Images(2)

Obos I

Date1956

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

Label TextAn important work in the oeuvre of George Tsutakawa, this abstract wood sculpture represents the first in a series of similar small vertical forms that Tsutakawa called "obos." The name refers to a pile of stones marking a mountain pass in the Indian Himalayas. For those who have traveled to Japan or other Asian countries, Tsutakawa's sculpture closely resembles the little stone towers that dot the landscape in a variety of locations: at temples and shrines, at mountain crossroads, and in the corner of cemeteries. Such towers are associated with ideas of commemoration, pilgrimage and the demarcation of sacred space. The balance of elemental wood forms along a vertical axis radiates energy yet elicits a sense of tranquility.

Object number79.7

Photo CreditPhoto: Elizabeth Mann

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Modern Art Pavilion, Tribute to Zoe Dusanne, Mar. 24 - May 8, 1977. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Northwest Traditions, 1978. Osaka, Japan, National Museum of Art, Pacific Northwest Artists and Japan, Oct. 2 - Nov. 28, 1982 (Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Jan. 28 - Feb. 28, 1983). Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue Art Museum, School of Art, University of Washington: 1920-1960, July 16 - Sept. 25, 1983. Port Angeles, Washington, Port Angeles Fine Art Center, George Tsutakawa, Nov. 22 - Dec. 29, 1986. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Views and Visions in the Pacific Northwest, June 7 - Sept. 2, 1990. Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue Art Museum, Eternal Laughter: A Sixty-Year Retrospective Of the Work Of George Tsutakawa, Sept. 15 - Nov. 2, 1990. Seattle, Washington, Foster/White Gallery, George Tsutakawa, Jan. 6 - 30, 1994. Tacoma, Washington, Tacoma Art Museum, Jet Dreams: The Northwest In The Fifties, Mar. 17 - June 4, 1995. La Conner, Washington, Museum of Northwest Art, Northwest Art: Shaped by Hand, Shaped by the Spirit, Sept. 28 - Dec. 31, 1995. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Collection Highlights: 1945 To The Present, Sept. 12, 1996 - June 1, 1997. New Brunswick, New Jersey, Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum, Rutgers University, Mar. 23 - July 31, 1997. Seattle, Washington, Henry Art Gallery, What It Meant to Be Modern: Seattle Art at Mid-Century, Oct. 15, 1999 - Jan. 23, 2000. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Mark Tobey: Smashing Forms and Mark Tobey and Friends, Nov. 16, 2002 - Apr. 6, 2003. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, International Abstraction: Making Painting Real, May 2, 2003 - Feb. 29, 2004. Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Exceptionally Ordinary: Mingei 1920–2020, Dec. 14, 2019 - Sept. 6, 2021. Bainbridge Island, Washington, Bainbridge Island Museum of Art, George Tsutakawa: Language of Nature, July 1 - Oct. 9, 2022.Published ReferencesJohns, Barbara. Modern Art from the Pacific Northwest in the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum. Seattle, Washington: Seattle Art Museum, 1990; cat. no. 13, p. 17. Selected Works. Seattle, Washington: Seattle Art Museum, 1991, p. 122. Delson, Susan. "The Intimite Beauty of Honest Craft." Wall Street Journal, November 30 - December 1, 2019: p. C14, reproduced. [A version of this article appears online on November 27, 2019: https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-intimate-beauty-of-honest-craft-11574870032.] Johns, Barbara. Kenjiro Nomura American Modernist: An Issei Artist's Journey. Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2021; p. 112, reproduced fig. 4.27.

Credit LineGift of Seattle Art Museum Guild

Dimensions23 1/4 x 9 3/4 in. x 8 7/8 in.

MediumTeak