In this webinar recorded January 13, 2026, Stephen Salel, curator of Japanese Art at the Honolulu Museum of Art (HoMA) discusses an exhibition currently on view at HoMA that commemorates the 70th anniversary of the death of Onchi Koshirō (1891–1955), the leader of the Creative Prints (sōsaku hanga) movement and one of Japan’s first abstract artists. Thanks to the generosity of Honolulu-based collectors such as James Michener (1907–1997) and Oliver Statler (1915–2002), the Honolulu Museum of Art possesses the largest public collection of prints by Onchi outside of Japan.
Stephen Salel received his MA in Art History from the University of Washington, Seattle, where he specialized in early modern Japanese painting. In addition to Lyrically Rebellious: The Prints of Onchi Kōshirō, past exhibitions include Enduring Impressions: Contemporary Woodblock Prints (August 30–December 14, 2025), which he curated in collaboration with the Portland Japanese Garden/Global Center for Culture and Art in Portland, Oregon. Salel’s recent publications include “Onchi Kōshirō: Poetic Images” in Andon: The Journal of the Society of Japanese Art (No. 119, Autumn 2025) and the catalog for Lyrically Rebellious.