Kodaiji Makie and
Nanban Lacquerware
 Thru
Feb.20
After the unification of Japan under the warlord
Toyotomi Hideyoshi (1536-98) in the Momoyama period (1573-1615),
many castles and temples were built in the capital of Kyoto.
The ostentatious tastes of the warlords of this
era led to a demand for decorative interiors and large commissions
of wall and screen paintings in bright colors on gold ground and
makie-decorated architectural pillars, frames, and furnishings.
Objects decorated with makie (literally, "sprinkled picture"),
a decorative lacquer technique, in which metal powders and flakes
are sprinkled onto the surface of various objects using lacquer
as an adhesive, were produced in large quantities.
Kodai-ji makie — a style of makie named
after the temple, which was established by Hideyoshi's wife —
is one of the most ornate and largest categories of lacquer from
this period. Designs, such as autumnal plants and chrysanthemum
and paulownia crests-drawn directly on the surface of raw black
lacquer, without an underdrawing, which was then sprinkled with
metal powder and polished, became popular. And the complex techniques,
e-nashiji ("pictorial pear-skin ground"), in which areas
with a translucent film of lacquer was applied to reveal gold flakes,
and harigaki, "needle drawing," in which fine details
etched with a sharp needle-like tool into the design before the
makie dried, became popular.
Through the large production of this style of
lacquerware, which impressively achieved the effect of raised gold
designs on a black lacquered surface, several masterworks —
such as doors of the miniature shrine of Kodai-ji's inner sanctuary
and furnishings that belonged to Hideyoshi's wife that were preserved
at this temple — were created, and this style
was reproduced and given the name Kodai-ji makie.
Kyoto National Museum
Keihan Shichijo Stn.
Open: 9:30am-5pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥420/¥210
Tel: 075-541-1151
Matsuoka Eikyu
Thru Mar.29
Eikyu Matsuoka was born in Hyogo prefecture. He
graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts in 1904. The artist
worked in a classical Japanese painting style with modest Western
adaptations. Matsuoka was among the established artists who contributed
regularly to the official, juried exhibitions of Bunten and Teiten.
Later he was appointed a member of the Imperial
Art Academy. In the 1930s he designed a series of landscape prints
published by Shin Yamamoto-e Moku-Hanga Kankokai. This exhibition
introduces over 30 pieces of art of Harima through craft goods,
and scorches from Daitsu to modern ages.
Himeji City Museum of Art
Nearest stn: JR/Sanyo Himeji stn.
Open: 10am-5pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥500/¥300/¥200
Tel: 0792-22-2288
Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake 10th Anniversary
Tapestry Exhibition
Thru Mar.15
This 2x2.9 meter tape-stry was created to cheer
on the survivors of the deadly quake that hit Kobe ten years go.
This tapestry, using the picture titled Port by Kawanishi Saburo,
and under the supervision of Kawanichi Yuzo, was created by Kyoto's
Nishijin Textile and was able to depict the authentic scenery of
Kobe in its heyday. It was hand woven by a technique called tsuzure-ori
where you would gather one piece of thread with one finger. It took
three months for three veteran weavers finish the project, using
over 300 colors of fine silk thread. It is now permanently preserved
Kobe Fashion Museum
Nearest stn: Rokko Liner, Island Center stn.
Open: 10am-6pm, closed Wed.
Admission: ¥500/¥250
Tel: 078-858-0050
A Decade After: Tomoko Yoneda
Feb.26 - Apr.10
January 17th marks the tenth anniversary of the
Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake. Should we now view this unprecedented
disaster with greater objectivity, or should we rather try to ensure
that our memories of the event never fade? Tomoko Yoneda is a photographer
who has been photogra-phing themes related to memory.
The pictures in Yoneda's Scene series initially
appear to be perfectly ordinary images, but they are actually particular
areas burdened with the historical weight of memory, usually related
to war and other major events. The instant one becomes aware of
this fact, the photographs arouse introspection and imagination.
This commemoration of the tenth anniver-sary of the earthquake,
consists of eight new color photographs taken in Ashiya as part
of her Scene series and ten never-before-shown, black and white
photographs, which were taken in Kobe immediately after the quake.
It will provoke visitors to contemplate the significance of the
ten years that have just passed, and time in general.
Ashiya City Museum
Nearest stn: Hanshin Ashiya stn.,
take bus south to Midori-cho.
Open: 10am-4:30pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥300/¥200
Tel: 0797-38-5432
Kansai Art Listings
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Osaka
Thru February 6
Daimaru Museum Umeda
80 works by 60 artists: Warhol, Duchamp, Rosenquist, etc,
from the Berardo Collection.
JR/Hankyu/Hanshin Umeda stn.
Open: 10am-7:30pm
Admission: ¥900/¥700
Tel: 06-6343-12321
Thru February 6
Graf Media GM
Nara Yoshitomo exhibition, Shallow Puddles
Yotsubashi line, Higobashi stn.
Open: 12-8pm, closed 1st/3rd Monday. Admission: Free
Tel: 06-6459-2082
Thru February 7
DDD Gallery
Wind and Lightening:
A Half Century of Magazine Design by Sugiura Kohei
Nishi-Umeda stn or Higobashi stn.
Open: 10am-6pm, closed Sat, Sun, Holidays. Admission: Free
Tel: 06-6347-8780
Thru February 13
Suntory Museum, Tempozan
Hommage a Toulouse Lautrec
Subway chuo, Technoport line, Osaka-ko stn, exit 1.
