Campus explores the art of Japan

The arts of Japan will capture the campus spotlight in exciting and colorful presentations of exhibits, receptions, film screenings and lectures during November.

Chazen: Woodblock Prints

The Chazen Museum of Art will exhibit Japanese woodblock prints in “Competition and Collaboration: Japanese Prints of the Utagawa School.” The show includes more than 120 works from its renowned collection of Japanese woodblock prints.

In 18th and 19th century Japan, growing cities created demand for entertainment, resulting in kabuki theaters, the pleasure quarters, festivals and markets, leisure travel, literature and a thriving print publishing industry.

The Utagawa school of artists was responsible for more than half of all existing ukiyo-e prints, or “pictures of the floating world,” which were popular mass-produced woodblock prints.

The Chazen exhibition offers a rare chance to explore a fascinating world ranging from beautiful geisha to dramatic landscapes to magical creatures.

Those who get hooked on Japanese prints will appreciate the ambitious show catalogue, which has more than 200 prints reproduced in its 256 pages.

An opening reception for the show will be held Friday, Nov. 2, from 6–8 p.m.

To complement the exhibit, an international symposium of scholars will examine the Edo-based print culture on Saturday, Nov. 3, from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. The symposium is free. For more information, call the Chazen Museum at 262-2246.

And on Friday, Nov. 9, at 5 p.m. at the Chazen, UW–Madison’s Charo D’Etcheverry, associate professor in the Department of East Asian Languages and Literature, will discuss “Standing Up to the Past: Literature, Humor and Edo Prints.” Gallery hours will be extended to 7:30 p.m.

Design Gallery: Kimono

Like it or not, what we wear says a great deal about us. From buttoned-up all prim and proper to jeans with waistband-below-the-hips sag, many of our clothing decisions are tied to identity.

Such is the case with kimono, the national dress of Japan. The simple, t-shaped, one-size-fits-all garment is quite complex and provides layers of clues about the wearer. The color, sleeve length and style, design and fabric weaves may indicate the gender, marital status and age of the wearer, as well as the occasion or season in which it is worn.

“Crafting Kimono,” on display at the Design Gallery, explores the nuances, materials and techniques that go into creating a kimono. Examples of wedding, formal and everyday kimono featuring a variety of weaving and dyeing methods are presented. The show’s curator, Rebecca Kasemeyer, selected the garments from the extensive holdings of the Helen Louise Allen Textile Collection.

According to Japanesekimono.com, the art of wearing a kimono is also complex. A typical woman’s kimono has 12 or more separate pieces that are worn, matched and secured in prescribed ways. For us novices, an important rule to remember is to wrap the right side of the kimono over the body first, then overlap it with the left side. Right on top of the left is only used to dress a body for burial.

An opening reception for “Crafting Kimono” will be held Sunday, Nov. 4, from 1–4 p.m. At 2 p.m., Japanese textile scholar Mary Dusenbury, formerly of the Center for East Asian Studies at the University of Kansas and acting curator of Asian art at the Spencer Museum of Art, will present a lecture. The show runs through Feb. 3, 2008.

Cinematheque: Mizoguchi Masterpieces

Cinema scholars have compared Kenji Mizoguchi to Shakespeare, Bach and Rembrandt. Although his name is not a household word in the United States, he is considered one of the 20th century’s greatest directors, with films that pack pictorial and narrative richness with emotional force.

Mizoguchi started his career in 1923, but only became known to Western audiences shortly before his untimely death at age 58 in 1956, when “The Life of Oharu,” “Ugetsu” and “Sansho the Bailiff” won awards at the Venice Film Festival in 1953, 1954 and 1955, respectively.

Mizoguchi’s portrayals of women remain one of his central themes. Whether set in Japan’s medieval past or in the streets of mid-1950s Tokyo, his films often focus on the suffering that comes when the world demeans, enslaves or crushes women.

Three of Mizoguchi’s films — all which are new 35mm prints in Japanese with English subtitles — will be shown at 7:30 p.m. in Cinematheque, 4070 Vilas Hall. Doors open at 7 p.m.

Friday, Nov. 9: “Utamaro and his Five Women” — Jealousy, lust and deception run high in this fictionalized account of Japanese woodblock print artist Kitagawa Utamaro (1753–1806).

Friday, Nov. 16: “The Story of the Last Chrysanthemums” — In 1885 Tokyo, a young actor is expelled from his clan because of his unprofessional attitude toward the art of kabuki. Celebrated as a masterpiece of cinema style, the film is considered the first of Mizoguchi’s mature works.

Friday, Nov. 30: “Sisters of the Gion” — In the Gion, Kyoto’s traditional pleasure quarter, two sisters bring different attitudes to their work; one traditional, the other cynically modern. Mizoguchi’s radical style of using static long shots and long takes is breathtaking.

To learn more about Mizoguchi and his films, be sure to attend a lecture on Sunday, Nov. 11, at 3 p.m., when David J. Bordwell, Jacques Ledoux Professor Emeritus of Film Studies, Department of Communication Arts, presents “Mizoguchi: Secrets of the Exquisite Image.” Bordwell will explore Mizoguchi’s distinctive approach to cinematic storytelling, which places special emphasis on visual values and their power to create subtle but overpowering drama.

Bordwell’s lecture takes place in Room L140, Chazen Museum of Art, and is followed by a reception.