The Frank Lloyd Wright Collection of Surimono

Surimono

Surimono

Surimono

Surimono

Surimono ("printed things') constitute one of the most delicate genres in Japanese printmaking. This genre fascinates because it combines poetry and image and because it presents a pictorial puzzle, which provides the viewer with a particular insight into the intellectual and literary world of late 18th- and early 19th-century Edo (today's Tokyo). 

Major artists such as Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa Kunisada, Totoya Hokkei, and Yashima Gakutei, to name but a few, provided imagery to accompany the poetic exploits of poetry club members. 

The prints were circulated among networks of poets and friends and, in contrast to other prints of the period, were not produced for commercial gain.

Intricate still lifes, historical and mythical heroes, actors on the stage, and tranquil landscapes form a visual partnership with the witty poems (kyōka). The beauty of these prints is enhanced by the astonishing printing quality, including the use of metallic pigments and blindprinting.

Japanese Garden: Sanbō-in

Sanbō-in

Sanbō-in

Sanbō-in

Japanese garden

Sanbō-in

Sanbō-in

Sanbō-in

The beautiful Japanese garden at Sanbō-in was established in the Azuchi-Momoyama period (1582–1615). It was a sub-temple of Daigo-ji, which is a Heian period temple founded in 902. The temple complex had fallen into disrepair during the Sengoku period. 

A majority of the present buildings and the garden of Sanbō-in date from the late 16th century. The garden is designed as a stroll garden with a large pond and several paths and bridges. The garden is said to contain over 700 stones -- and one of them, called the Fujito stone, is said to have cost over 5,000 bushels of rice.

Sanbō-in is also a noteworthy illustration of a landscape garden which is designed for viewing from a specific perspective within a building. As laid out in the Momoyama period, the garden remains one of the finest uses of the "fortuitous crane," the "tortoise" and the "isle of eternal youth." These poetic terms identify specific ways in which stones and ponds are poised in a prescribed, esoteric relationship.

In 1598, Toyotomi Hideyoshi redesigned an existing garden in order as avenue for an extravagant cherry blossom-viewing party.

Japanese Screens: Cranes

Japanese screen

Japanese screen

Japanese screen

Japanese screen

Japanese screens (byōbu) are exquisitely beautiful emblems of wealth and power. 

With insights from Matthew McKelway, Professor of Japanese Art History at Columbia University

‘What’s interesting in the development of screen paintings,’ says Matthew McKelway, Takeo and Itsuko Atsumi Professor of Japanese Art History at Columbia University, ‘is that we see a really broad variation of themes early on. Some of the earliest literary accounts seem to describe native landscapes — rounded green hills, cherry blossoms, maple leaves and seasonal flowers — but by the late medieval period we have examples that include human figures and narratives.’

As screens became increasingly varied in subject matter and style, members of the merchant class became keen collectors. Many beautiful examples are held in Buddhist temples, some commissioned by the temples and others donated by patrons. Today, gilded screens are still produced and used on special occasions such as award ceremonies and weddings.

When do screens date from?

Among the earliest screen paintings in East Asia are examples in lacquer on wood from Six Dynasties China (220-589 AD). The earliest complete extant example in Japan, explains Professor McKelway, is from the Tōji temple in Kyoto, built in 796 AD, depicting a ‘Chinese recluse in a landscape with brilliant green pigments for the mountains’.

What were they used for?

Screens were used as diplomatic gifts. ‘From the late medieval period onward, they were sent in considerable numbers to China and to Korea,’ says McKelway. The subject of the screen paintings could often be interpreted as a message to the recipient: 17th-century inventories describe images of Japanese warriors on screens sent to Korea -- which is interesting considering Japan invaded its neighbour twice in the 16th century.

Japanese screens also played an important part in the sacred setting of Shinto and Buddhist temples. ‘The concept of shōgon is a décor used in the temple to heighten and intensify the atmosphere for rituals,’ the professor explains. ‘The term encompasses the whole ensemble, from painted images and incredibly intricate silk borders on paintings to beautiful gilded incense burners and the like.’

They were also used at funerals and for the births of very high-ranking members of the aristocracy. Those serving the latter purpose, says McKelway, tend to be ‘completely white or white with images of cranes or egrets painted on them.’

Did screens contain popular themes?

Screens often depicted images from the Tale of Genji, the classic work of Japanese literature written in the early years of the 11th century. Others, such as those given as a dowry for a young wife, might contain an underlying message, such as direction on how to behave at court.

Who were the leading screen painters?

