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TOMIOKA TESSAI Front Cover 9 •-"' • TOMIOKA TESSAI Front Cover 9. Children Piling Stones to Make a Stupa (1917) TOMIOKA TESSAI 1836-1924 A Loan Exhibition of Paintings from The Kiyoshi Kojin Temple, Takarazuka, Japan Originated by the Metropolitan Museum ol Art, New York Circulated by the Smithsonian Institution :957-r958 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The Smithsonian institution wishes to express its sincerest thanks to the Rev. Bishop Köjö Sakamoto, Kiyoshi Köjin, whose interest and cooperation have mack- this exhibition possible. It is from the splendid collection of his Temple that all oi the scroll paintings and screens included herein were lent. We also wish to express our gratitude to the Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai in Tokyo, especially to its President, Mr, Nagakage Okabe, and its Managing Director, Mr. Köjirö [noue. Tin's Society lor international Cultural Relations was responsible for all matters pertaining to the selection of the paintings, the first showing in Tokyo during January of 1957, am' trie preparation of the illustrated catalogue. The Asia Foundation, through its Tokyo office, provided necessary financial assistance, and we wish to express our gratitude to its Hoard of Directors. The National Museum of Modern Art in Tokyo, through its Director, Mr. Okabe, and its Deputy Director, Mr. Atsuo Imaizumi, lent valuable assistance in selecting the paintings from the Kiyoshi Köjin Temple collection. Especial thanks are due Mr. James Cahill, Freer Fellow of the University of Michigan, for his unfailing interest in the exhibition and his assistance in all its phases. It was due to his initiative that the Tessai Exhibition came into being. Finally, we wish to acknowledge the help and encouragement received from the Exhibits Officer of the American Embassy in Tokyo, Mrs. Frances Blakemore, who supervised the many details connected with the publicity of the first showing, and the despatch to the United States. Annemarie Fi. Pope Smithsonian Institution •~o 8. A Snow Scene with Distant Mountains (19 135J 77 THE AKT OF TOMIOKA TESSA] Tessai 1836-1924 is worthy ol being called the greatest painter produced by Japan in recent times. I le was a man ot wide learning, a collector o! rare manuscripts and books, renowned tor his scholarship am! erudition. ! le was tond ol travel, and from youth to old age took advantage ol period ol free time to roam on foot over the length and breadth ol [apan. interested in history, geo­ graphy and folklore, he was also in continual contact with the grandeur ot natural scenery, and ceaselessly trained his eyes toward the clear perception and understanding ot reality. I lis achievements as a painter, springing troni such a powerful discipline and rich experience, ^.o not belong to "art for art's sake but can rather be called, in the truest sense, art tor the sake ot humanity. Such a course of development is in perfect accord with traditional ways of thought about art in the Orient, and with the orthodox Oriental view of artistic creation ; it is profoundly bound up with the artistic ideal expressed in the Eastern painter's ancient canon, "The living expression of spiritual grace." Born in Kyoto in 1836, he began in his early years to master the highest scholarly disciplines of the Far East : Japanese and Chinese classical literature and philosophy, Buddhist thought, poetry etc., and was himself the author of a number of books. His development as a painter was similarly eclectic ; beginning with the study of Chinese Ming and Ch'ing painting of the "Southern School" lineage proper to the scholar- artist, he then practiced the Yamato-e painting which is the wellspring of Japanese sensibility, as well as the styles of Otsu-e and Ukiyo-e, which breathe the more robust air of a people's art. At all these he tried his hand as they came his way. These various manners of painting, sufficiently digested, continued to ferment and mature as he passed through his fifties, sixties and seventies, until at last, in his eighties, they culminated in the magnificent luxuriance of the art of his late period. The splendor of his ink-tone, the delicate softness of its gradations, his firmness of manner and grand scale of organization, as well as the vivid brilliance of the colors he laid on over the ink all are practically unrivalled in recent times. They manifest the consummation of Eastern painting methods. Moreover, the distinctive character of the art of Tessai lies in the fact that it is carried out in accordance with a clear and precise view of human life and of the world at large. In requesting that those who see his pictures begin by reading the inscriptions on them he was