Past Exhibitions

	Sanjo Bridge and Daigokuden Mochizuki Gyokusen, Japanese
Modern Elegance: The Art of Meiji Japan April 30–October 9, 2011 SAAM Tateuchi Galleries

Japanese art during the Meiji period (1868–1912) assumed a stunning variety of forms. With its opening to the West and the accompanying advent of modernity, Japan absorbed a wide range of foreign influence in a compressed time period. Artists and artisans experimented with new techniques in painting, ceramics, metalwork and lacquer, while preserving their traditional emphasis on beauty, elegance and unrivaled quality. The objects in this small exhibition are testaments to the continuity of tradition in the face of rapid change. Screen paintings and hanging scrolls from Kyoto’s finest modern masters depict well-established subject matter against luminous silk backgrounds. Cloisonné enamelware and extravagantly gilded Satsuma earthenware—treasured by Western collectors—will also be on view in this intimate, glittering exhibition.

–Catherine Roche, Interim Asistant Curator for Asian Art

This is a permanent collection exhibition, with new acquisitions from the Griffith and Patricia Way Collection.

Sanjo Bridge and Daigokuden Mochizuki Gyokusen, Japanese, 1834-1913 1896 Pair of six-panel screens: ink, gold and colors on silk 53 5/8 x 111 1/2 in. (136.2 x 283.2 cm) Seattle Art Museum, Gift of Griffith and Patricia Way, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum, 2010.41.