Although many of the screens are unsigned, there are some famous names that stand out for their innovation and skill. ‘Hasegawa Tōhaku -- to whom a pair of screens of the Uji River is attributed -- was attempting to do very different things with composition and materials to his competitors in the Kano school, for example,’ says McKelway.

Around the 17th and 18th centuries, the artist’s hand began to be prized as much as the subject or material and, just as in the West, the individual’s work was often preferred to that of the studio.

Further important names from this period include Maruyama Ōkyo, Nagasawa Rosetsu, Soga Shōhaku and Kishi Ganku. Yosa Buson, who was equally renowned as a haiku poet, is known to have established a lottery system in order to raise funds for the finest materials, such as silk satin. 

What can we tell from signatures and seals?

Signatures and seals began to appear on the screens in around the 16th century. ‘An older, established painter who led a big atelier producing for a younger patron might enter his name in the lower corners of a pair of screens,’ Professor McKelway notes. ‘If an artist were painting a screen for the shogun, however, he might not want to be so bold as to put his name on it.’ The seals, meanwhile, more commonly appear to indicate studio production.

How did production evolve over time?

There was a marked difference in materials from commission to commission. In the 16th century, for example, we see a growing preference for extensive application of metal foils, particularly gold.

Changes in Japan, such as national unification in the late 16th century, led to an advancement of technique. ‘The late Momoyama period is considered by art historians to be the period of major compositional innovation,’ says McKelway. ‘By the end of the 16th century, greater political stability contributed to urban development and increasing competition among painting studios.’

From the late 17th century, the breadth of patronage for works of art widened considerably as cities like Kyoto, Osaka, Nagoya and Edo flourished, says the professor. The new consumerism was conspicuously displayed at the annual Gion festival in Kyoto, when screens and other treasures were taken out and put on show. This was unusual within Japanese culture, with its emphasis on discretion.

 How did Japanese screens influence Western art?

‘The first known Japanese folding screen to have been sent to the West was part of a Japanese diplomatic mission to Spain, Portugal and eventually to Rome in the 1580s,’ explains McKelway. Due to their delicacy and rarity these gifts were not widely dispersed in the same way as, say, traditional fans or Chinese porcelain.

As they began to be acquired by museums and major collections in the 19th century, Japanese screens appeared in the work of artists such as Whistler and Manet.

Are screens difficult to maintain?

Like any work of art, painted screens require a great deal of care. As a rule, they should not be put up on walls because the hinges will strain, causing damage to the framework and tears on the painting surface.

Temperature and humidity are also important considerations. ‘Screens have to be kept in conditions similar to those in their place of origin,’ advises McKelway.

What should a new collector look out for?

Although the professor advises that one should always follow one’s own taste, factors to consider include rarity, the quality of the painting and materials, the composition or theme and the screen’s condition.

‘The appearance of an artist’s name might be significant, but because so many works were not signed it’s important to focus on the power of the imagery and the command of the medium,’ McKelway says. ‘My sense is that screen paintings are still a real bargain, especially in comparison to some of the household names in Western art.’

Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Design

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

Frank Lloyd Wright

A collected look, a mashup of cultural influences, a global mix -- all are phrases used to describe yet another idea influencing today's interiors that can trace its roots through Frank Lloyd Wright's work. Highly influenced by time spent in Japan, he embraced tenets of Japanese and Chinese design, including reverence for natural materials and an inherent simplicity and lack of clutter.

It's something that I feel is really resonant right now. We live in in a world where we can buy anything and get it delivered tomorrow. But we can recognize the humbleness and simplicity and purity of really thinking about everything that we bring into our homes. That was something Wright thought about as an architect, but it's an idea that can really benefit every homeowner -- just slowing down and taking time to choose and enjoy the things you have in your home. Decorating is a word that we use to describe how things can improve our quality of life, and it's not really about more things -- it's about, maybe, the right things or even fewer things.

Though he championed a uniquely American style of architecture, Wright's own homes and those of his clients gained richness and depth from a few treasured pieces of rough-hewn Japanese pottery, a handmade textile from Africa, or beautiful Mexican paintings. His display of handmade objects from around the world in the context of Modern interiors added a layer of educated elegance to his rooms.

The lesson? The world is big and there is much to gain from that.

Wright fathered a new kind of architecture and kept on evolving from there -- but more than a century later, it's the timelessness of his ideas that make his influence so enduring.

When you look at his work today and it doesn't look all that strange or new --that's because what he was doing has been incorporated into our daily life. We can relate to what he was doing because it has permeated the way we live today. He was trying to change the way we live and do something different -- to break through to that next thing -- and he succeeded.

