Shukado News Letter No.9 Masayoshi#1

Dear Customers & Friends

Hello from Tokyo!This is Chiaki Tanaka, sending vol.9 Shukado Newsletter.
It has been really warm in Tokyo for these days. Although until a week ago, we had to wear winter coats in the morning and evening, it is so warm today at noon that I have some sweat even without a coat. I guess that it is getting warmer in other countries in northern hemisphere as well.

By the way, we are now preparing hard copies of our "English Catalog". We have issued 13 volumes of printed Japanese catalogs and they have artist names and titles in English. Our upcoming English catalog contains deeper description of the artworks and smaller details in English.

Our wish is that more and more people know more about Japanese fine arts in depth.
In the 19th century, the first "cultural ambassador" of Japan to Europe was the crumpled ukiyoe prints used as packing materials. Ukiyoe's witty and extraordinary refined composition caught on people's curiosity towards unknown country.

On the other hand, I feel pity that Japanese hand paintings created after the Meiji period are not well-known to the people overseas. There are a lot of outstanding artworks created during the modern and post-modern periods.

Unlike our website, this printed catalog can be enjoyed while leisurely lying on the bed or the sofa in the living room. You can carry it in your bag and take it on the train, airplane or to the restroom. Please give us a request for this catalog. The catalog will be ready for distribution in April.

We have made the request form on our website, so please click the link shown below.https://www.syukado.jp/en/catalog/index.html

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Well, this week's featured artist is:

This artist said "Creativity means ugliness".
This phrase sounds like Damian Hirst's, doesn't it? This artist passed away in 1977. He was a Japanese artist who lived 30 years ago and died at the age 57.
For the people, who think that creativity means art and art means beauty, his words may sound quite shocking.

However, he was a very serious person, may be too serious. In the Japanese art world of these days, many artists place emphasis on the "shocking impact" of the artwork rather than the "pleasant beauty". In a sense, he challenged this approximately half a century ago and no body else dared to do this with their artworks. Artists in the modern time, who are taking this challenge seems to have some sort of calculation. On the contrary, he committed himself so much in the quest for creativity just for its sake.

His name is Nakamura Masayoshi (family name, first name).

Japan's fine art associations in the post-war Japan were very conservative and may be it is still the case for them. Although fine art association's most important mission is to facilitate new art movements, in reality, similar artworks are repeatedly created within this association.
Nakamura took his courage to challenge this trend. Although he won the prize at Nitten (Japan Fine Arts Exhibition) and he became the youngest judge for this exhibition, he announced to withdraw his membership from them only after one year of his membership. He is a short tempered person; therefore, he was fed up at once with the unfair judgments by the conservative Nitten based on their nepotism or favoritism.

At his early years as an artist, his artistic style was very typical one for Japanese paintings in the post-war Japan. He had to do so in order to win the prize from the biggest authority in the Japanese art world to be financially viable as a professional artist. His artworks at that time are:
http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/2008/03/bbbb-aaa.html#girl

After his withdrawal from Nitten, his approach to his artworks dramatically changes. For example:http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/2008/03/bbbb-aaa.html#maiko

He used to like calm colors in sepia tone and had extensive training as a Japanese painter. After a while, he challenged to break his old styles. In the traditional method of Japanese paining, pigments are mixed in animal glue called nikawa. Nakamura mixed artificial glue and fluorescent paint to use for Japanese paintings. Then he claimed that this is the true Japanese painting style.

It can be said that his artworks are not only objects for decoration but also the symbol of resistance against the existing authority or the declaration for the creation of new art.I would like to feature his life history in the following newsletter.

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New Arrivals:
I would like to introduce some of our new arrivals:

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Katsushika Hokusai's Ukiyo-e Book "Bansho Zukou " #108000730
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Hokusai, as you know, was the strongest master of Ukiyo-e. His most well-known prints are "Fugaku 36 kei" or "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji" which was created between 1826 and 1833. Since he initially led ukiyo-e world in the edo period, he published a lot of books of exemplary illustrations. This "Bansho Zukou" is one of his illustration books. Various kinds of people, animals and plants are vividly depicted in this book and every page is full of lively and spontaneous graphics.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000730/
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Yoshida Hiroshi's Woodblock Print: Omuro in 1940 #107001930
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Yoshida Hiroshi(1876-1950) is one of the best shin-hanga (new woodcut print movement) artists in the middle 20th century. His prints are richly detailed landscapes and captivating art fans in all over the world.　The motif of this work is the big gate of Omuro which is famous temple in Kyoto. Light colors are used for the gate of the temple and these subtle tones create not only beautiful piled up shades, but also depth in this work.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/107001930/

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Abuna-e or Risque Scene by Eisen #108000770 and by Eizan #108000780
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Keisai Eisen(1791-1848) is a famous artist specialised in bijinga (woodcuts of beautiful women) . It is well-known that Vincent van Gogh reproduced Eisen's work in the work The Couresan(1887).Kikugawa Eizan (1787-1867) was an ukiyo-e painter and print artist, he worked at first for his father who was a Kano school artist.

Abuna-e captures glimpses of nude or partially nude females involved in everyday activities such as bathing, washing their hair, enjoying the cool of the evening, or putting on makeup. See the woks on the links below.
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000770/
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/item/list2/108000780/

Did you enjoy our collections of Ukiyo-e? Hope you have great week!
Sincerely yours,Chiaki Tanaka of Shukado

**We are sending Shukado News Letter - the information ofnew arrivals.If you would like to join our mailing list, please visit here:
http://www.japanese-finearts.com/mail/join.htm
backnumber:http://japanese-finearts.blogspot.com/
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