Tan Shi Sou, White Snake Temple

Tan Shi Sou, White Snake Temple, 1924

Where object was made: United States

Material/technique: color woodcut

Dimensions:
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 353 x 262 mm
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 388 x 292 mm
Image Dimensions Height/Width (Height x Width): 13 7/8 x 10 5/16 in
Sheet/Paper Dimensions (Height x Width): 15 1/4 x 11 1/2 in
Mat Dimensions (Height x Width): 20 x 16 in

Credit line: Museum purchase: Lucy Shaw Schultz Fund

Accession number: 2000.0073

Not on display

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Exhibition Label:
"Inspired by Japan," Mar-2003, Cori Sherman
On her first visit to Japan in 1903, Lum was dismayed to find the print workshops largely gone and ukiyoe-style printmaking all but disappeared. During an interview for Vogue magazine (1914), she reported, “Before I went to Japan, I thought printmakers were as plentiful as paper lanterns or kimonos.” Despite the setback of having far less instruction than she wished to acquire, Lum’s focus on printmaking skills was justified in 1912, when she was the only foreign woodcut artist included in the Tenth Annual Art Exhibition held in Ueno Park, Tokyo. Surprisingly, her work stood out as superior and from that point on her reputation as world-class printmaker was made. Lum also visited other Asian countries for experience and inspiration, spending appreciable time in China over the years 1922-29, as this print subject of a temple in Peking attests. However, her style, materials, and complex color-printing effects remained clearly in the Japonisme vein throughout her career.