Recently acquired by the museum, Helen Frankenthaler’s woodcut Tales of Genji I is a tour de force of printmaking and creative collaboration between the trailblazing twentieth-century abstract painter and the master printmaker Kenneth Tyler. The large print, first in a series of six, is Frankenthaler’s visual meditation on the text and earliest illustrations of the eleventh-century novel The Tale of Genji written by Murasaki Shikibu, a lady-in-waiting in Japan’s imperial court. By focusing on the extraordinary processes used to produce the print, this exhibition highlights the artistic innovations made possible by ink, wood, and paper.

Tales of Genji I is on view in the Focus Gallery.

Exhibition support is provided by Kristen and Geoff Cline, Dillon Foundation, Karen and Robert Duncan, Melanie and Jon Gross, Roseann and Phil Perry, Union Bank & Trust, Donna Woods and Jon Hinrichs, Nebraska Arts Council and Nebraska Cultural Endowment, and Sheldon Art Association.

Additional support is provided by Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services Community CARES Stabilization Grant, Humanities Nebraska and the National Endowment for the Humanities as part of the 2020 Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and Nebraska Arts Council CARES grant.