Home / About the Libraries / News Events Exhibits / News & Announcements / Art and Life of Sadao Watanabe

Art and Life of Sadao Watanabe

Exhibit and lectures about Japanese artist influenced by Mingei Undo

Contact:  Azusa Tanaka, Japan Studies Librarian azusat@uw.edu 206-543-7051

Contact: AC Petersen, Libraries Communications Officer acpete@uw.edu 206-543-9389

 

EXHIBIT

Art Prints of Sadao Watanabe: Christianity through Japanese Folk Art

October 27 – December 30, 2014
Allen Library North Lobby and East Asia Library (Gowen Hall 3rd Floor), University of Washington

The work of Sadao Watanabe (1913-1996), famous for his biblical prints influenced by mingei undo, the Japanese folk art movement developed in the late 1920s and 1930s.The exhibit showcases Watanabe's stencil prints, original stencils, tools of the artist, as well as monographs from East Asia Library collection on mingei and mingei artists.

The exhibit is free and open to the public.

MORE>>

EXHIBIT TOURS

Every Monday from October 27 - December 29, 1:00 pm
Meet in Allen Library North Lobby, University of Washington
Led by Azusa Tanaka, Japanese Studies Librarian and exhibit curator

The tours are free and open to the public.

LECTURE

Anne H.H. Pyle:  My teacher, Watanabe Sadao

November 6, 4:00 p.m.-5 PM
Allen Library Auditorium, University of Washington

Anne Pyle will talk about her experience, the printing method and memories of her teacher, Sadao Watanabe.Pyle is a graduate of Skidmore College and has a master's degree in art education from Columbia University. She studied oil painting at the Fontainebleau School of Fine Arts and with Hobsen Pittman of the Philadelphia Academy. In Japan she studied printmaking with two of Japan's leading print artists, Toshi Yoshida and Sadao Watanabe.  She was Watanabe's only private student and presently owns one of the largest collections of his work.  She has written extensively and has lectured to various church and university groups on his life and art.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

LECTURE

Fred G. Notehelfer: Christianity in Japan: Some Observations on Sadao Watanabe's Faith

December 8, 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Allen Library Auditorium, University of Washington

Dr. Notehelfer will trace the background of Christianity in Japan, from its introduction to the present, including observations of the challenges that Christians faced in Modern Japan, World War II, and the Postwar period. Finally he will touch on Watanabe's connection to the mingei art movement and its efforts to counter the pressures of a modern industrialized society.
Dr. Notehelfer was born to German Missionary parents in Japan in 1939. He grew up in Tokyo, graduated from the American School in Japan, and received his B.A. from Harvard College in 1962. His received his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1968 in Japanese History. After teaching briefly at Princeton he joined the UCLA History Department in 1969. From 1975-1995 he served as the UCLA Director of the USC-UCLA Joint Center in East Asian Studies and since 1992 he has directed the UCLA Center for Japanese Studies.  MORE>>

The lecture is free and open to the public.

------------------------------------------------

More information about the Watanabe exhibit and activities