More than 110 modern and contemporary Japanese prints will be on view in “Expanding Frontiers: The Jack and Susy Wadsworth Collection of Postwar Japanese Prints,” a new exhibition organized by the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon. On view from October 3, 2015, to January 3, 2016, the exhibition opens with a free reception on Friday, October 2, from 6 to 8 p.m.

“Expanding Frontiers” explores a range of contemporary printmaking techniques – aquatint, etching, intaglio, lithography, mezzotint, silkscreen, stencils, and woodblock printing – as well as a great range of subject matter.  The exhibition will showcase contemporary Japanese artists, not just as inheritors of the much-celebrated Edo-period (1615-1868) woodblock tradition, but as sophisticated international masters of various printmaking techniques.

The exhibition, co-curated by Anne Rose Kitagawa, JSMA Chief Curator of Asian Art, and Akiko Walley, Maude I. Kerns Assistant Professor of Japanese Art, Department of the History of Art and Architecture, is drawn from the generous donation of 157 modern and contemporary Japanese prints to the JSMA by Jack and Susy Wadsworth in 2012.

“The Wadsworths’ donation has significantly expanded the museum’s ability to fulfill its educational mission,” says Kitagawa, “As a teaching museum, the JSMA collaborates closely with faculty to ‘teach from the object.’  This particular gift does even more: it addresses the origins of this museum’s collection and expands upon our historic strength in Japanese prints of the nineteenth- and early twentieth centuries.”

Susy and Jack Wadsworth will join Kitagawa and Jill Hartz, JSMA executive director, for a conversation on collecting on -Saturday, October 3 at 2 p.m. The talk will be followed by a tour of the exhibition.

“This exhibition epitomizes the JSMA’s dedication to teaching,” says Hartz. “From conception to completion, the project was realized with the direct participation of University of Oregon faculty and students.”

Coinciding with the preparation for this exhibition, Professor Walley taught an art history class in collaboration with the museum and Charlene Liu, Associate Professor of Printmaking, and Mika Aono, Printmaking and Fibers Studio Technician, both members of the UO’s Department of Art. The fall 2014 course explored the history of contemporary Japanese prints with a focus on their techniques. Students learned about prints by carefully scrutinizing examples from the Wadsworth Collection, through lectures and readings, and by making their own prints using the four major techniques of relief, intaglio, lithography, and screenprinting.

In winter 2015, Walley and Kitagawa team-taught a museum-based course in which sixteen undergraduate and graduate students studied contemporary Japanese prints along with aspects of museum curatorship and exhibition planning, design, and installation. In addition to focusing on the Wadsworth prints in weekly research assignments and class discussions, students learned from museum professionals, print dealers, and collectors in a series of guest lectures and field trips. The fruits of the research that the students conducted in these two classes have been incorporated into the final exhibition.

Accompanying the show is a fully illustrated catalog with essays by Kitagawa, Walley, Guggenheim Museum Curator Alexandra Monroe, and many of the participating University of Oregon students.

The exhibition, catalogue, and accompanying programs are made possible with the generous support of the WLS Spencer Foundation.  Additional support has been provided by the Coeta and Donald Barker Changing Exhibitions Endowment, The Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation, Arlene Schnitzer, The Oregon Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, and JSMA members.

About the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art

The University of Oregon's Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is a premier Pacific Northwest museum for exhibitions and collections of historic and contemporary art based in a major university setting. The mission of the museum is to enhance the University of Oregon’s academic mission and to further the appreciation and enjoyment of the visual arts for the general public.  The JSMA features significant collections galleries devoted to art from China, Japan, Korea, the Americas and Europe as well as changing special exhibition galleries.  The JSMA is one of six museums in Oregon accredited by the American Alliance of Museums.

The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art is located on the University of Oregon campus at 1430 Johnson Lane. Museum hours are 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesdays, and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for senior citizens. Free admission is given to ages 18 and under, JSMA members, college students with ID, and University of Oregon faculty, staff and students. For information, contact the JSMA, 541-346-3027.

About the University of Oregon

The University of Oregon is among the 108 institutions chosen from 4,633 U.S. universities for top-tier designation of "Very High Research Activity" in the 2010 Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO also is one of two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities.

Contact: JSMA: Debbie Williamson Smith, 541-346-0942, debbiews@uoregon.edu

Links: Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, http://jsma.uoregon.edu