The Journal of the Asian Arts Society of Australia
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VOLUME 21 NO. 2 JUNE 2012 the journal of the asian arts society of australia TAASA Review C o N t en t S Volume 21 No. 2 June 2012 3 Editorial TAASa rEViEW Josefa Green, Editor THE ASIAN ARTS SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA INC. ABN 64093697537 • Vol. 21 No. 2, June 2012 4 KaMiSaKA SEKKa: daWN oF MODErN JaPaNESE dESiGN ISSN 1037.6674 Registered by Australia post. publication No. NBQ 4134 Khanh Trinh EditorIAL • email: [email protected] 7 SPECTAClE aND FaNTASY: tHE EXHiBITION STARS OF THE TOKYO STAGE General editor, Josefa Green Lucie Folan publiCatioNS Committee 10 tHrEADS oF HiSTORY: CATHOLIC tEXTILES iN ViEtNaM Josefa Green (convenor) • Tina Burge Chris Douglas Melanie Eastburn • Sandra Forbes Charlotte Galloway • Jim Masselos • Ann Proctor 12 NEW LITERATI: FUKUDA KODOJiN AND EARLY 20tH CENtUrY NaNGa Susan Scollay • Sabrina Snow • Christina Sumner Rhiannon Paget design/laYoUt Ingo Voss, VossDesign 15 SHUttiNG THEir EYES ON HiSTORY: PrE-iSlaMiC HERITAGE AT THE NATIONal MUSEUM OF THE MaldiVES PriNting Ann Proctor John Fisher Printing published by The Asian Arts Society of Australia Inc. 17 iN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN: A TWELFTH CENTURY SHO KANNON BOSATSU AT THE NGV pO Box 996 potts point NSW 2011 Wayne Crothers www.taasa.org.au Enquiries: [email protected] 18 tHrEADS tHat liNK WORLDS Mary Jose TAASA Review is published quarterly and is distributed to members of The Asian Arts Society of Australia Inc. TAASA Review welcomes submissions of articles, notes and reviews on Asian visual and 20 aN idENTITY rE-FORGEd iN MILD StEEl: tHE WORK oF KENSUKE todo performing arts. All articles are refereed. Additional copies and Olivia Meehan subscription to TAASA Review are available on request. 22 SUdJoJoNo: PRIVATE FaCE aND PUBLIC PErSoNa No opinion or point of view is to be construed as the opinion of The Asian Arts Society of Australia Inc., its staff, servants or agents. Matt Cox No claim for loss or damage will be acknowledged by TAASA Review as a result of material published within its pages or 24 BOOK rEViEW: BALI AGA VILLAGES - DOCUMENTS AS ART in other material published by it. We reserve the right to alter Adrian Vickers or omit any article or advertisements submitted and require indemnity from the advertisers and contributors against damages 25 rECENt taaSa aCTIVITIES or liabilities that may arise from material published. Josefa Green All reasonable efforts have been made to trace copyright holders. 25 TAASA MemberS’ diarY: JUNE - AUGUST 2012 TAASA MEMBErSHiP ratES $70 Single 26 BOOK rEViEW: INDONESIAN GOLD JEWELLERY $90 Dual $95 Libraries (in Australia) Gill Green $35 Concession (full-time students under 26, pensioners and unemployed with ID, Seniors Card not included) 27 WHat’S oN iN aUStralia: JUNE - AUGUST 2012 $115 Overseas (individuals and libraries) Compiled by Tina Burge advertiSiNG ratES TAASA Review welcomes advertisements from appropriate companies, institutions and individuals. Rates below are GST inclusive. Back page $850 Full inner page $725 Half page horizontal $484 Third page (vertical or horizontal) $364 Half column $265 Insert $300 For further information re advertising, including discounts for regular quarterly advertising, please contact [email protected] A world oF tHiNGS, KAMISAKA SEKKA,1909–10, ONE page FROM THREE volumes OF woodblock The dEadliNE For all artiCles FOR OUR NExT ISSUE IS 1 JULY 2012 pRINTS, INK AND colour ON pApER, 29.9 x 22.4 CM. ART Gallery OF NEW SOUTH WALES, pURCHASED The dEadliNE For all aDvertiSing WITH THE assistance OF THE SIDNEY MYER FUND 1991. SEE pp4-6. FOR OUR NExT ISSUE IS 1 AUGUST 2012 a FUll iNdex of artiClES PUBlished in TAASA REviEw Since itS BEGinnings in 1991 is aVailaBle on tHE taaSa WEB SitE, WWW.taaSa.orG.aU 2 t a a S a C o mm i t t ee E d i t o r i a l Gill Green • President Josefa Green, Editor Art historian specialising in Cambodian culture CHRISTINA SUMNER • Vice President Principal Curator, Design and Society, Often, though aiming to present a wide The pre Islamic collection held by the Powerhouse Museum, Sydney range of topics, a general issue of the TAASA newly built Museum of the Maldives is the aNN GUILD • TREASURER Review develops a flavour of its own. This fascinating subject presented by Ann Proctor. Former Director of the Embroiders Guild (UK) is the case with this June issue, which has a Unfortunately, while this account of Buddhist dY aNdrEasen • SECRETARY strong Japanese flavour. artefacts, some uniquely carved from coral, Has a special interest in Japanese haiku and tanka poetry will be a surprise to many readers, Ann Hwei-fe’N CHEaH One reason for this is the exhibition Kamisaka sadly reports that many of these pieces were Visiting Fellow, School of Cultural Inquiry, Australian Sekka: Dawn of Modern Japanese Design coming recently destroyed by Islamic extremists, not