8/17/2005
Reinventing Tradition: Maruyama Okyo
[image] Maruyama Ôkyo.

NEW ORLEANS.-Last year, NOMA acquired its first work by Ôkyo, a large-scale hanging scroll of a chinese general, Guan Yu, dated to 1779. This magnificent work now forms the centerpiece of a new installation of Japanese painting in the Asian Galleries. Nearly 30 paintings by Ôkyo and many of his major students, including his son Maruyama Ôzui (1766- 1829), Genki (1747- 97), Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754-99), Matsumura Goshun (1752- 1811), his brother Matsumura Keibun (1779- 1843) and Okamoto Toyohiko (1773-1845), among others are included in the exhibition. Drawn from NOMA’s permanent collection and generous loans from the Gitter-Yelen Foundation of New Orleans, Reinventing Tradition is on view through December 2005.

Maruyama Ôkyo (1733-95) was unquestionably the most influential painter and teacher of his time in the former imperial capital of Kyoto and sought to revolutionize Japanese painting practice in the 18th century. Fiercely independent, and clearly ambitious, Ôkyo believed that the foundation of contemporary painting was sketching from life, and numerous sketches of a wide range of subjects still survive. He painted numerous subjects employing aspects of various styles and encouraged his students and followers to develop their own personal approach and brush manner. Until recently, NOMA had no paintings by this Edo-period master, although a number of works by his students and associates had long been part of the collection.

In NOMA’s painting, Ôkyo depicts Guan Yu, a noted chinese General who lived during the tumultuous era known as the Three Kingdoms period (220- 280). The monumental figure is dressed in rich, yet understated robes, and sits upon an elaborately carved lacquer chair that is itself covered by a richly brocaded cloth of dragons chasing flaming pearls amidst clouds. The sophisticated interplay of seemingly opposed techniques– areas of brilliant color contrasting with flat, unmodulated tones, the use of both brush outline and interior, ‘lineless’ definition, and combining illusionistic techniques to define volume with a flat, unarticulated background– are all characteristic elements of Ôkyo’s mature and individual style.

During the 1770s- 1780s, Ôkyo painted a number of large-scale works depicting chinese worthies such as Guan Yu. Clearly there was a market among Ôkyo’s patrons for monumental paintings depicting paragons of strength, virtue and valor. According to the signature, Ôkyo painted this image “upon request” during the winter of 1779.

http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=14638

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artdaily, 8/21/2005
Japan - Culture and Art in the Edo Period (1603-1867)
[image] Samurai on a wild boar hunt at the foot of Mount Fuji. Folding screen decorated by the Japanese court artist Kanô Tangensai Fujiwara Moritsune (1829-66). Ethnographic Collection, National Museum. The screen was presented to King William III of the Netherlands in 1860 by the ruling Shogun of Japan, Tokugawa Iemochi. Photo: Arnold Mikkelsen.

KOLDING, DENMARK.-Museet på Koldinghus presents Japan – Culture and Art in the Edo Period (1603-1867) - A flourishing time under the Shogun. The most ambitious exhibition so far held in Koldinghus Museum, presented under the patronage of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, has been prepared in conjunction with the National Museum of Denmark and displays a large number of Japanese artefacts such as Samurai equipment, kimonos, paintings, woodcuts and refined craftwork. The exhibits are lent by museums in Denmark and abroad, and some of them come from the historical museum in the Japanese town of Anjo, which is Kolding's twin town.

Japan has an unusual and fascinating history, and the Edo period is considered to be an era of cultural blossoming in which the art and culture of the elite spread to large sections of society. The exhibition provides a rare insight into many of the old traditions that have continued to play a major role in modern Japanese society. Stories about the Samurai concept of honour and images of the beautiful courtesans of the Edo period are enduring picturesque components of our knowledge about Japan. The exhibition will be shown from 20 August 2005 until 8 January 2006.

http://www.artdaily.com/section/news/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=14680

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Seattle Times, August 15, 2005
Schnitzers' gift of Chinese artifacts puts Portland museum on the map
By Sheila Farr, Seattle Times art critic

The promised gift of a striking collection of ancient Chinese artifacts has catapulted the Portland Art Museum into "the major league for Han dynasty artworks," according to former Seattle Art Museum curator Jay Xu.

The collection — now on view under the title "Mysterious Spirits, Strange Beasts, Earthly Delights" — was assembled by Portland patrons Arlene and Harold Schnitzer, long known in the region as collectors of Northwest art. Arlene Schnitzer said she made her first purchase of Chinese art in 1974 and has since given a number of the major pieces to PAM; the rest will eventually be transferred as well.

The Schnitzers' purchases of Chinese art focus on a narrow period of history. But within that focus, the collection is comparable in quality and size to that of the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, or what's on display at the Metropolitan Museum in New York, Xu said from his office at the Art Institute of Chicago. Because PAM has no Chinese curator on staff, Xu (pronounced Shu), a renowned scholar, was asked to write a catalog essay. He also presented a sold-out lecture at PAM in May.

There's a lot to be learned from reading the catalog, but you don't need any special expertise to appreciate the beauty and power of the objects. They date from the Warring States period through the Han dynasty, 481 B.C.-220 A.D., a period Xu describes as "one of the most glorious periods in China's history." We know it was glorious because of the ancient Chinese obsession with the afterlife: Their excavated tombs brim with treasures. Much like the early Egyptians, the Chinese believed that the dead needed food and lavish representations of their worldly goods to assure their status in the afterlife. Some of those finely crafted objects appear in "Mysterious Spirits," from the classic lines of Han dynasty horses and exotic beasts exquisitely crafted in clay, to bronze wine vessels and graceful carved-wood figures.

A large ensemble of earthenware musicians with racks of bells and chimes is one of the highlights of the collection, demonstrating the importance of music in Han culture.

Often in exhibits of Chinese art, we only see individual objects removed from their context: one horse out of dozens in a tomb, or one soldier plucked from the rank of hundreds. Here we get a sense of the intricacy of the tomb displays with an entire tableaux of figures and their instruments. "In terms of visual magnitude, the ensemble with bells is quite wonderful," Xu said.

Even in a collection as carefully assembled as the Schnitzers', however, there is the danger of acquiring artworks that are not authentic.

Xu and another expert who examined the artworks recommended thermoluminescence (TL) testing be done on some of the pieces. TL helps establish how long ago clay objects were fired and is an important tool for determining authenticity. It turned out that one of two guardian figure earthenware pillars, previously dated as 25-220 A.D., tested as new.

Arlene Schnitzer said she purchased the piece years ago from a West Coast dealer and has since given it to the museum. "We had it tested because a couple people looked at it and felt it wasn't quite right," she said by phone from her Portland office.

After learning the results, Schnitzer said she phoned the dealer, who insists the piece is genuine and should be retested. In the meantime, it remains in the exhibition, labeled as contemporary.

[image] This painted earthenware horse, from the Han dynasty (206 B.C.-220 A.D.), is part of a collection of Chinese art donated by Arlene and Harold Schnitzer to the Portland Art Museum. (Paul Foster)
[image] Ancient Chinese horse and carriage, Han dynasty, and part of an exhibit on early Chinese art at the Portland Art Museum (Paul Foster)

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2002439068&zsection_id= 2002113064&slug=schnitzer15&date=20050815

 

 

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with kind regards,

Matthias Arnold
(Art-Eastasia list)

http://www.chinaresource.org
http://www.fluktor.de

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