George Nakashima: Live-Edge Free-Form Wooden Table

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

George Nakashima

Born in Spokane, Washington, to Japanese immigrants, George Nakashima traveled widely after college, working and studying in Paris, Japan, and India, and at every stop he absorbed both Modernist and traditional design influences. 

A turning point in Nakashima’s career development came in the United States in 1942, when he was placed in an internment camp for Asian-Americans in Idaho. There, Nakashima met a master woodcarver who tutored him in Japanese crafting techniques. 

A former employer won Nakashima’s release and brought him to bucolic New Hope, Pennsylvania, where Nakashima set up a studio and worked for the rest of his life.      

Nakashima’s singular aesthetic is best captured in his custom-made tables and benches -- pieces that show off the grain, burls and whorls in a plank of wood. He left the “free edge,” or natural contour, of the slab unplaned, and reinforced fissures in the wood with “butterfly” joints. Almost all Nakashima seating pieces have smooth, milled edges. 

Nakashima also contracted with large-scale manufacturers to produce carefully supervised editions of his designs. Knoll has offered his “Straight Chair” -- a modern take on the spindle-backed Windsor chair -- since 1946. The now-defunct firm Widdicomb-Mueller issued the Shaker-inspired “Origins” collection in the 1950s.      

In 1973 Nelson Rockefeller gave Nakashima his single largest commission -- a 200-piece suite for his suburban New York estate. 

Today, Nakashima furniture is collected by both the staid and the fashionable -- his work sits in the collections of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Smithsonian Institution, as well as in the homes of Stephen Spielberg, Brad Pitt, Diane von Furstenberg, and the late Steve Jobs.

Bertha Lum: Color Woodblock Prints

Bertha Lum

Bertha Lum

Bertha Lum

Bertha Lum

Bertha Lum

Bertha Lum made a significant contribution to the Japonisme movement with her woodblock prints and paintings. Lum's prints combine sinuous Art-Nouveau curves with flat planes of color that harken back to 19th century ukiyo-e. The subject of her work ranges from children to landscapes to mysterious figures from Asian folklore and legend. Perhaps because she was a foreigner and could only experience Asian life on the outside, Lum envisioned Asia as an exotic, magical place full of lantern light, swirling smoke, and smiling women, a vision which still appeals to viewers today.

Bertha Lum was born Bertha Boynton Bull in Tipton, Iowa to parents who were amateur artists. Although her family was not well-off, she was able to study for a year at the Art Institute of Chicago in 1895, and apparently worked as an artist during her youth. Around this time there were several important exhibitions which helped to popularize Japanese art and culture in America, including the Chicago World's Fair of 1893. Lum's interest in Japanese prints may also have stemmed from Arthur Wesley Dow's art textbook, 'Composition', which featured his own color woodblock prints. In 1902, one of Lum's art teachers, Frank Holme, was inspired to try his hand at color printmaking. It would not be long before Lum got a similar opportunity.

In 1903, Bertha married Bert Lum, a corporate lawyer, and persuaded him to travel to Japan on their honeymoon. Lum was expecting to find many artists working as printmakers, but during this time, Japanese printmaking was in serious decline. It would be several years before the publisher Watanabe Shozaburo revitalized traditional Japanese printmaking with the shin hanga movement. Fortunately, on one of her last days in Yokohama, Lum happened across an old printmaking shop. She was able to learn a little about the printmaking technique and buy the necessary tools to get started.

It would be four years before Lum was able to return to Japan for further study. In the meantime, she made several noteworthy woodblock prints. These prints clearly show the influence of both French Impressionism and ukiyo-e. Theatre Street, made by Lum in 1905, employs a diagonal perspective that is similar in composition to prints by Hiroshige. But unlike crisply outlined ukiyo-e designs, Lum's work is softly printed with rich clouds of light and shadow. Lum only used a few sharp outlines in the foreground to delineate the figures closest to the viewer. The other figures fade into the misty night, giving the print a sense of drama and depth.

In 1907, Lum made her second trip to Japan, primarily to learn more about Japanese printmaking. Through a letter of introduction, Lum was able to study carving in the workshop of Bonkotsu Igami, a master carver. Lum worked there every day for two months, being taught mainly by Igami's two 12-year old apprentices. After Igami was satisfied with her level of competency at carving, he introduced her to a master printer. Lum learned by watching printers work from her own blocks, and later practiced their techniques of subtle gradients and layered colors. During her early years, Lum insisted on carving and printing her own prints, and she became masterful at both skills. However on subsequent trips to Japan, Lum decided to hire carvers and printers to work under her direct supervision. The Japanese system of collaborative printmaking was more practical and efficient than working alone. It made sense for Lum to work this way, as she was not only trying to establish herself as an artist, but also to raise two young children.

