Stencil-dyed Japanese Folk Art Calendars

April 26 - August 10, 2014
Prints, Drawings and Photographs Gallery

Above left: Serizawa, Keisuke, Japanese, 1895-1984, March - Calendar 1975, 1974, Gift from the Judith and Paul A. Falcigno Collection, 2010.192.4
Above right: Artist: Nishijima, Takeshi, Japanese, 1929-2003, Printer: printed by Kuriyama Haruo, Japanese, active 1970s, September - Calendar 1978, 1977, Gift from the Judith and Paul A. Falcigno Collection, 2010.195.10

This exhibition will feature a selection of folk-art style calendar pictures donated by Judith and Paul Falcigno that were designed by Serizawa Keizuke (1895 - 1984) and Nishijima Takeshi (1929-2003). Made for the Western market, these postwar calendars were produced using stencils, paste resist and natural dyes. The paper-dyeing technique was developed by Serizawa and others from traditional methods used to produce hand-patterned fabrics. Primarily textile artists, Serizawa and Nishijima were part of the Mingei (Folk Art) movement, a 20th century effort to preserve and revive traditional Japanese handcrafts displaced by industrialization. A few stencil-dyed works by other famous artists will also be included.