Gust

Date1980

Maker George Tsutakawa born 1910, Seattle, Washington; died 1997 Seattle

Label TextThis lyrical work on paper is different from what we typically associate with this artist. Gust is a clever bridge between classical Japanese calligraphy, which Tsutakawa practiced, and abstract expressionist painting. The title is Gust, but the “characters” are not literal representations of the term; rather, they are the gestural equivalent of a “gust,” the title chosen not just as an expression of the physical force of the wind, but as a term that means, he said, “keen delight... the opposite of ‘disgust’.’” Robert Shields may have been known as “one of the Grand Old Men in Northwest architecture” (Pacific Northwest Magazine), but it is his enduring passion for art that leaves a lasting legacy at SAM. When Mr Shields passed away in the summer of 2012, he left his entire estate to the Seattle Art Museum, its value to be used in support of the Asian art program. One of the foremost Northwest architects of the mid-20th century, Mr Shields graduated from the University of Washington with an architecture degree in 1941. After serving in the Navy in WWII, he returned to Seattle and founded the architecture firm Tucker, Shields and Terry in 1946. Over the course of the next 30 years he established a reputation as one of the foremost Northwest architects as he designed homes, commercial spaces, the KIRO-TV headquarters, and Canlis restaurant. A champion of Northwest art and artists (he counted Zoe Dusanne, Don Foster, Morris Graves, and Kenneth Callahan among his friends), Mr Shields was also passionate about Asian and Native American art, as well as European decorative arts; and he collected in all of these areas. He was a member of the museum’s Asian Art Council, the Seattle Clay Club, and the Puget Sound Bonsai Society. In honor of the opening of SAM Downtown in 1991, he donated several Japanese objects and a Morris Graves painting to the collection.

Object number2013.4.1

ProvenanceThe artist; to [Foster/White Gallery, Seattle]; sold to donor

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington. Asian Art Museum, "Calligraphic Abstraction," May 9, 2015 - October 4, 2015 Bainbridge Island, Washington, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, George Tsutakawa: Language of Nature, July 1 - Oct. 9, 2022.

Credit LineGift of the Estate of Robert M. Shields

DimensionsSheet: 11 1/2 x 36 3/8 in. (29.2 x 92.4 cm) Overall: 13 1/4 x 39 in. (33.7 x 99.1 cm)

MediumInk on medium weight Japanese paper, mounted on light weight Japanese paper