Past Exhibitons
Exquisite and engaging, the scroll and screen paintings of Itō Jakuchū from the prestigious Price Collection have drawn crowds of over 1 million viewers. The Bowers Museum is proud to host this important exhibition in conjunction with the county wide JapanOC festival.
The outstanding Japanese screen and scroll paintings from the Etsuko and Joe Price Collection experienced immense success as a traveling exhibition in 2006-2007, attracting over one million viewers. For the first time in the United States, a new exhibit is set to introduce you to one of the Price Collection's greatest assets – a man considered by many to be one of the greatest artists that ever lived, yet known by very few outside of Japan. His name is Itō Jakuchū. Born in Japan in 1715, he lived as a vegetable seller and a Buddhist monk, all the while living a life devoted to illuminating the beauty of nature with the magical stroke of the artist's brush. But Jakuchū took his brush beyond just skill, making him different from all others. His works are diverse and so coupled with the heart of nature that they have an ageless quality and appeal to people from all walks of life – no scholarly explanations needed. Jakuchu's paintings have left their mark, a stroke far beyond the capabilities of ordinary men.
Itō Jakuchū, Rooster and Hen with Hydrangeas (detail), hanging scroll with colors on silk. Copyright 2010 Itō Jakuchū: A Man with No Age courtesy of the Etsuko and Joe Price Collection
