Japanese Art Dealers Assciation at the Ukrainian Center

On both Sunday and Monday afternoons I walked across the Park to view the 2018 Japanese Art Dealers Assciation exhibit at the Ukrainian Center on 79th Street and Fifth Avenue, an annual three-day event, now unfortunately ended, at which one had a rare opportunity to see classic Japanese artworks outside the confines of a museum. Although the show was relatively small compared to the Edo Painting exhibit currently on view at the Met, it more than mde up in quality what it lacked in quantity.

The largest works at the exhibit were the six-panel folding screens that extended the entire length of a gallery.  Most impressive of these was Hawk and Geese by Soga Chokuan from the Momoyama Period.  The painter was known for his realistic renderings of hawks; but it struck a Western viewer, accustomed to more naturalistic effects in art, as strange that the geese should have shown no alarm at the predator's close proximity.  The other three screens - Birds and Flowers by Maruyama Oryū, Cranes by a Meandering Stream from the Kano School, and Flowers of the Four Seasons from the Rinpa School - were all from the Edo Period and so well displayed the Japanese love of nature that one felt one was outdoors when looking at them.

There were also a sizeable number of ukiyo-e prints on display at the exhibit.  These vividly colored woodblock prints have always been the most accessible form of Japanese art for Westerners, and it was their sudden appearance in Europe in the nineteenth century that gave rise to japonisme and an early appreciation of Asian art in general.  Two of the best known ukiyo-e artists were each represented by several prints.  Not only was a particularly fine example of The Great Wave off Kanagawa by Katushika Hokusai on display but so too were two of his lesser known works, Mishima Pass in Kai Province and Suspension Bridge between Hida and Etchū.  Among the works by the equally illustrious Utagawa Hiroshige were White Rain, Shōno (from The Fifty-Three Stations of the Tōkaidō) and Sudden Shower over Shin-Ohashi Bridge and Atake (from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo), the latter of which inspired van Gogh's 1887 Bridge in the rain.  In both of these images by Hiroshige the falling rain was described by slanting straight lines that ran through the entire image.  Also by Hiroshige were A Fine Evening on the Coast, Tsushima Province with its wonderful depiction of a gigantic rainbow and Naruto Whirlpools, Awa Province that showed the artist could stylize the movement of waves equally as well as his rival Hokusai.

Most of the paintings on display were in the form of hanging scrolls from the Edo Period.  One of the largest examples was Waterfall by Yokoyama Seiki in which the raging water at the base of the falls is portrayed simply by an expanse of empty space.  The great majority of the scrolls, however, were figurative works, many of them depicting courtesans, by artists who were equally well known for their ukiyo-e prints.  These included Beauty Writing a Poem by Tsukioka Sessai, Beauty Holding a Poetry Card while Gazing at the Moon by Utagawa Toyokuni, the monochromatic ink wash Courtesan Parading by Chōbunsai Eishi, whose work I had also seen last week at the Met Muesum's Edo Painting exhibit, and Courtesan with a Fan by Nakamura Eiryū.  But the star of the show as far as I was concerned, and for that matter the primary reason I visited the exhibit a second time, was Seated Beauty Inscribing a Poem on a Tanzaku by Kitagawa Utamaro.   Suffice it to say that no other Japanese artist captured the essence of feminine beauty in his work so well as Utamaro.  So prized are his paintings and prints that it's highly unusual to see examples outside museum walls.

Quite different from the Edo Period paintings was a modern abstract work by Dōmoto Inshō.  The representative of Kyoto's Shibunkaku Gallery with whom I spoke explained that the artist had originally painted in a more traditional style prior to a visit to Europe in the 1950's after which he began experimenting with abstraction but while still using traditional Japanese art materials.  This particular painting made abundant use of gold leaf and was brightly colored in swirling patterns.  

In addition to the paintings and prints, there were also ceramics and lacquerware on display.  Of the former, a round pot with a flared rim was definitely the oldest work at the exhibit as it dated from the Yayoi Period (c. 300 BCE - 250 CE).  The lacquer pieces I found most intriguing were two writing boxes (suzuribako), one from the Edo Period inscribed with scenes from Genji monogatari and the other from the Taisho era showing a boat in a stormy sea.  The workmanship on each was exquisite.