After Lum's third visit to Tokyo in 1911, her prints were featured in the Tenth Annual Art Exhibit in Ueno Park in 1912. She was the only Western artist in the show, and her prints were remarkably modern compared to her Japanese contemporaries. Based on the enthusiastic response to her work, Lum soon had print exhibitions at galleries in Chicago and New York. Lum's work was increasingly influenced by the stories of Lafcadio Hearn, a Westerner who translated Japanese legends and fairy tales into popular books.

Katsushika Hokusai: The Artist with 30 Names

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Hokusai was born on the 23rd day of 9th month of the 10th year of the Hōreki period (October or November 1760) to an artisan family, in the Katsushika district of Edo, Japan. His childhood name was Tokitarō. It is believed his father was the mirror-maker Nakajima Ise, who produced mirrors for the shogun. His father never made Hokusai an heir, so it's possible that his mother was a concubine. Hokusai began painting around the age of six, possibly learning the art from his father, whose work on mirrors also included the painting of designs around the mirrors.

Hokusai was known by at least 30 names during his lifetime. Although the use of multiple names was a common practice of Japanese artists of the time, the numbers of names he used far exceeds that of any other major Japanese artist. Hokusai's name changes are so frequent, and so often related to changes in his artistic production and style, that they are useful for breaking his life up into periods.

At the age of 12, he was sent by his father to work in a bookshop and lending library, a popular type of institution in Japanese cities, where reading books made from wood-cut blocks was a popular entertainment of the middle and upper classes. At 14, he became an apprentice to a wood-carver, where he worked until the age of 18, whereupon he was accepted into the studio of Katsukawa Shunshō. Shunshō was an artist of ukiyo-e, a style of wood block prints and paintings that Hokusai would master, and head of the so-called Katsukawa school. Ukiyo-e, as practiced by artists like Shunshō, focused on images of the courtesans and Kabuki actors who were popular in Japan's cities at the time.

After a year, Hokusai's name changed for the first time, when he was dubbed Shunrō by his master. It was under this name that he published his first prints, a series of pictures of Kabuki actors published in 1779. During the decade he worked in Shunshō's studio, Hokusai was married to his first wife, about whom very little is known except that she died in the early 1790s. He would marry again in 1797, although this second wife also died after a short time. He fathered two sons and three daughters with these two wives, and his youngest daughter Oyei eventually became an artist like her father.

Upon the death of Shunshō in 1793, Hokusai began exploring other styles of art, including European styles he was exposed to through French and Dutch copper engravings he was able to acquire. He was soon expelled from the Katsukawa school by Shunkō, the chief disciple of Shunshō, possibly due to studies at the rival Kanō school. This event was, in his own words, inspirational: "What really motivated the development of my artistic style was the embarrassment I suffered at Shunkō's hands."

Hokusai also changed the subjects of his works, moving away from the images of courtesans and actors that were the traditional subjects of ukiyo-e. Instead, his work became focused on landscapes and images of the daily life of Japanese people from a variety of social levels. This change of subject was a breakthrough in ukiyo-e and in Hokusai's career.

Height of his career

The next period saw Hokusai's association with the Tawaraya School and the adoption of the name "Tawaraya Sōri." He produced many brush paintings, called surimono, and illustrations for kyōka ehon during this time. In 1798, Hokusai passed his name on to a pupil and set out as an independent artist , free from ties to a school for the first time, adopting the name Hokusai Tomisa.

By 1800, Hokusai was further developing his use of ukiyo-e for purposes other than portraiture. He had also adopted the name he would most widely be known by, Katsushika Hokusai, the former name referring to the part of Edo where he was born and the latter meaning, 'north studio'. That year, he published two collections of landscapes, Famous Sights of the Eastern Capital and Eight Views of Edo. He also began to attract students of his own, eventually teaching 50 pupils over the course of his life.

He became increasingly famous over the next decade, both due to his artwork and his talent for self-promotion. During a Tokyo festival in 1804, he created a portrait of the Buddhist priest Daruma said to be 600 feet (180 m) long using a broom and buckets full of ink. Another story places him in the court of the Shogun Iyenari, invited there to compete with another artist who practiced more traditional brush stroke painting. Hokusai's painting, created in front of the Shogun, consisted of painting a blue curve on paper, then chasing a chicken across it whose feet had been dipped in red paint. He described the painting to the Shogun as a landscape showing the Tatsuta River with red maple leaves floating in it, winning the competition.

1807 saw Hokusai collaborate with the popular novelist Takizawa Bakin on a series of illustrated books. The two did not get along due to artistic differences, and their collaboration ended during work on their fourth. The publisher, given the choice between keeping Hokusai or Bakin on the project, opted to keep Hokusai, emphasizing the importance of illustrations in printed works of the period.