Open: 10:30am-7pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥1,000/¥700/
Tel: 06-6577-0001
Thru February 13
Osaka Shiritsu Museum
Exhibition of Chinese calligraphy
JR/subway Tennoji stn.
Open: 9:30am-4:30pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥500/¥300
Tel: 06-6771-4874
Thru March 21
Osaka Shiritsu Kindai Museum in Shinsaibashi
“Modernism Shinsaibashi”
Introduces art created in Shinsai-bashi before the war. Works
by Takehisa Yumeji, Akamatsu Rinsaku, Kkoide Narashige, etc.
Subway Shinsaibashi stn., Idemitsu Nagahori Bldg, 13F
Open: 11am-6:30pm
Admission: ¥500/¥300 free for kids and 65 years and
up.
Tel: 06-6208-9096
Thru March 27
Kokuritsu Kokusai Bijutsukan
Treasures of Ancient China
150 pieces from the Eastern Han
to Northern Sung Dynasties.
Subway Yotsubashi line, Higobashi stn, exit 3.
Open: 10am-4pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥1,300/¥900/¥500
Tel: 06-6447-4680
Thru March 27
The National Museum of Art Osaka
Treasures of Ancient China
Subway Yotsubashi line Higobashi stn. Exit 3, Midosuji/Keihan
Yodoya- bashi stn. JR Fukushiima stn, exit 2.
Open: 10am-4pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥1,400/¥700/¥500
Tel: 06-6447-4680
Thru March 31
Museum of Oriental Ceramics
Persian Ceramics and Bronze from the Takada Collection
Midosuji line, Yodoyabashi Station
Open: 9:30am-4:30pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥500/¥300
Tel: 06-6223-0055
Thru May 31
Museum of Ethnology
Introduction of Polynesia
New Collections from Polynesia: Lapita Culture to the Chiefdom.
Subway Banpaku Kinen Koen stn., Inside Expo 70 park
Open: 10am-4pm, closed Wed.
Admission: ¥420/¥250/¥110
Tel: 06-6876-2151
Kyoto
Thru February 13
Kyoto Kokuritsu Kindai Museum
Kusama Yayoi Exhibition
Keihan Shichijo stn. Okazaki Park
Open: 9:30am-4pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥1,200/¥800/¥600
Tel: 075-761-4111
Thru February 13
Kyoto National Museum
Heian Elegance: The Twelve Devas & the Landscape Screen
Keihan Shichijo Stn.
Open: 9:30am-5pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥420/¥210
Tel: 075-541-1151
Thru March 13
Hosomi Museum
Good Times in the Old Capitol:
Picture scrolls, folding screens and other art works from
Japanese litera-ture from the Heian to the Edo period
Tozai Subway line, Higashiyama stn. On the corner of Nijo-dori
and river
Open: 10am-5:30pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥700/¥500
Tel: 075-752-5555
Thru April 10
Kyoto-shi Museum
Exhibition introducing Flo-rence and the Renaissance.
Over 100 works by Botticelli, Michelangelo, etc.
JR Kyoto/Hankyu Shijo Kwaramachi/Keihan Sanjo stn, take a
bus from any of these stations.
Open: 9am-4pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥1,300/¥900/¥500
Tel: 075-771-4107
Hyogo
Thru February 13
Nishinomiya-shi Otani
Kinen Bijyutsukan
Images of Beauty: Artwork by Uemura Shoen, Ito Shinsui, Yamashita
Maki, Shimoto Kansetsu, etc.
Koroen stn.
Open: 10am-4:30pm, closed Wed.
Admission: ¥300/¥100
Tel: 0798-33-0164
Thru March 6
Itami Shiritsu Museum
Jacques Callot Exhibition. Copperplate-print artist.
JR/Hankyu Itami stn.
Open: 10am-5pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥700/¥350/¥100
Tel: 0727-72-7447
Thru March 13
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art
Grand Exhibit of Print Art
Hanshin Iwaya stn. (by the ocean)
Open: 10am-5pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥1,200/¥800/¥400
Tel: 078-262-0901
Thru March 21
Hyogo Prefectural Museum of History
The History of Natural Disa-sters in Hyogo Prefecture
JR/Sanyo Himeji stn.
Open: 10am-4pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥200/¥150/¥100
Tel: 0792-88-9011
Nara
Thru February 6
Shohaku Museum
Hishida Shunso (1874-1911) Exhibition.
Japanese style paintings
Kintetsu Gakuen Mae stn.
Open: 10am-4pm, closed Mon.
Admission: ¥800/¥400
Tel: 0742-41-6666
Thru Februay 13
Nara National Museum
Treasures from Itsukushima Shrine. Total 120 works from the
shrine in Miyajima, Hiroshima including nine national treasures.
(Part of the profit will go to help restore the shrine damaged
by
the typhoon in September).
Kintetsu Nara stn; inside Nara Park
Open: 9am-4pm
Admission: ¥1,200/¥800/¥500
Tel: 0742-22-7771
Thru March 27
Nara Shashin Museum
“People and Life in the Nara, the Ancient City”
JR/Kintetsu Nara stn; take the
loop bus.
Open: 9:30pm-4:30pm, closed Mon
Admission: ¥500/¥200/¥100
Tel: 0742-22-9881
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ART section compiled by Maki Nibayashi
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