SAYONARA, YOMIURI INDEPENDENT (1964) Tōno Yoshiaki
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BUNKA-CHO ART PLATFORM JAPAN TRANSLATION SERIES EXHIBITION HISTORIES SAYONARA, YOMIURI INDEPENDENT (1964) Tōno Yoshiaki A source of so much excitement since 1948,1 the Yomiuri Independent is no more. But what of the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum’s “six rules” for exhibiting works and the freedom of expression? Is this mission over for free, anti-establishment/ unjuried exhibitions? BUNKA-CHO ART PLATFORM JAPAN TRANSLATION SERIES TŌNO The Yomiuri independenT exhibiTion was discontinued this 1 [The Yomiuri Shimbun Co.’s announce- year, making the previous fifteenth edition its last.2 That means one ment in October 1948 that it would launch less thing to look forward to in the spring.3 Every year, just as things its own Japan Independent Exhibition were settling in to the new season,4 I would cheerfully head over to that caused a stir, as an exhibition of the same place to which I usually hardly ever go, the Metropolitan Art Museum name had been launched the year prior, in Ueno Park. Since in recent years the Yomiuri Shimbun, as exhibition in 1947, by the Japan Art Society [Nihon sponsor, would have five or six critics do write ups of their top works Bijutsu Kai]. The first Yomiuri-sponsored that ran with illustrations on the front page of the evening edition,5 it Japan Independent Exhibition was held in became my custom, at a certain point, to visit on set up day. The venue 1949. Over time the exhibition came to be always seethed with a feverish energy: somebody would be busily known as the Yomiuri Independent in dis- constructing a giant castle out of trash on one side, while a purist would tinction to the other Japan Independent, be hanging and rehanging their paintings [tableaux] on the other. Most and the name was officially recognized of the paintings would still be leaning against the wall, and as I turned from the eighth edition of 1956 onward. them over one after another to pick and choose which I liked, some William Marotti provides an overview of artist would come along and ask me to comment on their work. I’d be the history and social context of the Yomi- the one to get all flustered, and then the next comer would step forth uri Independent, including the contention while I was still tripping over my tongue. I guess visiting on set up day over its name, in “Artistic Practice Finds Its was my best chance for direct contact with young artists—though I can’t Object: The Avant-Garde and the Yomiuri say how the artists felt as they watched us featured critics snooping Indépendant,” pt. 2 in Money, Trains, and about like inspectors.6 This is where I first met Shusaku Arakawa,7 stood Guillotines (Durham, NC: Duke University entranced by Tetsumi Kudo’s anemone-like vinyl sculpture,8 doubled Press, 2013), 111–99. In the case of both over laughing at Ushio Shinohara’s Mohawk hairstyle,9 and was struck exhibitions, the titular independent is by Okamoto Shinjirō’s Marilyn Monroe picture Death of an Actress derived from the French indépendant. (1963).10 There’s no doubt this sweaty weed patch is where my criticism 2 [The decision was made in January was cultivated. 1964.] I’m not getting sentimental here. Setting aside the motivation or 3 [shinnen , literally, “new year.” 新年 reasoning behind it, the discontinuation of the exhibition was obviously Tōno’s idiomatic use of this term derives only a matter of time, and there’s a part of me that even welcomes from the coincidence of the new year with it. The Yomiuri Independent was certainly an important exhibition for the start of spring in the lunar calendar. laying the foundation of Japan’s postwar art scene. It was, first off, a Running for about two weeks each time, stronghold for young artists seeking free expression in opposition the Yomiuri Independent generally opened to the revival of the exclusive salons and art associations of the old in late February or early March, in contrast prewar system. But if the authority of the association exhibitions has to the juried exhibitions organized by art completely hit bottom, and everything is freer now than ever before— associations, which were held in the fall.] almost disturbingly so—then we could say that the Independent, which 4 [toshi ga ake , literally, “the 年が明け staked itself on being “anti-establishment” and “free,” has fulfilled its year would start.” Here again Tōno draws mission. upon new year imagery to establish the 2 BUNKA-CHO ART PLATFORM JAPAN TRANSLATION SERIES TŌNO sense of the Yomiuri Independent kicking off the art calendar. Promotional coverage of the exhibi- tion in the Yomiuri Shimbun often referred to the exhibition as the start of the spring art season.] 