In 1811, at the age of 51, Hokusai changed his name to Taito and entered the period in which he created the Hokusai Manga and various etehon, or art manuals. These etehon, beginning in 1812 with Quick Lessons in Simplified Drawing, served as a convenient way to make money and attract more students. The first book of Hokusai's manga, sketches or caricatures, was published in 1814. Together, his 12 volumes of manga published before 1820 and three more published posthumously include thousands of drawings of animals, religious figures, and everyday people. They often have humorous overtones, and were very popular at the time.

In 1820, Hokusai changed his name yet again, this time to "Iitsu," a change which marked the start of a period in which he secured fame as an artist throughout Japan (though, given Japan's isolation from the outside world during his lifetime, his fame overseas came after his death). It was during the 1820s that Hokusai reached the peak of his career. His most famous work, 36 Views of Mount Fuji, including the famous Great Wave off Kanagawa, dated from this period. It proved so popular that Hokusai later added ten more prints to the series. Among the other popular series of prints he published during this time are A Tour of the Waterfalls of the Provinces and Unusual Views of Celebrated Bridges in the Provinces. He also began producing a number of detailed individual images of flowers and birds, including the extraordinarily detailed Poppies and Flock of Chickens.

Later life

The next period, beginning in 1834, saw Hokusai working under the name "Gakyō Rōjin Manji" (The Old Man Mad About Art). It was at this time that Hokusai produced One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji, another significant landscape series.

In the postscript to this work, Hokusai writes: “ From around the age of six, I had the habit of sketching from life. I became an artist, and from fifty on began producing works that won some reputation, but nothing I did before the age of seventy was worthy of attention. At seventy-three, I began to grasp the structures of birds and beasts, insects and fish, and of the way plants grow. If I go on trying, I will surely understand them still better by the time I am eighty-six, so that by ninety I will have penetrated to their essential nature. At one hundred, I may well have a positively divine understanding of them, while at one hundred and thirty, forty, or more I will have reached the stage where every dot and every stroke I paint will be alive. May Heaven, that grants long life, give me the chance to prove that this is no lie. ”

In 1839, disaster struck as a fire destroyed Hokusai's studio and much of his work. By this time, his career was beginning to wane as younger artists such as Andō Hiroshige became increasingly popular. But Hokusai never stopped painting, and completed Ducks in a Stream at the age of 87.

Constantly seeking to produce better work, he apparently exclaimed on his deathbed, "If only Heaven will give me just another ten years... Just another five more years, then I could become a real painter." He died on April 18, 1849, and was buried at the Seikyō-ji in Tokyo (Taito Ward).

A short four years after Hokusai's death, an American fleet led by Matthew C. Perry sailed into Tokyo Bay and forced Japan to open its arms to the West. Hokusai's career spanned the last age of Japanese history before its interaction with the west would change the course of the nation.

Works and influences

Hokusai had a long career, but he produced most of his important work after age 60. His most popular work is the ukiyo-e series Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji, which was created between 1826 and 1833. It actually consists of 46 prints (10 of them added after publication). In addition, he is responsible for the 1834 One Hundred Views of Mount Fuji (富嶽百景 Fugaku Hyakkei), a work which "is generally considered the masterpiece among his landscape picture books." His ukiyo-e transformed the art form from a style of portraiture focused on the courtesans and actors popular during the Edo Period in Japan's cities into a much broader style of art that focused on landscapes, plants, and animals.

Both Hokusai’s choice of nom d'artiste and frequent depiction of Mt. Fuji stem from his religious beliefs. The name Hokusai means "North Studio (room)," (北斎） an abbreviation of Hokushinsai (北辰際) or "North Star Studio." Hokusai was a member of the Nichiren sect of Buddhism. For Nichiren followers, the North Star is associated with the deity Myōken (妙見菩薩). Mount Fuji has traditionally been linked with eternal life. This belief can be traced to the The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, where a goddess deposits the elixir of life on the peak. As Henry Smith expounds, "Thus from an early time, Mt. Fuji was seen as the source of the secret of immortality, a tradition that was at the heart of Hokusai's own obsession with the mountain."

The largest of Hokusai's works is the 15-volume collection Hokusai Manga (北斎漫画), a book crammed with nearly 4,000 sketches that was published in 1814. These sketches are often incorrectly considered the precedent to modern manga, as Hokusai's Manga is a collection of sketches (of animals, people, objects, etc.), different from the story-based comic-book style of modern manga.

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai

Katsushika Hokusai