But a closer look at the history of color printmaking in these two cultures reveals that the story is not so simple. Parallel traditions were flourishing in both France and Japan well before 1854. And, when the two cultures met, the channels of technical and aesthetic influence flowed in both directions, not merely from East to West.
Embracing these complexities, Awash in Color explores the roles, functions, and technology of color in French and Japanese prints. It features more than one hundred and thirty prints and illustrated books dating from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, drawn from the Smart Museum of Art’s substantial holdings as well as major public and private collections across the country. These exquisite works reveal two unfolding traditions—each shaped by artistic experimentation and technological progress—that came to complement each other aesthetically, even while preserving their own distinctive features.
★★★★★
“The prints in Awash in Color overflow with inventiveness, great design, and beautiful representations of the people, landscapes, and manners of their time”
—Time Out Chicago
Publication
The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue incorporating essays and entries by leading print scholars and art historians. The volume will trace the history of color printing in a comparative cultural context.
Related Programs
Free public programs
Master Class: François Chaplin
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Lecture and Recital:
Claude Debussy and the Visual Arts
October 20, 2012
Family Day: Cool Collages
November 3, 2012
Yasuko Yokoshi: Bell, a work in progress
November 15, 2012
Lunch-hour Talk: “Marketing Beauty: Reading Pictures of the Yoshiwara Courtesans in Context”
November 30, 2012
Curator Tour
January 20, 2013
UChicago Student Programs
Party at the Smart
October 18, 2012
Study at the Smart
December 6, 2012
Smart Partners Programs
Exclusive Preview
October 3, 2012