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TUESDAY
APRIL 16, 2002

8A.



'U' Asian Galleries
add two exhibits

'Waiting for Lefty'
brings 1930s drama
to Arena Theater

By Jim Schiff
Daily Fine/Performing Arts Editor

Kicking off a series of new
exhibits for the summer season, the
University's Museum of Art pre-
mieres two additions to the Asian
Galleries this month.
The Japanese Gallery welcomes
one of its most interest-
ing exhibits in years.
Titled "Courtesans,
Cross-Dressers and the ASIA
Girl Next Door: Images GA
of the Feminine in EXF
Japanese Popular
Prints," the display Museu
includes several wood- Thru Aug
block prints, silk'
screens and sculptures
from the Edo Period (1615-1867).
During this era, Edo (now Tokyo)
served as the seat of government in
Japan, boasting a strong military dic-
tatorship that heavily censored art.
Artists were forbidden to portray
persons of noble rank, whether his-
torical or contemporary. Consequent-
ly, they turned to prostitutes or
kabuki actors for inspiration.
Though it began as an accidental
period of art, Edo produced some of
the most recognizable masterworks
of Japanese culture. Kaigetsudo
Dohan's "Courtesan in a Series of
Twelve Months" shows the period's
penchant for elaborate costumes.
Decked in full-body, bold-patterned
robes, the courtesans of Edo were
works of art unto themselves.
Dohan's lines are smooth and
sophisticated, and as the Edo period
progresses, we see the addition of
gold, orange and green to the origi-
nal black and white portraits.

Many Edo-period artists painted
courtesans with their customers, but
the ones in this exhibit are generally
shown playing with flowers, smok-
ing, reading letters or admiring
men. In a refreshing reversal of gen-
der roles, we see a portrait of a
woman gazing down from a balcony
onto a man playing the game

By Christine Lasek
Daily Arts Writer

Director Christina Reynolds and
Basement Arts will be bringing Clif-
ford Odets' "Waiting For Lefty" to
the Arena Theater this weekend.

people in the audience. The cast is 24
members strong, including two musi-
cians called the "stellar sisters" that
will be providing pre-show musical
entertainment. The entire theater will
be transformed into the meeting hall,
and upon entering the theater, all the

N ART
LLERY
[IBITS
m of Art
.11/ Sept. 1
ree
manifests

"kemari," a combina-
tion of soccer and
hackysack. While
women are traditional-
ly shown as sexual
objects in art, in this
piece the courtesan is
dressed in heavy robes
while the man's legs
are exposed. This gen-
der switching also
itself in other pieces,

courtesy o UMMA

"Pink and Turquoise Women's Jacket" by an anonymous artist.

"Waiting For Lefty"
was written in 1935,
and portrays an Ameri-
ca trapped in a period
of injustice and social
crisis. Because some of
the language is dated,
director Christina
Reynolds has decided
to keep the play set
within the 1930s, and
to keep costumes
reflective of the period.
The play takes place

WAITIN
LEFT
At Arena'
Thurs., &
7 p.m., Fri
11 p.m.
Basemen
in a union

where the male Kabuki actors por-
tray the women's roles onstage.
Kitagawa Utamaro's "Courtesan
in Procession" showcases the finest
in late Edo art. Considered the
undisputed master in "images of
beautiful women," Utamaro portrays
a courtesan on her way to a palace,
dressed in a floral-patterned robe of
black, white and gray. The level of
detail in her dress is simply
unmatched by any artist of the time:
Not only with the patterns, but with
every crease and fold Utamaro
draws we can see the woman's exact
movements. And like most of the
courtesan portraits in the exhibit,
her face is expressionless, heavily
covered in white makeup.
As spectacular as the artwork is in
the exhibit, perhaps the greatest rev-
elation is the behind-the-scenes look
at Japanese woodblock printing. Sur-
prisingly, these prints were never a

