28 AWNY Gallery Shows


• Giuseppe Piva at Adam Williams Fine Art, 24 East 80th Street, New York 10075, tel 212 249 4987, info@giuseppepiva.com, guiseppepiva.com


MIRROR MIRROR Reflecting Beauty in Japanese Prints and Paintings


Scholten Japanese Art, 15 to 24 March


Silver vase Sokai (Blue Ocean), 2017by Osumi Yukie (b 1945), Living National Treasure, hammered silver with nunomezogan (textile imprint inlay) decoration in lead and gold, height 27.5 cm, Onishi Gallery


for generations and continue today. Surface and form are complementary in harmony, with thorough attention paid to shape, decorative adornment, and overall effect. Tis exhibition runs with additional works presented as a solo show by Iguchi Daisuke, in an exhibition called, Depth of Time. • Joan B Mirviss, 39 East 78th Street, Suite 401, New York,10075, tel 212 799 4021, info@mirviss.com, mirviss.com


JAPANESE CERAMICS AND METALWORK IN CONTEMPORARY


DESIGN Onishi Gallery, 15 to 24 March


Nana Onishi maintains her grouping of exceptional ceramic artists, including an extensive collection of


works by Tokuda Yasokichi IV (b 1961), who continues the traditions of her father, Living National Treasure Tokuda Yasokichi III.


Delineating


from a family of Kutani potters for generations, Yasokichi incorporates the traditional colour gradation of her heritage. In the aptly named Rising Dragon, the blue glaze spreads across the vessel with incredible mastery, smooth against a surface of carefully incised,


petal-like shapes. Tis is


juxtaposed with the continued roster of Ito Sekiusi V (b 1941) offering an earthy counterpoint, and Osumi Yukie (b 1945), also a Living National Treasure. Yukie is a renowned female metalwork artist whose Silver Vase Underwater is truly breathtaking, with the grooves of the metal undulating out methodically. Ultimately,


this


uniquely feminine showcase at Onishi continues to provide an excellent addition to the week. • Onishi Gallery, 521 West 26th Street, Lower Level, New York 10001, tel 212 695 8035, info@onishigallery.com, onishigallery.com


JAPANESE ART AND ANTIQUES


Giuseppe Piva, 15 to 24 March


Mirror of Women of Wisdom and Courage: Kaji of Gion (1843) by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861), woodblock print, 14 37.2 x 25.8 cm, Scholten Japanese Art


Once again, Piva takes us into the world of the Momoyama period (1573–1615) Japanese elite, this time with objects from a world of leisure. Momoyama art is marked by decorative elements, as is evidenced by Piva’s selection. A sense of curiosity about the world pervades the show, with Western and Indian motifs prevalent in the Japanese items selected. A fubako, or letter box, from this


period is decorated with


European playing cards, with rich blues in stark geometric shapes and Piva points out that these boxes are


Some 40 prints and one painting primarily reflect the show’s theme – on vanity and beauty from its earliest incarnations in Japan. Te exhibition explores representations of the mirror, both as a theme itself and as a visual metaphor for viewing other subjects in floating world imagery. Mirrors appear in compositions as accessories or key props in a story being told and can function as ingenious framing devices, or as windows into private space. Tey provide seemingly endless opportunities for the artist to present an alternate view within a design. Te use of kagami, round bronze


mirrors, dates back nearly 2,000 years in Japan to the Yayoi period (300 BC to AD 250). Early mirrors were intimate,


usually approximately 4


inches in diameter, with a smooth side of gilded tin which was highly polished to achieve a reflective quality. Precious for their material and their function, mirrors were used for Shinto rituals as well as personal use. In order to slow inevitable oxidation and avert marring the finish it was necessary to avoid touching the surface with bare hands and otherwise keep them wrapped up or covered when not in use. Te mirrors with handles, e-kagami, began to be used in the Muromachi period (1392–1573), and in the Edo period


(1600–1858) mirrors grew


larger, approximately 5–7 inches in diameter,


often produced in pairs


considered rare. Also on offer is an elephant-shaped incense burner from the 17th century, with only two other similar objects believed to be on record.Tese evoke not only an attention to detail, but a broader sense of these cross-cultural connections throughout history, making the show a treasure trove not only of collectibles, but ideas.


