Kamisaka Sekka and Rimpa/Rinpa @ the Clark
Monday, May 28, 2012
Opening day for Kamisaka Sekka |
It shouldn’t happen, but it had been
twenty-seven months since I last visited the Clark Center for Japanese Art and
Culture, even though it is only a bare twenty-eight miles from my door. I was very aware of missing several
interesting exhibitions, and my only excuse is busyness. So earlier this month, I stole an afternoon I
didn’t really have, and went to see the opening of Kamisaka Sekka, 1866-1942: Tradition and Modernity (running through
July 28). In truth, the presentation
goes far beyond this one artist, and gives a history of the Rimpa School (琳派 Rimpa or Rinpa), of
which Kamisaka was its last great master.
Detail from Kusunoki Masashige before the Battle, Kamisaka Sekka (ca. 1918) |
I have long been intrigued by most
things Meiji. It astounds me that a
nation could—by an act of will—redefine itself so quickly. Japan leaped from 17th Century
feudalism to 20th Century modernity in barely half a century. It made an art of copying Europe and America
in major areas of life, and yet managed to accomplish its leap with most of its
national character intact. Compared to,
say, a similar effort in China under Mao Zedong, it was almost bloodless, and
so much smoother.
Kamisaka Sekka |
Kamisaka Sekka was three when forces
loyal to the teenaged Emperor Meiji put down the last vestiges of the Tokugawa
Shogunate. He had been born into a
samurai family near Kyoto, but a major plank in modernization was the abolition
of the Samurai class. Many former
samurai turned to the arts. Others
became foreign students, sent to the west to bring back modern thought and
technology. Kamisaka did both. After mastering Rimpa, he studied in Glasgow,
Scotland, and returned home to become the father of modern Japanese design.
Kamisaka considered Rimpa to be Japan’s
only native school of art, with all other styles coming first from China. Rimpa originated early in the 17th
Century, and could appear as hanging paintings, folding screens, decorative fans,
lacquer ware, textiles, ceramics, woodblock, or books of prints. Kamisaka worked in each of these. Backgrounds often bore calligraphy and a distinctive
gold or silver sheen, against which objects appeared in strong colors, sometimes with bold
outlines and other times with no outline at all. Subject matter often came from
plants, flowers, or birds, but sometimes came from legends, the theater, or popular stories. Because the patrons who supported it were wealthy, Rimpa exudes a stylized lavishness.
Noh Scene: Hagoromo, Kamisaka Sekka (ca. 1920-1940) |
Moon and Waves, Suzuki Kiitsu (1796-1858) |
Pieces by several of the earlier masters
caught my attention. Suzuki Kiitsu’s
Moon and Waves achieves wild excitement with very simple colors and lines, with
a modern appearance in stark contrast to my image of Tokugawa feudalism.
I enjoyed Kamisaka’s more traditional work, with less of a European influence. He was sent with the assignment to discover what Europeans would like to see in Japanese art. He accomplished the task well, but Edwardian tastes are not my tastes.
I enjoyed Kamisaka’s more traditional work, with less of a European influence. He was sent with the assignment to discover what Europeans would like to see in Japanese art. He accomplished the task well, but Edwardian tastes are not my tastes.
Pages from “All Kinds of Things” (“Chigusa,”), Kamisaka Sekka (1903) |
A gentlemen saw me admiring Suzuki’s
Bush Clover and Pampas Grass and came to tell me he had enjoyed it for several
years, hanging in his bedroom. I asked
if he was Mr. Clark, and he corrected me, “Bill.” At that moment, we were interrupted by the
start of Dr. Marks’ talk, and we did not get to finish our conversation, but I
must point out that in three visits to the Victoria and Albert Museum, in
London, I have never yet been approached by either Victoria or Albert.
Grasshopper detail from Autumn Grasses and Moon, Sakai Ōho (1808-1841) |
Seven Lucky Gods, Kamisaka Sekka (ca. 1920-1930) |
Morning Glories, Kamisaka Sekka (ca. 1920-1940) |
Takasago, Kamisaka Sekka (ca. 1920-1930) |
I enjoy visiting the Clark Center. As a small museum, it has a special personality. After my previous visit—a samurai exhibit, I got too busy to post anything on this blog. Then, last summer I had the chance to see a similar presentation, in London. I came away impressed that the Clark had done a better job telling the samurai story than had the Victoria and Albert. The difference is, even if a visitor can devote most of one day to the Victoria and Albert, one still feels the pressure to race from item to item, running from antiquity to the present, and from continent to continent. There are thousands of things to see. Yet in the samurai room, the Victoria and Albert was outdone by the Clark. The Clark told a richer story, and gave visitors a more intimate setting.
Samurai at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, July 2011 |
Samurai at the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture, January, 2010 |
I may get back for a second look at the
Rimpa before it closes, July 28th.
Then I look forward to a two-part presentation of landscapes, beginning
in September.
For more on the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture:
For my previous review of the Clark Center for Japanese Art and Culture:
Posted by
Brian
at
12:23 AM
5
comments
Labels: Art, California, Europe, History, Japan, Museums, Photography, Plants and Flowers, Travel, Visalia
Today class, we consider the California Primary
Friday, May 25, 2012
A former student, recently relocated to California, wrote me
to ask for advice in our upcoming election.
