Crafting Beauty in Modern Japan
Celebrating Fifty Years of the Japan Traditional Art Crafts
Exhibition
19 July – 21 October 2007
Room
35
Admission £5/£4 concessions
Japan has a long tradition of making, using and appreciating
beautiful craft objects and this tradition is closely integrated
into people’s lives. A respect for the beauty of these objects and
the materials and techniques used to create them is embedded in
Japanese social attitudes and culture. This exhibition celebrates
the best of the last fifty years of the annual ‘Japan Traditional
Art Crafts Exhibition’, with each of the 112 works created by a
different leading artist, past and present. Many of the artists
have been designated by the Japanese government as ‘Living National
Treasures’, holders of important craft skills. Their works
represent some of the best art crafts, both traditional and
ultra-modern, to have been produced in Japan during the last half
century, since the annual exhibition began in 1954. Most of
the pieces are loaned by the The National Museum of Modern Art,
Tokyo, The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto and Agency for
Cultural Affairs, Japan.
The British Museum exhibition will be divided into six sections
each featuring a different medium: ceramic; textile; lacquer;
metal; wood and bamboo and other crafts (cut gold-leaf, glass,
dolls). In addition, a small display of pre-modern craft
objects from the British Museum’s own collections will provide
context for the contemporary pieces.
Japan has one of the oldest ceramic cultures in the world yet
identified, dating back to 14,500 BC. Contemporary ceramic
expression in Japan is deeply interwoven with local traditions and
varies from ‘Genesis’, a highly refined porcelain bowl with vivid,
glass-like coloured glazes by Tokuda Yasokichi III to a rugged
stoneware rectangular plate in black Bizen style made by Isezaki
Jun.
Textile art is perhaps the most compelling of all Japanese art
forms and historically has always been at the cutting edge of
design - literally, the works are wearable art. The kimono
‘Melody’ by Matsubara Yoshichi with its pulsating design of fans
scattered all over the wearer’s body, is a very modern adaptation
of the traditional technique of indigo stencil dyeing. Textiles are
the major area in contemporary Japanese craft expression where
women artists are gaining a high profile, as seen in the woven silk
kimono ‘Path Leading into the Woods’ by Murakami Ryōko.
Lacquer work is the most time consuming and technically
difficult of all the arts in East Asia, and is perhaps the most
prized of all the craft media. Recently examples of lacquer wares
have been discovered in Japan that may date to as early as 7,000
BC. Kuroda Tatsuaki’s compelling ornamental red lacquer box with
flowing design is a perfect example of the miraculous visual and
textural properties of lacquer ware.
There is currently a growth in new styles of expression in
metalwork and this represents some of the most daring decorative
arts in Japan today. Examples include Ōsumi Yukie’s vase ‘Sea
Breeze’ in hammered silver and Nakagawa Mamoru’s vase with inlaid
stripe design in copper and silver alloy.
Wood and bamboo are venerated materials in Japan, closely
integrated into daily life. Bamboo in particular has recently
gained cult status and is collected widely outside Japan.
Katsushiro Sōhō’s basket ‘Shallow Stream’ in split bamboo technique
is an exquisite example of a work which is both functional and
beautiful. Wood has always been a material of choice for sculptors
in Japan and in many cases is worked laboriously by artists
polishing, burning or inlaying to produce supreme examples of their
craft. Nakagawa Kiyotsugu has used ancient sacred cedar wood
in a complex mosaic inlay technique to decorate his square box.
The exhibition concludes with glass making and dolls. Dolls in
Japan have souls and are celebrated each year with their own
festival. ‘Eguchi’ by Hayashi Komao brings a famous courtesan
from medieval history vividly to life. Glass has an ancient
but largely unacknowledged history in Japan. New types of
Japanese glass design are at the forefront of innovation, but this
is not yet recognised by the Living National Treasure system.
Intriguing works such as Ishida Wataru’s covered container with
pate de verre, ‘White Age (Age 99)’ suggest that it surely will be
in the future.
The exhibition has been organized with The National Museum of
Modern Art, Tokyo. In association with The National Museum of
Modern Art, Kyoto, Japan Art Crafts Association and The Japan
Foundation. Supported by Agency for Cultural Affairs, Japan.
Transportation supported by All Nippon Airways. Project support
from The Asahi Shimbun
For further information or images please contact Hannah Boulton
on 020 7323 8522 or hboulton@thebritishmuseum.ac.uk
Notes to Editors
- In 1950 the Japanese government created a Law for the
Protection of Cultural Properties. The tangible cultural properties
to be protected were architecture, painting, sculpture, crafts, and
calligraphy, as well as other precious national assets such as
historical sites, scenic sites, and special plants and
animals. In addition, certain intangible cultural properties
were also protected: theatrical arts, music, craft techniques and
others. Holders of these intangible cultural properties have
come to be known popularly as ‘Living National Treasures’ (ningen
kokuhō).
- The exhibition is accompanied by a fully illustrated catalogue
edited by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere published by British
Museum Press, priced £25.
- The Exhibition Shop will be selling ceramics, textiles, glass
and jewellery from specially selected Crafts Council GB
members.
- An exciting public programme has been developed to coincide
with the exhibition which will include lectures, talks, craft
demonstrations by artists, a documentary film series and an
important international symposium. For more information contact the
press office.
- The British Museum’s Japanese Galleries have recently undergone
a major refurbishment. The new display Japan from prehistory to the
present is a sequence of important stories told by fascinating
objects. The display is chronological, with modern works
occasionally brought back into the historical narrative. Paintings,
prints and other light-sensitive works are rotated periodically but
the layout of the gallery is permanent. The displays
reconnect the history of Japan with East Asia and, in more recent
times, with the wider world. The section ‘Modern Japan’ includes
major ceramic pieces made by some of the Living National Treasure
artists also represented in Crafting Beauty in Modern Japan.
- The October Gallery will host an exhibition of new paintings
and selected works by the well-known Japanese artist Kenji Yoshida.
The exhibition 'Inochi to Heiwa, Life and Peace' will run from 22nd
June - 28th July 2007.