University of Nebraska–Lincoln faculty members Karen Kunc and Ikuho Amano will give insight to artist Helen Frankenthaler’s thirty-four-color woodblock print “Tales of Genji I” — and the literary work that inspired it — in a live Zoom event September 17 at 5:30 p.m. (CDT). Registration is available at go.unl.edu/tale-of-genji.
Sheldon Museum of Art recently acquired the artwork, which is one of Frankenthaler’s visual meditations on the text and earliest illustrations of “The Tale of Genji,” an 11th-century literary work generally considered the world’s first novel. Written by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting in Japan’s imperial court during the Heian period, the story follows the life of fictional Prince Genji, the disowned son of an ancient emperor.
About the presenters:
Ikuho Amano is an associate professor of Japanese. Her areas of research and teaching include modern Japanese literature, popular culture, film, and language. Her recent research has explored Japan's decadent literature in comparative contexts, material culture, and body politics in the post-WWII decades.
Karen Kunc is a printmaker and emeritus Cather Professor of art. In addition to having a career distinguished by 38 years in teaching, 110 solo exhibitions, and numerous awards, Kunc is founder of Constellations Studios, an exhibition space and workshop in Lincoln.
Melissa Yuen, who will moderate the conversation, is associate curator of exhibitions at Sheldon.
Frankenthaler’s “Tales of Genji I” is on view at Sheldon in the Focus Gallery through December.
More details at: http://sheldonartmuseum.org