Publication Date: Friday, February 25, 2005
Big on Japan
Big on Japan
(February 25, 2005) New exhibits at the Palo Alto Art Center showcase prints, textiles and cabinetry
by Katie Vaughn
T hree new exhibits at the Palo Alto Art Center offer a rare glimpse into the art and culture of Edo Japan. Rare surimono prints, plus indigo-dyed textiles and cabinetry, provide often unseen examples of the subtle beauty and artistic creativity of 17th through 19th century Japan.
"There's so much to see and appreciate," said Signe Mayfield, curator of the exhibits. "They're little glimpses into Edo Japan."
Japan's Edo period (1603-1867) was characterized by a strict Shogunate that controlled virtually all areas of life and closed off the country's ports to halt the spread of Christianity. Yet surprisingly, this era also produced a wealth of artistic creativity.
"There was great political security at the expense of personal freedoms," Mayfield said. "What's fascinating to me is there was this great artistic flowering."
The Shogunate maintained class distinctions by imposing sumptuary laws, such as forbidding commoners to use luxurious colors, materials and techniques in clothing and prints. In response, artists focused on perfecting subtle details and creating understated aesthetics in their work.
A notable exception are surimono prints, colored woodcuts that were exchanged as seasonal greetings, often featuring poems and images carrying literary references, wordplay and visual puns. They differed from other prints of the period in that they were produced privately as opposed to commercially, thereby avoiding the scrutiny of censors. Surimono creators were able to use handmade papers, embellishments of metallic details, unusual color combinations and special printing techniques.
The 33 works on display in "The Gift: Surimono Prints from Bay Area Collections" range in subject matter from plainly presented landscapes to intricate narratives. Lending institutions include the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco; University Art Museum, University of California at Berkeley; and the Iris B. and Gerald Cantor Art Center at Stanford.
One of the more aesthetically simplistic works, "A Cat with a Red Silk Ribbon Eating a Piece of Fish" evolved from older picture calendars and features hidden numerical signs for the year's long and short months. Among others are a large number six in the cat's left ear and a small four on a claw. At certain angles, mica dustings in the image's fish scales are visible.
Illustrating the close relationship between the text and printed image is "Woman Catching an Octopus." A plaque translates the poem scrawled on the print: "There is one strange thing/ about low tide on the beach; It is how gentle/ the octopus turns out to be when caught by little sister." Mayfield said reading the poem enhances the experience of examining the subtleties in the blue-robed woman and the curvilinear forms of the water and octopus arms.
"Once you read the poem, you come back for things to see," she said.
More theatrical is "Ichikawa Ebizo VII as Acorn, a child priest holding a secret scroll." The print, in which the leading figure in 19th-century Kabuki theater peers from a portrait at his son acting in the role of a young priest, captures the Kabuki dramatic action freeze where actors cross their eyes and make their limbs rigid. A background blending from an exquisite bright blue to light green adds a sense of drama.
The vertical diptych of two prints, "Kosekiko (Huang Shih-Kung)" and "Chyoryo (Chang Liao)," also involves elements of storytelling. The colorful prints tell a traditional Chinese story, but its characters wear contemporary Japanese clothing.
"Like Kabuki theater, surimono prints would often parody traditional stories in contemporary dress," Mayfield said.
In the diptych's top scene, a woman looks out from a wooden bridge and in the bottom print, a woman on a flat boat examines a black object. Although Mayfield has questioned several scholars, the identity of this long object remains unknown.
One of the particularly fine details of surimono prints is the rendering of textiles. Shown in lines ranging from sharply angular to sinuously curving, kimonos and robes display bright colors, geometric prints and intricate floral motifs.
Real examples of period textiles are showcased in the adjacent "Spring Pool/Floating Sky: In Praise to Indigo" exhibit. Once limited to the aristocracy alone, indigo dye became popular in the Edo period along with cotton, the material that best absorbed the permanent color. However, because legal codes were imposed to prohibit signs of prestige in the garments worn by the merchant class, clothing of the period feature a refined aesthetic.
A variety of fibrous robes display stripes, checks and grid-like patterns in shades of blue from pale and muted to deep and nearly black to rich and purple-like. One robe additionally features intricate appliques.
Providing a contrast are contemporary textile works, including Temari Balls of the 1970s, baseball-size forms of colorful silk threads arranged into complex geometric patterns, as well as recent works by Hiroyuki Shindo. Mayfield said the Japanese artist became interested in indigo-dying 30 years ago, when he feared it was becoming a lost art.
His "Shindigo Space III" wall hanging shows a respect for the tradition in its subtle tones that blend from light to rich blue, while proving its place in contemporary art through the deep navy slash mark that covers most of the fabric's surface. "Hemp and Cotton Banner II" is more of a meditation in the possibilities of indigo-dyed art, with five vertical panels of different and blending shades stitched together with navy thread.
Also at the center is "Moving Cabinetry: Tansu from the Zentner Collection," a display of special cabinets and boxes used by the growing merchant class in the Edo and Meiji periods (1868-1912). Tansu that were privately made and kept away from censors boast richly grained woods and detailed hardware. Cabinetry pieces vary in size and shape, from large sturdy boxes to smaller forms holding drawers and secret compartments. Like the surimono prints, these tansu exemplify the artistic flowering that existed amid the era's rigid controls on society.
"These are very individual pieces, made with great care," Mayfield said.
What: "The Gift: Surimono Prints from Bay Area Collections," "Spring Pool/Floating Sky: In Praise to Indigo" and "Moving Cabinetry: Tansu From the Zentner Collection." Free docent tours will be given on Saturdays at 2 p.m. through April 16 (except March 26).
Where: Palo Alto Art Center, 1313 Newell Road in Palo Alto
When: Through April 24. Viewing hours are Tuesday through Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; late evenings Tuesday through Thursday 7-10 p.m.; Sunday 1-5 p.m.
Cost; Admission is free.
Info: Call (650) 329-2367 or visit www.cityofpaloalto.org/artcenter
Style Tsunami: A magical art-for-wear trunk show will take place April 16 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Palo Alto Art Center. Thirteen contemporary designers of clothing and accessories, as well as five jewelers, will participate. Proceeds will benefit art education programs at the Center.
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