From Hara Museum ARC, Gunma
For this exhibition, the New Year’s spirit has taken over the Kankai Pavilion with a display of paintings and crafts featuring auspicious symbols that have been cherished by Japanese since ancient times.
One of the featured works is “Landscape of Mt. Fuji” by Shiba Kokan (1747 -1818), which is introduced below.
“Landscape of Mt. Fuji”, Shiba Kokan, Edo period, 18th century
This painting on silk was done at time when Kokan was enthusiastically engaged in oil painting. Known as a Western-style painter, the Edo-born Kokan was one of the first practitioners of Western-style copper engraving in Japan. The words “Sata Fu Dsi” in the top-right corner suggest that this is a scene of Mount Fuji as seen from Satta Pass in Shizuoka. Pictures with realistic-looking landscapes were becoming popular at the time and people probably found the Western-style landscapes done with perspective astounding.
As is well known, Mount Fuji, whose recent designation as a World Heritage Site made big news, has been long revered as sacred mountain and is often depicted in art for its auspicious symbolism. In this landscape, one may discern a confluence of traditional and modern aesthetics.
Scroll paintings, folding screens and other items from the Hara Rokuro Collection depicting images rich in symbolism, such as the horse (the zodiac animal for 2014), pine trees, the rising sun and the crane, will be displayed along with selected works of contemporary art. We invite you to enjoy these scenes and images in the spirit of the New Year.
[Featured works]
Traditional Art: “Wild horses and horsemen” (part of paintings used for wallpaper and sliding doors at Nikko-in guest hall in Mi’idera temple), Kano school, four hanging scrolls, Momoyama – Edo period / “Landscape of Mt. Fuji”, Shiba Kokan, hanging scroll, Edo period / “Landscape of Yodo River”, Maruyama Okyo, hand scroll, Edo period / “A hundred cranes”, Mori Tetsuzan, pair of six-fold screens, Edo period / “Seaside landscape with sunrise”, Yokoyama Taikan, hanging scroll, Meiji period / Pair of Satsuma ware sake bottles with their portable case, maki-e on lacquer, Edo – Meiji period and others.
Contemporary Art: Toshimitsu Imai, Sasameyuki, 1984 / Noe Aoki, tateyama, 2007 / Hiroe Saeki, Untitled, 2009 and others.