SILK LININGS. "In Winter, Silk Linings: The Kimono in Print," an exhibit exploring the significance of kimono ensembles as seen in the Portland Art Museum’s collection of woodblock prints, is on display through February 17. Pictured are (left) "Standing Courtesan in Blue," Keisai Eisen, 1830s, color woodblock print, vertical diptych, and (right) "Walking Along Snowy Riverbank," Utagawa Kuniyoshi, 1830s, woodblock surimono. (Photos courtesy of the Portland Art Museum, from the Mary Andrews Ladd Collection)

From The Asian Reporter, V18, #3 (January 15, 2008), page 20.

By Josephine Bridges

There is no time like the present to visit the Portland Art Museum, and no more tantalizing show than "In Winter, Silk Linings: The Kimono in Print." You’ve still got a month left — the show ends February 17 — but don’t put this one off until the last minute, as you might want to visit twice. I did.

On my second visit, I was accompanied by Lynn Katsumoto, curator of the exhibit, and Maribeth Graybill, the Portland Art Museum’s new curator of Asian art. Because readers will probably not be as fortunate as I was, I have tried to choose among all of their wise and witty commentary to give you a taste of what it was like to tour a glorious exhibit in such articulate, informed, and passionate company.

Knowing I couldn’t expect my companions to spend long hours dawdling through the museum (one of my favorite pastimes), I cut to the chase and limited our perusal to each of our favorite objects in the show — well, okay, groups of objects. I went first.

The description of textile stencils used in paste-resist dyeing a century ago sounds good enough to eat: "Smoked mulberry paper laminated with persimmon tannin and reinforced with silk threads." Five examples depicting chrysanthemums, iris, circles and petal shapes, plum branches and blossoms, and my personal favorite, "Shrimp Against Nested Squares," are on display. It can take anywhere from 30 to 300 of these intricate stencils to create a multicolored design. "In pre-modern society," Lynn noted, "everything is handmade," including paper, some of it recycled, all of it considered precious. Intended as tools to create art, these stencils are art in and of themselves.

Lynn couldn’t narrow it down to a single object, either, but chose a group of surimono, small, square-format prints — sometimes appearing as triptychs — made for private groups, "crafted like jewels." As she pointed out the subtle embossing and metallic ink which are often aspects of these prints, she acknowledged that these are easier to see when the print is held in the hand and turned to watch the play of light: "The surface of these intimate prints is like a kimono." These privately-commissioned prints are interspersed through the exhibit; a couple of examples to start your search for them are Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s "Geisha at Harborside Restaurant" and "Geisha in Snow."

Maribeth narrowed it down to Keisai Eisen’s "Standing Courtesan in Blue." "The headdress she’s wearing probably weighs 40 pounds," she explained when I commented on how formidable the subject appears, "and she has to walk in high heels. This getup extracts a price from its wearer." The printmaker worked hard, too, she noted. "It’s an extremely labor-intensive print of an extremely labor-intensive textile, all of it inspired by government suppression," in the form of sumptuary regulations designed to restrain samurai and merchant class extravagance. "Standing Courtesan in Blue" is "pushing against authority," Maribeth concluded. "The cut edge suggests she goes beyond it. Even the rose color is very fugitive; it’s a surprise that it survives. This is over-the-top superb."

And if that’s not enough, there’s more to come. On February 16, "Every Picture Tells a Story: Persian Narrative Painting" opens and runs through July 27. "This show," said Maribeth, "brings new attention to our collection, drawing on the remarkable reservoir of what we have here."

You want more? Okay, you’ll have to wait a couple of years, but Maribeth wants to be sure you know the Portland Art Museum is home to "an extraordinary collection of Japanese prints," in which former curator of Asian art Donald Jenkins specialized. In 2010, the Portland Art Museum will celebrate Asian art with a major exhibit of these prints. Mark your calendars. See you there.

The Portland Art Museum is located at 1219 S.W. Park Avenue. For more information, call (503) 226-2811 or visit <www.portlandartmuseum.org>.