, mid 1980s
Tsujimura Shirō
Utagawa Hiroshige
Seta Sekishō (Evening Glow at Seta), 1850s, Edo period (1600–1868)
Karasumaru Mitsuhiro
Tōkōki (Memoir of an Eastern Journey), late 1500s–early 1600s
Zhao Yannian
Zhao Yannian
Ding Cong
Images of Today, 1944, 1944, Republic of China (1911–1949)
Zhao Shao’ang
三峽暮色 Sanxia muse (Sunset at the Three Gorges), 1941, Republic of China (1911–1949)
Yamada Kōun
Crows on Willow, mid 1900s
Yamada Kōun
Crows on Willow, mid 1900s
Xu Bing
Rice field, 1986