Hara Museum ARC
Gunma
With the blooming yaezakura cherry blossoms at the end of April, spring at the Hara Museum ARC enters its mid-term glory.
(Photo taken April 26, 2014)
At the Kankai Pavilion, we also enter a new stage: Part II of the exhibition Wall and Panel Paintings by Artists of the Kano School – Selections from the Hara Rokuro Collection, featuring hanging scrolls that were originally partition paintings (shohekiga) at the Nikko-in (guest hall) of Mi′idera (Onjoji) Temple in Shiga Prefecture, centered around works which decorated the Shimo no Ma (room).
Tiger in a bamboo grove (part of paintings used for wallpaper and sliding doors at Nikko-in guest hall in Mi’idera temple), Kano Eitoku, Momoyama period 16th century
These pictures were partition paintings (shohekiga) and sliding panel paintings (fusuma-e) in the Nikko-in that were later converted into hanging scrolls. The tiger, a symbol of wealth and status, conveyed the wish for the birth of many offspring, and was thus a popular subject in auspicious paintings.
For this exhibition, we feature a Tiger scroll painting by Kano Yasunobu. Viewers can appreciate the difference in style between the tigers done by the two artists.
Tiger (one of a pair of hanging scrolls), Kano Yasunobu
A tiger looks up at a dragon with an adorable expression. The blurred ink conveys the soft texture of its soft fur. In Japan, it was once believed that the roar of the dragon causes the clouds to gather and rain to fall, and that the roar of a tiger causes the wind to blow. The pitting of the dragon against the tiger was often used as a metaphor for heroes who command events in the world and was much favored by warriors during the Warring States period and Zen monks.
This is the first time these two tiger paintings to appear together in public. The Kankai Pavilion provides viewing conditions close to the original setting, allowing visitors to experience the art as it was in the olden days.
[Featured Works]
Tiger in a bamboo grove, part of paintings used for wallpaper and sliding doors at Nikko-in guest hall in Mi′idera temple, Kano Eitoku, hanging scroll and four hanging scrolls, Momoyama period / Birds and flowers, part of paintings used for wallpaper and sliding doors at Nikko-in guest hall in Mi′idera temple, attributed to Kano school, four hanging scrolls, Momoyama-Edo period and others
Contemporary Art: Marta Pan, Cylinder 1400, 1978 / Roy Lichtenstein, La Sortie, 1990 / Yoshihiro Suda, Tulip, 1998 / Hiroe Saeki, Untitled, 2009 and others
A Teatime Talk event has been scheduled during the exhibition period. For details, see below.
Teatime Talk: The Charm of Kano School Panel Paintings
The Unique Qualities of the Kano School Artists
■Date and Time: May 24 (Saturday) 4:00 – 5:30 pm
■Venue: Cafe d’Art, Hara Museum ARC
■Guest speaker: Hidekazu Miyake (curator, Eisei-Bunko Museum)
■Moderator: Mika Ono (assistant curator, Hara Museum ARC)
■Fee (includes museum admission, tea and sweets): General 1,500 yen / High school and college students 1,000 yen / Hara Museum members and elementary to junior high school students 500 yen
■Reservations and enquiries: Tel: 0279-24-6585 / E-mail: arc@haramuseum.or.jp
*Note: Reservations will be closed when the seating capacity is reached.
For this talk, we have invited Mr. Hidekazu Miyake (curator at the Eisei-Bunko Museum) to talk about the panel paintings of the Kano school painters, from Eitoku to Tan’yu, Naonobu and Yasunobu.
Mr. Miyake will talk about the individual characteristics and essence of the various Kano school painters from the perspective of a researcher who has seen a great number of Kano school paintings with his own eyes. This talk will provide new ways to enjoy the Mi’idera (Onjoji) temple paintings in the Hara Rokuro Collection.
We invite you to come relax, have some tea and sweets and enjoy the talk.
◆ Related-Museum Admission Discount
Visitors to the current exhibition will enjoy a discount on the admission for the following exhibition to be held at the Museum of Modern Art, Gunma upon presentation of their used Hara Museum ARC ticket stub.
Tanyu, Naonobu, Yasunobu：3 Brothers of KANO School in the Early Edo Period
April 19 (Saturday) – June 1 (Sunday)