Japanese Painting 15


to write the oversized character toku (virtue). His accompanying colophon above has been executed in small running script but with the same vigour. Tis inscription derives from a verse about the value of an inheritance, originally by the 11th-century Chinese scholar and historian Sima Guang (translation available in the catalogue).


Hishikawa Moronobu is


considered the founder of ukiyo-e, having been inspired Chinese picture books. Around 1650 he moved to Edo to work as a book illustrator and branched out into paintings and prints. In both of these, he filled the Edo taste in subject matter by creating both prints and painting the customs and manners of Edo – courtesans, actors, daily amusements and, like other ukiyo-e artists, shunga or ‘spring pictures’ (erotic scenes).


Te painting of the standing


courtesan in the exhibition is perfectly balanced by having the angles of her hem matching the angle of her hair and the angle that made by her upper and lower arms matching in reverse her thighs and lower legs. Te catalogue description points out that the plumpness of her face is characteristic of ukiyo-e, although its pear-shape and tiny features show Moronobu’s indebtedness to the painting style of Iwasa Matabei (1578-1650). Artists went to great lengths to reproduce meticulously the latest fashionable textile patterns, in all likelihood working from actual samples. Moronobu, himself, came from a family of fabric designers and wholesales, and he brought this expertise to bear in his work. On show from the late 19th


century is Shibata Zeshin’s contribution, a two-fold screen,Egrets and Crows, executed in lacquer and


Virtue (Toku) by Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768), Edo period,


mid 18th-century, hanging scroll, ink on paper, 106 x 52 cm.


Te Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fishbein-Bender Collection,


gift of T Richard Fishbein and Estelle P Bender, 2014. Photo: John Bigelow Taylor


gofun (calcified shell used as a white pigment) on gold paper. He was most famous as a lacquerer of small objects such as kobako, natsume, inro and the like, as well as his scroll and screen paintings in lacquer, an extremely time-consuming and difficult task. He was not regarded well in Japan at the time because he was being a bit too ‘modern’ and worked with the Westernising of Japanese arts. He also studied under the Kyoto School masters, Okamoto Toyohiko and Goshin, but he will always be best known for his lacquer masterpieces. Te Fishbein-Bender Collection,


Moon and Kudzu Bine by Sakai Hoitsu (1761-1828), inscription by Toyama Mitsuzane (1756-1821), Edo period, probably circa 1820, hanging scroll, ink and colour on silk, 92 x 34.7 cm. Ex-collection Manno Art Museum, Osaka, Fishbein-Bender Collection. Photo: John Bigelow Taylor


mainly comprising promised gifts, will fit in seamlessly with Te Met’s present collection and will add great strength in several areas. Tis could not have materialised better to bring this couple’s dream to fruition of bringing more understanding of Edo paintings to others who might not be familiar with Japanese art and, as with this remarkable couple, they may feel the collecting tug that these two felt for decades. Te exhibition has been organised


by John T Carpenter, the Mary Griggs Burke Curator of Japanese Art, and Monika Bincsik, Assistant Curator, Department of Asian Art. • Te Poetry of Nature, until 21 January 2019 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, metmuseum.org. Catalogue available.


Erik Thomsen Gallery


Washi Screens by Kyoko Ibe Lacquer Works by Yoshio Okada


MAR 15 – APR 20, 2018


Kyoko Ibe (b. 1941) Once upon a time, 2017 Washi paper, ink, and minerals Pair of 6-panel folding screens Size 64 × 142 inches each (163 × 361 cm each)


Japanese Art · Contemporary Art


MARCH 2018 ASIAN ART


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