Haikus, Modernism and Stanton Macdonald-Wright
August 24, 2019 - April 4, 2020
Marie Eccles Caine Gallery
Stanton Macdonald-Wright’s Haiga Portfolio, 1966-1967, is an example of the artist’s most pronounced blending of Eastern and Western influences. Seventy-five years old when he did them they meld innovations of Western modern art with Japan’s greatest poetry. The term haiga refers to a style of Japanese painting done by haiku poets. Haiku poems are known for their extreme brevity and simplicity. Each of the twenty prints that compose the Haiga Portfolio have a corresponding haiku written by one of Japan’s most important poets.
In 1913 Stanton Macdonald-Wright and Morgan Russell cofounded the early 20th century modernist movement Synchromism. Synchromism sought to arrange color in the same way that sound is composed in music and is considered the first American avant-guard movement to be accepted internationally.
Instead of using the subtle spare painting style of haiga artists Macdonald-Wright employs the use of energetic swirling shapes coupled with dense vivid colors orchestrated in the modernist style and rhythm of Synchromism.

Stanton MacDonald-Wright
#5 Bright Red Sun Cruelly Hot but the Wind is of Autumn, 1966-1967
Woodblock print on mulberry paper
21.5 x 17.875 in
Gift of the Stanton and Jean Macdonald-Wright Estate

Haikus, Modernism, and Stanton MacDonald-Wright Exhibition. August 24, 2019 - April 4, 2020. Installation view 1, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. Utah State University. Logan, Utah.

#1 An Old Pond a Frog Leaps in, the Sound of Water, 1966-1967, Woodblock print on mulberry paper, 21.5 x 17.875 inches, Gift of the Stanton and Jean Macdonald-Wright Estate, 2016.57.4

#3 An Octopus Trap and Fleeting Dreams Under a Summer Moon, 1966-1967, Woodblock print on mulberry paper, 17.875 x 21.5 inches, Gift of the Stanton and Jean Macdonald-Wright Estate, 2016.57.6

#4 Wild Sea and the Milky Way Athwart the Island of Sado, 1966-1967, Woodblock print on mulberry paper, 21.5 x 17.875 inches, Gift of the Stanton and Jean Macdonald-Wright Estate, 2016.57.7

Haikus, Modernism, and Stanton MacDonald-Wright Exhibition. August 24, 2019 - April 4, 2020. Installation view 1, Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art. Utah State University. Logan, Utah.

#17 Cruel Heat, My Mind in a Whirl, I Listen to the Thunder Rumble, 1966-1967, Woodblock print on mulberry paper, 17.875 x 21.5 inches, Gift of the Stanton and Jean Macdonald-Wright Estate, 2016.57.20

#19 No Matter What We Wear, We are Beautiful When Moon Viewing, 1966-1967, Woodblock print on mulberry paper, 21.5 x 17.875 inches, Gift of the Stanton and Jean Macdonald-Wright Estate, 2016.57.22

#20 The Sound of a Cracked Temple Bell is Also Hot Under a Summer Moon, 1966-1967, Woodblock print on mulberry paper, 17.875 x 21.5 inches, Gift of the Stanton and Jean Macdonald-Wright Estate, 2016.57.23







