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Introduction

Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Japanese Print Collection

May 13 - December 4, 2016

Japanese color woodblock prints had a lasting impact on artists working in the United States and Britain during the first half of the twentieth century. The subject matter, composition, and technique of these works inspired some Western artists to travel and study in Japan. Others were influenced through exhibitions, workshops, and teachers that promoted aspects of Japanese art. These educational opportunities were often accessible to women—as is evident by their
representation in this display—allowing female printmakers to experiment avidly with technique and subject matter at this time. Their prints are arranged with those of Japanese artists in groups that focus on visual connections and recurring themes. Subjects such as light and night, water, landscape, the seasons, foliage, and flowers served as a starting point for these American and British artists to adapt, experiment with, and pay homage to the originality they saw in Japanese prints.

The exhibition was organized by Nancy Friese, Andrew W. Mellon Museum Faculty Fellow in the Department of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs.

Some of these prints were given to the Museum by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller (1874–1948), a daughter of Rhode Island senator Nelson W. Aldrich and the wife of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. A lifelong supporter of the arts, Mrs. Rockefeller assembled a remarkable collection of Asian woodblock prints. In all, she donated more than 700 Japanese prints to the RISD Museum.

Selected Objects

Frances Hammel Gearhart

High Skies, 1922

Katsushika Hokusai

Hakone Lake in Sagami Province (Soshu Hakone no kosui), ca. 1829-1833

Keiri

Dragonfly and Flower (Kabocha ni tonbo), mid 1800s

Keiri

Dragonfly and Flower (Kabocha ni tonbo), mid 1800s

After Kubo Shunman

Iris and peonies (Botan kakitsubata), 1890's

Yoshida Hiroshi

Sailboats, Fog (Hansen, kiri), 1926

Lill Tschudi

Sotto Capri, ca. 1956

Elizabeth Keith

Returning From the Funeral, 1922

Emma Kaan

Evening #8, ca. 1905-1910

Takenouchi Magohachi, publisher

Yui: Satta Peak (Yui satta mine), ca. 1833

Margaret Jordan Patterson

Torcello, 1919

Eliza Draper Gardiner

Cactus Flower, ca. 1900-1920

Emma Kaan

Pond Lily #4, ca. 1904

Eliza Draper Gardiner

The River, ca. 1920

Utagawa Hiroshige

Yabu Lane at the Foot of Atago (Atagoshita yabukōji), 1857, 12th month

Utagawa Sadahide

Peonies (Botan), 1835

Utagawa Kunisada II

Herbaceous peonies and great tits (Shakuyaku ni shijukara), 1858

Utagawa Kunisada (Toyokuni III)

Cuckoo and Moon (Tsuki ni hototogisu), 1828

Edna Boies Hopkins

Purple Daisy, ca. 1907-1909

Utagawa Hiroshige

Night rain at Karasaki (Karasaki Yau), ca. 1835

More objects +

RISD Museum

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