National University. to the Art Gallery of NSW on 22 June. As long after she visited the Museum at Malé. JoCElYN CHEY Khanh Trinh puts it in her article on this Visiting Professor, Department of Chinese Studies, University of Sydney; former diplomat exhibition, Sekka was a visionary figure who For textile lovers, we offer two articles with a reinvigorated the decorative tradition of the ‘hands on’ perspective. Chris Douglas takes Matt CoX Study Room Co-ordinator, Art Gallery of New South Rinpa school in the early 20th century. We us through his own journey of discovery Wales, with a particular interest in Islamic Art of are fortunate to be able to see a wide range of from the day when his eye caught sight of Southeast Asia his works and that of the Rinpa school in this an ornate embroidered chasuble in a small PHilip CoUrtenaY exhibition, mostly drawn from the Hosomi antique shop in Hanoi. His discovery leads Former Professor and Rector of the Cairns Campus, James Museum in Kyoto. Two associated symposia him to the village of Phu Nhai, where the Cook University, with a special interest in Southeast – one by the AGNSW on 23 June and one by making of such Catholic vestments is still Asian ceramics TAASA jointly with the AGNSW on 4 August very alive today. lUCiE FOLAN (see p25) will allow us to immerse ourselves Assistant Curator, Asian Art, National Gallery of Australia in this beguiling arts and design tradition. We also publish an article by Mary Jose, SaNdra Forbes Director of Adelaide textile shop, Fabric of Life, Editorial consultant with long-standing interest in South and Southeast Asian art Two other articles present aspects of Japanese based on a presentation she made at a seminar Josefa Green art in the 19th/early 20th century, but from jointly run by TAASA and the Queensland General editor of TAASA Review. Collector of Chinese quite different perspectives. Rhiannon Paget Gallery of Modern Art in October 2011. Here ceramics, with long-standing interest in East Asian discusses the work of Fukuda Kodōjin, who she discusses a number of textile enterprises art as student and traveller painted in the literati or nanga tradition in the north of India, which offer excellent MiN-JUNG KiM based on the spontaneous ink painting style examples of organisations committed to fair Curator of Asian Arts & Design at the Powerhouse Museum favoured by Chinese scholars. She argues trade principles. aNN PROCTOR that, far from experiencing artistic exhaustion, Art historian with a particular interest in Vietnam nanga artists like Kodōjin were producing Modern and contemporary art is also Yukie Sato expressive and visually exciting work, covered in this issue. Matt Cox’s article is Former Vice President of the Oriental Ceramic Society of enlivened by its absorption of elements of concerned with the way in which the life the Philippines with wide-ranging interest in Asian art and culture decorative Japanese style painting, favoured and works of modern Indonesian artists SaBRINA SNoW in early 20th century Japan. have been appropriated by political or Has a long association with the Art Gallery of New South nationalistic movements. He cites the work Wales and a particular interest in the arts of China The glamour of Kabuki in the 1920s and 30s of Sindudarsono Sudjojono, sometimes HoN. aUditor is the subject of Lucie Folan’s article, which described as the ‘Father of Indonesian Rosenfeld Kant and Co covers the National Gallery of Australia’s Modern Art’, as a case in point. Sudjojono’s travelling exhibition Stars of the Tokyo Stage, self portraits and two biographies are used S t a t E r ep r esen t a t i ves on display at RMIT Melbourne from 28 June. here to reveal a more nuanced understanding AUSTRALIAN Capital Territory Splendid kimono currently being produced of his life as an artist, one enveloped in robyn Maxwell by the Shochiku Costume Company are personal concerns rather than reduced to his Visiting Fellow in Art History, ANU; displayed alongside the woodblock printed political activist public persona. Senior Curator of Asian Art, National Gallery of Australia actor portraits by artist Natori Shunsen. Northern Territory Two book reviews – one on author Carole Joanna BarrkmaN Our final Japanese offering is an exquisite Muller’s images of Bali Aga villages taken in Curator of Southeast Asian Art and Material Culture, Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory 12th century Kannon Bosatsu statue acquired the 1980’s, reviewed by Adrian Vickers, and by the National Gallery of Victoria last year. one on Anne Richter and Bruce Carpenter’s QUEENSLAND massive tome on Indonesian gold jewellery Russell StorEr The detailed description provided by Wayne Curatorial Manager, Asian and Pacific Art, Crothers, Curator, Asian Art at the NGV, can be reviewed by Gill Green, complete the menu Queensland Art Gallery checked out by those of us lucky enough to catch for this June 2012 issue of the TAASA Review.