"Birds, Beasts and Bugs: Japanese Wood Block Prints"
2004-12-17 until 2005-06-12
Gibbes Museum of Art
Charleston, SC, USA United States of America

The Gibbes Museum of Art, located in Charleston, South Carolina, announces the opening of the special exhibition Birds, Beasts and Bugs on December 17, 2004. On view in the Japanese Print Gallery of the Gibbes through June 12, 2005, this exhibition presents a selection of 17 woodblock prints from the Museum's celebrated Read-Simms Collection.

Birds, Beasts and Bugs features unique images of nature created by Japanese artists in the Edo period (1615-1868). Beyond portraying great aesthetic beauty, the woodblock prints highlighted in this exhibition dually function as meditations upon man's relationship with the natural environment. In the 1830s, Hokusai (----) and Ando Hiroshige (-----) were the principal artists responsible for introducing images of nature to the woodblock print art form. In contrast to traditional flower painting and detailed botanical drawings, Hokusai and Hiroshige created informal prints that were filled with a rhythmic movement drawn from observations of nature. In addition, the prints contained symbolic significance, featuring certain blossoms and birds representing specific seasons.

Birds, Beasts and Bugs opened December 17, 2004, in the Japanese Print Gallery of the Gibbes Museum of Art, and will be on view through June 12, 2005.

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of South Carolina

Other Important Exhibitions in United States