known as awase kagami (facing mirrors), to facilitate viewing the front and back of larger hairstyles. An interesting print by Kunisada utilises the hand mirror not as a reflection of the beauty herself but as that of her ardour as a fan of a famous actor. Te untitled print from the series Contest of Fans of Modern Actors depicts a young beauty seated beneath the large visage of the intimidating Ichikawa Danjuro VII (1791–1859) glaring down at her from within a cartouche in the shape of a folding mirror. By the early Meiji period (1868–1912) glass mirrors became available in Japan and largely replaced the use of traditional bronze mirrors. Ukiyo-e artists frequently


employed a mirror as a framing tool for


portraits of kabuki actors


beauties and as a result, the view is exclusively of the reflection and the


‘real’ figure is not seen but implied. A fine example by Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797–1861) from 1843 is Mirror of Women of Wisdom and Courage: Kaji of Gion, presenting an imaginary portrait of Kaji, the owner of a teahouse near the entrance to the Gion Shrine in Kyoto who was renowned for her poetry (a collection of her poems was published in 1707). In addition to reflecting a crisp likeness, a looking glass could be manufactured in larger sizes and required no special handling or periodic re-polishing by a craftsman. In an amusing take on peeking into the boudoir with a newfangled glass mirror, we glimpse into the dressing room of a celebrity actor caught in the act of transforming himself into a role in a print by Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900). Te print irreverently shows the actor Kawarazaki Mimasu (Ichikawa Danjuro IX, 1838–1903, the fifth son of Danjuro


VII


mentioned above) as reflected in a mirror waiting for an assistant (unseen but for his hands) to lower a wig onto his head. • Scholten Japanese Art, 145 West 58th Street, Suite 6D, New York 10019, tel 212 585 0474, info@scholten-japanese-art.com, scholten-japanese-art.com


or


REALISATION OF FORM: MASTERWORKS OF JAPANESE


BAMBOO ART Tai Modern, 15 to 24 March


Tey have been making baskets out of bamboo for thousands of years in Japan, however, it was not until the introduction of the tea ceremony m around the 15th century, that the art of finely made articles connected to the ceremony began to become popular including baskets for flower arranging. Te 19th century saw the rise of signed baskets by master makers in the formal and wabi-sabi style. Te art has survived and grown in the 20th and 21st century with modern designers bringing their own ideas to the genre. • Tai Modern at Jason Jacques Gallery, 29 East 73rd Street, Apt 1, New York 10021, tel 312 560 8281, gallery@taimodern.com, taimodern.com


CONTEMPORARY LACQUER BY YOSHIO OKADA AND WASHI SCREENS BY KYOKO IBE


Erik Thomsen, 15 to 24 March Erik


Tomsen is showing


contemporary artists who pay homage to two long-standing Japanese art traditions: Yoshio Okada (b 1977) in lacquer and Kyoko Ibe (b1941) in screens. Yoshio Okada’s display is anchored


by a set of four boxes depicting different phases of the moon seen through fleeting clouds. Using the time-honoured kanshitsu


(dried


lacquer) method, Okada made the boxes from layers of hemp cloth combined with the natural sap of the lacquer tree. Modeling the fabric before the sap hardened, he gave each of the boxes a profile that mimics the curve of the heavens, forming the perfect setting for their atmospheric decoration.


After painstakingly


polishing the black-lacquer surfaces, he applied the moon and clouds in gold and silver foil, thinly cut shell, and the unique Japanese technique of maki-e, relief decoration in gold powders combined with lacquer. Working


with recycled antique


handmade washi (Japanese paper), ink and minerals, Kyoko Ibe creates large-scale dynamic designs that, in her words 'offer our ancestors a new lease of life in the present'. Fashioned out of pulped and dyed paper that incorporates fragments from centuries-old notebooks, her folding screens such as Once Upon a Time, measuring nearly 12 feet in width, convey multiple layers of meaning. Both oeuvres have been a part of


Tomsen’s repertoire for many years, and studying them through living artists gives them a chance to fully delve into the nuances of past and present. In each of the selected works, a shimmer (in Okada’s case of gold maki-e, in Ibe’s of silvery ink) adds a sense of the ethereal to the craft. Tis otherworldliness of aesthetic is arguably the true unifier of the exhibition, approaching the objects as dreamlike escapes. • Erik Tomsen, 23 East 67th Street, 4/F, New York 10065, tel 212 288 2588, info@erikthomsen.com, erikthomsen.com


JAPANESE ART Hiroshi Yanagi Oriental Art, 15 to 24 March


SELECTIONS OF


Nanban letter box (fubako) decorated with European playing cards, Momoyama period, 16th/17th century, Giuseppe Piva


ASIAN ART MARCH 2018


Bright Moon in Fleeting Clouds (2016) by Yoshio Okada (b 1977), dry-lacquer box with gold maki-e decor and inlays of gold foil and shell, 3.8 × 15.2 × 10.7 cm, Erik Tomsen Gallery


Yanagi continues to emphasise zoomorphic figures in this year’s show, from the earliest piece of a a guardian dog from the 14th century, circa 1315, to a boxwood ‘seated puppy’ from the 19th or early 20th century by Izumi Sukeyuki. Tese animals prove to be a


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