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Title:	Lotus Moon and Nandina Staff: The Art of Ōtagaki Rengetsu and Nakahara Nantenbō
Date:	3/31/2023 - 6/11/2023
Address:	Ackland Art Museum, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 101 S. Columbia St., Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Location:	Chapel Hill, NC
Hours:	Wednesday - Saturday: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. / Sunday: 1 p.m.-5 p.m. / Second Friday: 10 a.m.-9 p.m.
Cost/Cover:	free
Web Page:	https://ackland.org/exhibition/lotus-moon-and-nandina-staff- ...
Contact Info:	919-966-5736

Details:

Lotus Moon and Nandina Staff presents and contrasts the work of two major Japanese artists of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, taking its title from translations of their names. Otagaki Rengetsu (1791-1875) was a Buddhist nun who became very well known as an important poet focusing on the traditional waka verse form, rendering her poems in elegant but strong calligraphy on paper and on ceramics that she often formed herself; Nakahara Nantenbo (1839-1925) was an influential and strict Zen Master famous for his energetically and expressively brushed calligraphy and paintings. Both sometimes paired calligraphy with images. The presentation of works by these two very prolific artists will not only introduce them to a broader audience but will also offer an introduction to the variety of style and effect possible within calligraphy, that central feature of Japanese artistic culture. The exhibition includes around 50 works, the majority selected from a major recent gift from Ray Kass ’67 (’69 MFA) and Jerrie Pike, supplemented by works already in the Ackland and significant loans from an important private collection. The initial concept and early support for the exhibition came from the late Stephen Addiss, professor at the University of Richmond and a leading scholar of Japanese art, whose untimely death in April 2022 prevented him from developing the project or seeing it through to completion.