5 [The timing and format of this feature in fact changed over the years. For the 9th Yomiuri Inde- pendent in 1957, six critics—Imaizumi Atsuo, Nakahara Yūsuke, Okamato Kenjirō, Tominaga Sōichi, and Uemura Takachiyo along with Tōno—each spotlighted a single work in a splashy layout that took up most of page 3 of the March 8 evening edition, toward the end of that year’s run from Feb- ruary 25 to March 12. (Tōno wrote about the painter Toneyama Kōjin.) But for the eleventh edition, held from February 28 to March 15, 1959, the spotlights ran serially on the front page across several days, starting with Tominaga Sōichi’s appraisal of a painting by Kiyokawa Taiji on March 2, and concluding with Hijikata Teiichi’s commentary on a Nagahara Tatsurō painting on March 7. (Tōno did not contribute this year.)] 6 [kensatsukan , literally, “prosecutor.” The word choice is noteworthy considering that 検察官 Neo-Dadaist artist Akasegawa Genpei had been written up in a sensational article in that year’s January 27 edition of the Asahi Shimbun that identified him as the subject of a criminal investi- gation into the production of “imitation” 1,000-yen notes, and speciously linked him to a major forgery ring. See also Akasegawa Genpei, “‘Shihon shugi riarizumu’ ron,” Nihon dokusho shimbun, no. 1246 (February 24, 1964). For the English, see “Theses on ‘Capitalist Realism,’” trans. William Marotti, Bunka-cho Art Platform Japan.] 7 [Tōno wrote about Arakawa’s work at the 11th Yomiuri Independent for the March 8, 1961, eve- ning edition of the Yomiuri Shimbun. Arakawa moved to New York later that year.] 8 [Although Kudo submitted work to multiple editions of the Yomiuri Independent, Tōno is most likely referring to Proliferating Chain Reaction (B) (1959–60), exhibited at the twelfth edition of 1960. On opening day that year, Tōno led off the featured works series on the front page of theYomiuri Shimbun’s evening edition with a spotlight of this work that has since gained notoriety for intro- ducing the phrase junk Anti-Art (garakuta no hangeijutsu) into Japanese art discourse. In his article, Tōno describes the work as comprising “red and white and yellow vinyl strings that were all tied together and knotted into [a structure made of] scrubbing brushes.” See Tōno Yoshiaki, “Garakuta no hangeijutsu” [Junk anti-art], Yomiuri Shimbun, March 2, 1960, evening edition.] 9 [A trademark look of the artist’s, memorably documented in a profile for the April 27, 1958, edi- tion of the weekly Shūkan sankei that anointed Shinohara a “rockabilly painter.” As reproduced in Ushio Shinohara, Zen’ei no michi [The avant-garde road] (Tokyo: Bijutsu Shuppansha, 1968), 31–33.] 3 BUNKA-CHO ART PLATFORM JAPAN TRANSLATION SERIES TŌNO There are those who get angry about the Yomiuri Shimbun Co. 10 [Okamoto’s “manga-esque” paintings suddenly deciding to discontinue the exhibition and then notifying of “actresses or men and women” earned only the artists without offering an official explanation in the paper, but praised from the critic Nakahara Yūsuke that’s a minor quibble, and it’s a bit more mature to acknowledge in a comprehensive review of the 1963 they did well to take it this far in a country where exhibitions function Yomiuri Independent, “Dai 15-kai Yomi- solely as commercial ventures for newspaper companies and uri Andepandan-ten no tenbō: Shikaku department stores. geijutsu ni shinpū” [The outlook from the I’ve gotten roped into insider meetings about this issue twice 15th Yomiuri Independent Exhibition: A already of late. And what I sensed was that while everyone makes new phase in visual art], Yomiuri Shimbun, a big show 11 of wanting to keep the Independent going, they don’t March 12, 1963, evening edition.] have any realistic proposals or display any true commitment. There’s 11 [daigimeibun . Derived from 大義名文 nothing I despise more than this big show, which doesn’t even amount Confucian terminology for the appropriate to the yapping of a whipped cur. And you know why it doesn’t amount bearing of vassals in relation to their lord, to anything? Because, obviously, it would be hard to get mass media this word has come to have the sense of coverage if you did an exhibition that no longer had the involvement “pretense” or “pretext” in modern Japa- of a newspaper company. About ninety percent of the appeal of the nese. It is related to the customary practice Yomiuri Independent for participants surely came down to the hope of presenting one’s tatemae (outward that, just maybe, they could get their work on the front page of the stance) without revealing one’s honne (real evening edition and instantly be minted a star artist in the press. I find intent) in formal communication in Japan. the ambition, the vanity of these artists to be incredibly contemporary, In other words, it refers to a difference and beautiful.