Teachers live for the teachable moment, so even if this student last sat
in my class 17 years ago, I found this more exciting than any other aspect of
an election that doesn’t have much else to recommend it. Here is my answer:
Dear Sheryl,
Welcome to California.
I wish we could offer you a more interesting first election, but while
on a national level, this election offers lots of characters and plot, if not a
lot of solutions to our national problems, statewide it’s pretty dull. The more interesting election will come in
November, when Governor Brown asks for a tax increase to help close the budget
shortfalls.
At the top of the ticket, both parties have already settled
on candidates, so that our only choice is whether to endorse those choices, or
register a protest. I’m not sure how
much good that does. Remarkably, Democratic
primaries in four states have given President Obama less than 60% majorities,
even when there is no reputable candidate running against him. Yet no legitimate challenger has stepped
forward to do so. I remember the year
Lyndon Johnson dropped out of his re-election campaign because the second-place
candidate in New Hampshire finished close enough to embarrass him. Yet this year, Americans Elect has a place on
the ballot in over 30 states, and no candidate seems interested in pursuing it.
On the Republican side, Mit Romney will be the candidate,
and nothing California can do will change that.
Some people may complain about this, but I am much happier having
candidates vetted and winnowed in small states where voters actually get to
meet and go face-to-face with candidates.
California is a media state, where money talks, but few voters get a
personal look at the candidates. If
several candidates had survived until the California primary, our size would
seal the deal, but if we have no say here, we have other ways to throw our
weight around.
The question then becomes whether we want to use our vote to
send Romney some kind of message. If,
for example, I vote for Santorum in the primary (even though he’s already
dropped out), would that send a message to Romney that I would like him to pick
a social conservative like Huckabee for Vice President? I have no way of knowing, and it’s an iffy
proposition that has ten ways it might backfire. I’m still trying to decide.
The race for senator is even stranger. There are 24 candidates, of whom Diane
Feinstein will capture about 60% of the vote, and the other 23 will average
less than 2% apiece. The second place
finisher, who might come in with five or six percent, will be Feinstein’s
opponent in November. It could be one of
the 14 Republicans, or another one of the six Democrats, or even a Libertarian
or one of the two Peace and Freedom candidates.
(Correction: It was late at night when I wrote this. If Feinstein gets 60%, there won't be any run-off in November.) I won’t vote for Feinstein, but I don’t recognize the name of any
challenger. The truth is, in a media state,
running is so expensive that serious candidates (if the Republicans could actually
come up with one) looked at this race and decided it wasn’t worth it. In our last election, Meg Whitman and Carly
Fiorina threw immense amounts of personal wealth at races for governor and
senator, and came away empty.
For all intents and purposes, California has no statewide
Republican Party. They manage only a
feeble minority in the state legislature, and elect no statewide
officials. I blame this on Pete Wilson,
a governor we had in the 1990s. Because
he had no appeal to social conservatives in areas where their instincts are
best (such as Life), he had to demagogue the issues where their instincts are
worst (for example, xenophobia). As a
result, he convinced the Hispanic population (fast becoming the biggest voting
block in the state) that Republicans wished they would go somewhere else. I keep hoping for a Republican who can change
that image, but I don’t see one yet.
I don’t know who is running for Congress in your part of the
state. In my area, the Republican
incumbent, Devin Nunes, doesn’t impress me very much, but the Democrats had to
import a candidate from the Bay Area to offer any challenger at all. He has a nice biography, but had to move 250
miles to live in our district, and has no connections here. I hope your district offers a better choice.
The only real decisions on this ballot come with two
propositions:
Prop 28 tinkers with term limits for our state legislature,
shortening the total time a senator or assemblyman can serve in Sacramento, but
allowing them to serve it all in one house or the other. We keep experimenting with term limits, but
few people can argue that we’ve actually had better overall government since
the experiment started. It is harder to
decide how much term limits have been a positive or negative factor in the
increasing failure of government over the last decade. I am inclined to vote yes on 28, even if I
don’t expect it to produce any miracles.
Prop 29 creates a new tax on tobacco. Ordinarily, when I see R.J. Reynolds paying
big bucks to influence my vote, I would automatically vote against them. However, there are some unsettling aspects of
this tax. Both the pro and con campaigns
seem to be primarily financed by money from outside the state. It starts to look to me like national groups
like the American Cancer Society—ordinarily supported by donations and
corporate sponsors—would like to increase their financial base by raiding
Californians with a dedicated tax. We
opened the door to this a few years ago with a bond issue to support stem-cell
research. Now we’ll have a tax to
support cancer research. Is this really
a proper role for state governments at a time that we can’t pay the bills for
basic state services? Government does
not belong as a partner in every worthy effort.
Nor should every good effort be released from the need to justify
themselves on a regular basis to donors.
In November, I plan to vote for Governor Brown’s tax increases for the
general fund, and I certainly don’t consider myself a friend of Big Tobacco,
but I think I will vote “No,” on 29.
This has been fun. It
always brings out the teacher in me to be asked a good question. You get an “A” for paying attention in class.
Mr. Carroll
Posted by
Brian
at
11:53 PM
1 comments
Labels: 2012 Elections, California, Former Students, History, Politics, Teaching
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)