7 Samurai and The Bicentennial
Title: 409-S
Artist: Sekine Yoshio
Year: 1976
The lowly abacus has been elevated as an art form by Sekine, who has painted it over 400 times in oil over the past 20 years, and made more than a dozen prints of it. This print is composed of three abaci, the one to the left reading 1776, the one to the right reading 1976, and the large one in the center 200, marking the Bicentennial.
Located in the second floor hallway.
Title: Where It All Began
Artist: Miyashita Tokio
Year: 1976
Paul Revere, the belfry arch of the Old North Church, “two if by sea,” the Somerset man-of-war, even the spires from the green of some Middlesex village, all appear in this work, which could possibly serve as an illustration of Longfellow’s famous poem. Miyashita works in his usual combination of woodblock and intaglio.
Title: Meeting of the Minds
Artist: Taniguchi Shigeru
Year: 1976
This new face on the international art scene has employed the Declaration of Independence as the background of his view of America. Over it he has superimposed the famous painting of the Minds of the time—Franklin, Adams, and Jefferson—whose own minds met in the forging of this document. Subtly embossed is the word “FREE” to indicate America’s proudest possession.
Located in the second floor hallway.
Title: Liberty Bell
Artist: Iwami Reika
Year: 1976
This only woman samurai in our group is equal in both personal strength and power of composition to anyone. Yet the purity and austerity of her work belies its force. How perfectly suited she is to have depicted the Bell, whose own power to symbolize Liberty overrides the now-famous crack in its side.
Located in the second floor hallway.
Title: Half-way
Artist: Yoshida Katsuro
Year: 1976
There are so many ways that Japanese can look at America, and Yoshida has chosen the Perry Monument as his vantage point. This memorial commemorates the landing of Commodore Perry in Japan in 1853, the halfway point in America’s history. While standing on it, Yoshida can see half-way to America, he says.
Located in the second floor hallway.
