San Antonio is about to set sail on paper. On January 15, 2027, the San Antonio Museum of Art opens Visions Across the Ocean: Paul Jacoulet’s Woodblock Prints, a luminous journey through the world of one of the most fascinating printmakers of the twentieth century. The exhibition, on view through January 10, 2028, spreads across the second, third and fourth floors of the museum’s West tower, with wayfinding that invites visitors to keep traveling from gallery to gallery.
Jacoulet’s story is as colorful as his prints. Raised in Japan as the son of a French professor, he studied with top masters from childhood and, after a brief stint as a secretary and translator at the French embassy, committed himself fully to art following the 1923 Great Kantō Earthquake. From his home in Akasaka, Tokyo, he founded the Jacoulet Institute of Prints and controlled every step of publication — an obsession with quality that let him create ambitious works using hundreds of printing blocks and expensive pigments.
An avid traveler, Jacoulet drew his designs from the places he visited and the people he met, and SAMA presents his prints juxtaposed with works from those same regions, deepening the conversation across cultures. Among the works highlighted by the museum is La Geisha Kiyoka, Tokyo, created on May 24, 1935. It is a rare chance in San Antonio to wander oceans and decades without leaving Museum Reach — plan a bright winter visit and let these journeys in ink and color carry you away.
Photo: Nan Palmero via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)
