This is a style of art I love, I was so excited when I saw the flyer (while ordering Onigiri in wasabi!?).
My mother brought me back a "cat pawing at giant carp mouse mat" back from Japan about 10 years ago, it is still on my desk and much admired.
The exhibition was fantastic, this populist art form is quite magical in its simplicity and beauty:
It's a riotous visual feast of Samurai warriors, monstrous octopuses, beautiful women and roiling seas. Everything is bold, surprising, liberating ...
In the later 19th century, the French artists inventing modernism loved Japanese prints. You see them on the wall in portraits by Manet and Van Gogh. Then it really was contemporary: Kuniyoshi, Hokusai, Hiroshige and Kunisada were recent figures when Van Gogh found inspiration in their works.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/mar/30/kuniyoshi-art-review
1 comment:
A great exhibition. He produced for the mass market and from this exhibition it is clear that the Japanese are very sophisticated visually. It is odd that all Japanese beauties look alike and have big chins.intift
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