drawing our attention, I think, to the fact that the total meaning of the picture is what really matters. Tessai's recognition in the world as a painter dates from 1907, when he wielded his brush at the command of the Emperor Meiji. After that, he was nominated to a number of leading positions in Japanese art circles including membership of the Imperial Fine Arts Academy. However, keeping himself aloof from worldly affairs, he devoted his whole life to the mission of painting right up to the time of his death. It is worthy of note that, though contemporaneous with the giants of Post-Impressionism in France, he lived longer than any of them to reveal the progress of his true merit as he entered upon his last years. Indeed, the awesome spirit of freedom manifested in his paintings will be comprehended by everyone without regard to East or West, for, as Pascin once remarked, "Tessai, il est un artiste mondial !" In the name of the Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai (K. B. S.) which has been, for the last 23 years, ardently endeavouring to promote international cultural exchange, I pay my profound respects to the Smithsonian Institution for its project of holding travelling exhibitions in the States to acquaint the American public with the great art or Tessai. It is sincerely hoped that the project will go a long way toward the furtherance of understanding between the Japanese and American peoples. April, 1957 Nagakage Okabe, President Kokusai Bunka Shinkokai (The Society for International Cultural Relations) CATALOG Note: all the pictures are hanging scroll-; unless otherwise noti , i. The Traditional Customs ol the Ainu. 1896 Pair 0} two-foi ns, color on paper. Bach làjcm. /^î.î cm.) IM the v-ar io-} l'essai made a tour ol Hokkaido, where he observed the life ol the .Ainu people. The ¡creen on the right depicts the Bear I ¡stivai, the major .Ainu ceremony; the 0 0:1 the left shows the everyday lite ol the Ainu. 2. Mount Fuji. 1898 {Pair of six-fold screens, color on paper. Bach /_-í/o~''"'- ' ,ò'V..icm. Tessai climbed Mt. Fuji in the year 1^7^. He piinted the mountain many times; these screens are his finest rend ¡rings ol the subject. The right screen sh >u\s Mt. Fuji from a distan . the left 0:1c a bird s-eye view ol ¡rs peak. 3. Mt. Yoshino The World of Flowers). (I9I4 {Color on silk. //<>cm. • /2 cm.) Mt. Yoshino, in Nara Prefecture, ¡3 famous for blossoming cherry trees and for its many historical monuments. Tessai is known to have visited it in 1875 and 1898, and perhaps on other occasions. 4. The Realm of Immortals in the Eastern Sea. (1915) {Ink on paper. Ißl.Icm. ' c) / .y cm.) According to ancient Chinese legend, there are three islands P eng-lai, Ying-chou and Fang- ch ang—in the sea east of the Chinese mainland, dwelling places for deities and immortals. The immortal in Taoism is one who has so sublimated his physical self, through renunciation of desire, withdrawal from the world and practice of Taoist disciplines, that no corporeal part re­ mains to suffer mortality. 5. Fishermen on the Great River. (1916) {Color on paper. I49-5'cm. X SI cm.) The life of the fisherman is considered in the Far East to be naive, natural and joyful. A poem by the great Chinese Ming Dynasty artist T'ang Yin, describing this pleasant existence, is written on the upper part of the painting. 6. Wandering in the Mountains, Enjoying Streams. (1916 {Light color on paper. 147'cm. X JÇ.Jcm.) 7. The Meaning of the "Ten Bullock Pictures". (1916^ {Color on silk. fjjem. X ¿1.8cm.) In the Zen sect of Buddhism, the steps toward spiritual enlightenment are symbolized by ten stages in the pursuit and capture of a strayed bullock. Scenes representing these stages make up the d'en Bullock Pictures", which d'essai has here combined into a single composition. 8. A Snow Scene with Distant Mountains. (I9I7 {Light color on silk. 62.8 cm. X 37.4 cm.) 9- Children Piling Stones to Make a Stupa. (1917s {Color on silk. 74-5cm. X 6y',¿cm.) According to Buddhist legend, when children die they go to the bank of the Sanzu River (the Buddhist Styx) and there pile up towers of stones as memorial offerings to their parents. Demons come and knock these down ; but the Bodhisattva Jizo appears to rescue the children. 10. Recluses Catching Fish in a Hidden Valley. (1917) {Color on silk. ¡43-^ cm. X ¿/.¿an.) 11. Su Tung-p'o Returns to the Han lin Academy. (1917) (Color on paper. f33-3cuu /' 3~-7'cm.) Su Tung-p o (1036—1101), great litterateur and statesman of the Sung Dynasty, was born on the same day of the year as Tessai, who therefore took a special interest in Su s biography and often depicted incidents from it. ddie present picture is based on one such incident.
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