New York Gallery Shows 19


midst of a weakening government, the triumph of samurai values against a corrupt government official resonated with Edo’s audiences. Kuniyoshi was a master of portraying both the legendary and historical, in the series, with his heroes posed on the brink of action and individualised in single portraits, Kuniyoshi carried the 47 ronin into the popular musha-e genre. Translating to ‘warrior pictures’, this genre of ukiyo-e is marked by fluidity between fact and fiction, truth and fable. • Ronin Gallery, 425 Madison Avenue, New York 10017, roningallery.com. Opening reception 13 September, 5.30 -8pm


KIYOCHIKA On the Threshold


of Modern Times Scholten Japanese Art, 7 to 15 September


Tis exhibition features a selection of woodblock prints by the influential Meiji-period (1868-1912) self-taught artist, Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847- 1915). Born Kobayashi Katsunosuke, Kiyochika was the ninth and last child of a samurai retainer with a hereditary position at a rice granary located on the eastern bank of the Sumida River in the city of Edo.


His mother’s


family were also of samurai rank and operated a similar granary on the opposite side of the river. While the financial stipends for both families were likely modest, as members of the samurai class they would have enjoyed social status and surely pride in their heritage.


As a child, Katsunosuke


loved drawing pictures, but he received no formal training in the arts. When his father died in 1862 he changed his name to Kiyochika and was chosen (ahead of his three older brothers) to inherit the appointment at the granary as a retainer to the shogun.


In 1865, he joined a procession of thousands of retainers on the last of three highly symbolic journeys by the young shogun Tokugawa Iemochi (1846-1866)


to the court of the


Emperor Komei (1831-1867) in Kyoto, where Kiyochika remained for nearly three years as a financial official. In January of 1868, at the age of nineteen, Kiyochika fought for the last shogun Tokugawa Yoshinobu (1837-1913) in the battle at Osaka Castle against the Satsuma and Choshu clans united under the Imperial banner in the Boshin War (1868-69),


a successful rebellion


which sought to oust the military rule of the Tokugawa clan. After the spectacular defeat at


Osaka, Kiyochika returned to Edo where he remained steadfast in his loyalty to the Tokugawa: acting as a scout for the Tokugawa-aligned clans during the Battle of Ueno and defending the granary from wandering gangs of thieves taking advantage of the tumultuous times. It was a doomed cause: ultimately, the shogunate was overthrown, the era of the samurai was over, and the Emperor would be ‘restored’ to power and relocate from the ancient court city of Kyoto to the bustling metropolis of Edo,


which was


renamed Tokyo (‘Eastern Capital’). Kiyochika was obliged to surrender


control of the granary, and along with it, all the privileges of rank and a defined place in (what had been) a rigid social hierarchy. But the same upheaval that destroyed his position had likewise released him from its obligations and he was forced to (or free to) explore a new path for himself. • Scholten Japanese Art, 145 West 58th Street, Suite 6D, New York 10019, scholten-japanese-art.com


KIYOCHIKA On the Threshold of Modern Times


New York Asia Week September 7 – 15, 2018 otherwise by appointment through October 19th


One of a pair of armorial plates, China, diam. 9.5 inches, 18th century, TK Asian Antiquities


RECENTLY ACQUIRED JAPANESE AND


CHINESE TREASURES TK Asian Antiquities, 6 to 15 September


For the September Asia Week TK Asian is showing a selection of recent additions to the gallery’s collection of Japanese and Chinese art. Highlights of these most recent acquisitions include a pair of Chinese export porcelain armourial plates with the family arms of Dacre impaling Weldon surrounded by floral sprays. Te plates, which were at their height of fashion in Europe in the 18th century, date to 1724 and are 9.5 inches in diameter. From the Japanese collection, the highlight is a Meiji- period bronze with images of silver carp swirling around the vase • TK Asian Antiquities, 41 East 57th Street, 11/F, New York 10022, tkasian.com. Opening reception 6 September, 3-8 pm.


KOKON BIANNUAL


Fall 2018 Koichi Yanagi, 8 to 27 September


Te biannual show from this dealer features six works spanning over a millennium of Japanese history. Fragments of over 30 very rare and important fabrics from 7th century to 15th century came from places such as Horyu-ji temple and Shoso-in. A page of calligraphy on fine decorated paper known as the Todaiji-gire comes from a


scroll called the Sanbo-


ekotoba dating to the Heian period. Tere are two small tea ceremony implements: a tea bowl made by Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743) during his early period at the Narutaki kiln, and a 16th-century Iga ware Mizusashi freshwater jar. Tere is also a portrait painted by Suzuki Kiitsu (1796-1858) featuring richly painted mountings, rarely seen within Kiitsu’s work, and, the oldest dated Negoro lacquer ink-stone tray from 1429. • Koichi Yanagi Oriental Fine Arts, 17 East 71st Street, New York, 10021


IFPDA Print Fair at the River Pavilion October 24 – 28, 2018


145 West 58th Street, suite 6D New York, NY 10019 tel. 212.585.0474


scholten-japanese-art.com


Anna L. Dallapiccola with Kuldip Singh and R.G. Singh


Introduction by Nayanjot Lahiri Explore the avidly collected but


little studied genre of Tanjavur and Mysuru paintings from the 18th and 19th centuries.


June 2018


List Price: `2800 / $69.95 / £35 Hardcover 305 x 241 mm ISBN: 978-93-83243-24-2 180 pages 160 illustrations


For copies of the book contact: UK: Global Book Sales Ltd,


Page from the Sanbo-ekotoba (known as Tōdaiji-gire), Heian period, 12th century, hanging scroll, ink on decorated paper, 24 x 15.2 cm, Koichi Yanagi


0044-7963210830, david@globalbooksales.co.uk USA: ACC Art Books Ltd, 001-212-6451111; ussales@accpublishinggroup.com India: Te Marg Foundation,


margfound@vsnl.net, www.marg-art.org


SEPTEMBER 2018 ASIAN ART


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