2016 / LACMA Living for the Moment: Japanese Prints from the Barbara S. Bowman Collection, Oct. 11, 2015 – May 1

From left, artworks by Utagawa Kunisada, Suzuki Harunobu, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Katsushika Hokusai. (Barbara Bowman Collection. Photo © 2015 Museum Associates/ LACMA)

From left, artworks by Utagawa Kunisada, Suzuki Harunobu, Utagawa Hiroshige, and Katsushika Hokusai. (Barbara Bowman Collection. Photo © 2015 Museum Associates/ LACMA)

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Living for the Moment: Japanese Prints from the Barbara S. Bowman Collection

October 11, 2015–May 1, 2016

Pavilion for Japanese Art, Level 3, and Ahmanson Building, Level 2

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The Los Angeles County Museum of Art presents Living for the Moment: Japanese Prints from the Barbara S. Bowman Collection.

The exhibition features over 100 prints of transformative promised gifts of Japanese works to LACMA, representing the work of 32 artists.

Included are examples of rare early prints of the ukiyo-e genre (pictures of the floating world); works from the golden age of ukiyo-e at the end of the eighteenth century by Suzuki Harunobu, Kitagawa Utamaro, and Katsukawa Shunshō; and nineteenth century prints by great masters such as Utagawa Hiroshige, Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Kuniyoshi, and others.

Barbara S. Bowman (née Safan) was born in Los Angeles in 1925 and attended the University of Southern California for a degree in fine art.

Barbara became captivated by Japanese woodblock prints early on after receiving two prints as a gift from her mother. She and her husband Morton visited Japan for the first time in 1962, and by 1978 she began actively collecting Japanese woodblock prints.

Never intending to have an encyclopedic collection, Barbara sought out scenic designs in superb condition with stellar impressions, as she held the printing process in high esteem.

The power of line and the importance of color were and remain defining factors of the collection. Assembled over 35 years, the Barbara S. Bowman Collection includes some of the finest impressions available.

Living for the Moment represents a momentous gift to the Japanese Art Department of LACMA, in that we can now present the history of Japanese prints with high-quality works of art,” remarks Hollis Goodall, Curator of Japanese Art at LACMA.

Living for the Moment is presented in two locations at LACMA. Commercially printed ukiyo-e, mostly produced in Edo (modern Tokyo), will be displayed chronologically and by artistic group in the Ahmanson Building, level 2. Privately published surimono and theatrical prints of Osaka are installed in the Pavilion for Japanese Art, level 3.

Docent Tours will be held on Saturdays, October 24, 2015–April 30, 2016 at 1 pm. Meet at Ahmanson Gallery 202. Volunteer docents lead in-focus tours of the exhibition.

www.lacma.org