audience

members

solo effort, employing master
carvers, colorists, painters and pub-
lishers to produce the final result.
Each painting required up to 10 sep-
arate blocks, which were then trans-
ferred to paper to make thousands of
replicas for Japanese poetry books
and art manuals. The museum's
glass-enclosed display shows the
entire process of woodblock print-
ing, accompanied with explanations
of how each block was created.
Across the apse of the museum is
the Chinese Gallery, which is cur-
rently showcasing "Flora and Fauna
in Chinese Art." Including works
from the last two millennia, the
exhibit features ceramics, stone,
textiles, calligraphy, paintings and
garments that focus on plant or ani-
mal subjects. Interweaving themes
of Taoist, Buddhist and Confucian
thought, the Chinese believed that
plants and animals have meanings
or purpose, whether spiritual or
mundane.
One recurring theme throughout
the exhibit is death. In order to pro-
mote a harmonious afterlife for the
deceased, the Chinese crafted "death
objects," which were designed to
comfort the tomb's occupant. Exca-
vated thousands of years later, these
floral-patterned porcelain and clay
bowls display the Chinese mastery of
pottery. Similarly, the "Spirit
Guardian Figure" from the T'ang
Period (618-904), is a lion-figure
with a human head. Such figures,
made out of earthenware with a
green-colored lead glaze, flanked the
entrance to Chinese tombs and were
designed to ward off evil spirits.
The glass-enclosed display at the
east end of the gallery displays
some of the exhibit's most intrigu-
ing works - a pillow in the shape
of a tiger, a headless Buddah figure
and several ceramic animals. Loom-
ing over them all is the spectacular
"Battle at the Bridge," a giant rub-
bing of an etching on a Chinese
tomb. The piece depicts a series of
battles with horses, swords and
knights, but they fit into an inter-
locking pattern, much like an M.C.

Escher painting.
Fans of Chinese garments will
probably most enjoy the "Pink and
Turquoise Women's Jacket," a spec-
tacular silk top with large embroi-
dered peonies. The small butterflies,
cranes and flowers on the sleeves
were designed to draw attention to
the coat's wearer, who was most
likely a woman of upper-class
standing.
While these two Asian exhibits
will run through the summer, sever-
al more will be introduced in the
upcoming months. Starting in June,
the museum's apse will be adorned
in some of Pablo Picasso's master-
works, while in July, the "New York
Observed: Mythology of the City"
will treat viewers to a photographic
history of the city. Finally, the end
of July will bring the "Ansel Adams:
A Centennial Celebration" exhibit
to the museum, honoring the 100th
birthday of the famous American
landscape photographer.

meeting hall, where the taxi union
leaders have joined to discuss the
necessities of a strike. Yet, the action
encompasses more than just a com-
mittee hoping to strike for better
wages. "The play is a metaphor for
humanity striking for more human
dignity against the suppression of
what has come to be termed unalien-
able rights," said Reynolds.
The story unfolds through a series
of six scenes, in which the union
workers present compelling argu-
ments that support the strike, as well
as relaying the events in their per-
spective lives that led up to the
strike. The union workers them-
selves are also a metaphor represent-
ing all working class people. They
realize that change is necessary in
their society and the only way to
accomplish their objective is to band
together and find solidarity in each
other. According to Reynolds,
"Although the play was written 66
years ago, the main underlying
themes are still prevalent to modern
society."
One of the main objectives in
Reynolds' view of "Waiting for
Lefty" is her dedication to breaking
down the "fourth wall" that sepa-
rates the action on the stage from the

become union mem-
bers. Opposed to the
G FOR traditional Arena The-
TY ater set-up, where the
audience is situated on
Theater risers looking down on
Sat. at the stage space, the
. at 7 & audience will instead
Free. be seated in rows of
t Arts chair set on the floor,
with the acting space
set up on platform like risers. "Wait-
ing for Lefty," will have the hum of
constant movement, and members of
the ensemble will be moving freely
throughout the audience. In light of
the idea that all people in the theater
will be union members, the stage-
hands, the director, and other produc-
tion members that normally would be
behind the scenes, will also be taking
part in the action on stage. This is
also to reinforce the blurring of the
line between the audience and the
cast members.
The director of "Waiting for
Lefty" is Christina Reynolds, a BFA
performance major currently in her
third year at the University of
Michigan. Prior to directing "Wait-
ing for Lefty," she participated in
four other Basement Arts shows.
"There is a common misconception
that historical theatre is old with
nothing vital about it. The energy
and the issues presented in this play
are just as vital today as they were
in 1935 when the play was first
written." Reynolds described her
experience of acting in "Waiting For
Lefty" in high school, and becoming
enamored with the script at that
time. "I love the way the play is
written. There is so much energy. It
is fast paced, bold, loud, and ram-
bunctious."

.4

0
al

Goldmember returns
By Lyle Henretty announced that they are now allowed
Daily Arts Editor to return to the original title. As a term
of agreement, MGM has approval
A collective sigh of relief can final- rights to any upcoming films in the
ly resonate throughout a world terri- franchise that in any way parody the
fied of a nameless "Austin Powers 3," "Bond" series.

4w

Courtesy of UMMA

Courtesy o fUM

Utamaro's "Courtesan in Procession."

Dohan's masterpiece.

I

0w

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