Lake Forest College Exhibit includes work by Will Petersen

The exhibition runs from January 13th to February 13th, 2005, and is open to the public every day including weekends from 2:30 - 5:00 PM. The Sonnenschein Gallery is on the third floor of the Durand Art Institute on the Lake Forest College campus, at the corner of Deerpath and Sheridan Roads.

For more information, please contact Gallery Director Becky Goldberg at 847 725-5194 .

Press Release by Chris Reed

Invitation courtesy Lake Forest College

On January 13th, 2005, at 7:30, the Sonnenschein Gallery at Lake Forest College will open the exhibition Japonisme/Occidentalism, curated by Associate Professor and Chair of the Art Department Christopher Reed.

The exhibition coincides with the start of a course of the same title. It uses art and other forms of visual culture to explore the reciprocal relationship between Japan and the West. Occidental artists and audiences have often looked to Japan as a model of aesthetic refinement in a rapidly changing world, while Japan has long looked to the West for ideas about how to be modern. The result is a complex mix of influences and cross-currents, points of connection and moments of productive misrecognition. Art in the permanent collection of Lake Forest College has been augmented for this show with loans from faculty, staff, and friends of the college to present a visually engaging overview of this intercultural dialog.

The art featured ranges from work by Edouard Manet in Paris in the 1870s to recent work by Louise Bourgeois and David Hockney. Chicago artist Will Petersen, who worked in Japan in the 1950s and 1960s, and was part of the Beat poets’ circle in Japan, is highlighted with a selection of art from the College’s permanent collection augmented by generous loans.

Complementing the art will be a selection of decorative arts, ranging from the American art-pottery movement of a century ago to “Made in Japan” ceramics from the 1940s and ‘50s. Books, other printed material, and Japanese fans are also included.

The exhibition concludes, in the Ivan Albright room adjacent to the Sonnenschein Gallery, with a display of photographs taken in Japan by Lake Forest College student Kaoruko Ozakii ‘07. These photographs emphasize the interaction of Occidental and traditional Japanese practices in Japan today, and will be displayed with contemporary printed material also documenting this phenomenon.

Will Petersen studing calligraphy, Japan 1958