REVIEW: Exhibition 'Kaii Higashiyama' PART 2

Afterglow

Afterglow 残照 1947, colour on paper, 151.5 x 212.0 cm, framed. The artist 東山魁夷 finished this picture two years after he was called up and joined the army and trained to dash himself at the enemy's tank holding a bomb. The picture has a simple but exquisite composition, subtle and intricate colours created by multi-layered pigments. It took me a while to escape from the gravity of the picture. And so Section II: Conversation with Nature begins.

Nihonga in the Time of the Anti-Nationalism after WWII

    "Once the war came to an end, as a reaction to the extreme nationalism before the war, a trend to negate traditional culture arose. This surge advanced on the world of nihonga, too and there were even cries that nihonga would cease to exist. Amidst such circumstances, many artists made a variety of attempts, but Kaii Higashiyama was rather cautious. He did not react to radical opinions and new theories of painting unless he himself was convinced. He was more interested in and keen about what was fresh amidst the flow of time. He was probably the sort of person who wanted to probe thoroughly into what the society was really calling for." ––Masaaki Ozaki 尾崎正明, translated by Kikuko Ogawa 小川紀久子, from the catalogue of the exhibition

Autumn Shade

Autumn Shade 秋翳 1958, 160.0 x 167.6 cm, colour on paper, framed. This is my most favourite piece from the period of the establishment of Higashiyama style. At around this period, Higashiyama appears to have started experiments with textures. Jikuso 軸装, or Hanging Scroll/Handscroll, was the traditional way of displaying pictures in Japan, then Frame allowed Japanese-style painting to try the thick coats of pigment. It can be said that the examples by the outstanding artist are quite beneficial materials. Toward the next, Section III: The atmosphere of the Ancient Cities.

George Miller and His Fury Road

Last year I mentioned the film 'Mad Max: Fury Road', however, not in a fair way. I care for fairness. And I do like this film. But I couldn't show my admiration for the film enough. The fact is, I couldn't sleep for over a year since that post, because of torment. George Miller, whose name is in the title of this post, is a creator of the Mad Max series and the director, writer, producer of 'Mad Max: Fury Road' (2015) that is the latest film of the series. Today, I want to talk about him and his films —— briefly and casually. Of course. It's Friday. And I'm going to give you "How to see Fury Road". So, shall we?

George Miller, born in Australia, once a medical doctor, now a film producer, director, screenwriter, known for Mad Max series, Babe series, Happy Feet series. According to his career history, it seems that "vigorous participation, thoroughly and meticulously" is his film-making style and he has been making his visions realised besides his film producer business. Let's take a look at his career briefly;

1979 Mad Max

1981 Mad Max 2

1983 Twilight Zone: The Movie (one episode)

1985 Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

1987 The Witches of Eastwick

(1989 Dead Calm)

(1989 Bangkok Hilton)

1992 Lorenzo's Oil

(1995 Babe)

1998 Babe: Pig in the City

2006 Happy Feet

2011 Happy Feet Two

2015 Mad Max: Fury Road

Though one person's deep involvement, there is "Lack of unity and consistency", in other words, "Experimental and curious tendency". You can't read him? Well, he reminds us of someone. He's also involved in most of these films as a writer. I like IMDb but when it comes to a guy like him, who takes multiple roles in a film, it's time to see Wikipedia. The table. And it's coloured! Very helpful. 

'Mad Max 2' was epoch-making. Japanese people are familiar with this world because of the Manga series that was inspired by this film. Miller enlightened me about Tina Turner. To me, she is not a singer but the ruler of the Thunderdome. The Witches of Eastwick, as it turned out, Miller made one of my witch-imprinting films. Dead Calm, Miller didn't direct this film but he really showed me how beautiful an Australian actress Nicole Kidman was. Bangkok Hilton, Miller didn't direct this film either but he did teach me how perilous to accept gifts from strangers in foreign countries is and mesmerising Nicole Kidman was. Happy Feet, I saw this when I was in the mood for animated-film without knowing that he made this film, and it was beyond my expectations. So I studied his career, then a small discovery hit me.

About the Second Season

The last year, the last season, the last feature post dealt with the exhibition and the artist. And this season, the first feature post deals with the same subject. It became too large, unexpectedly, actually. The introduction of the post REVIEW Exhibition "Kaii Higashiyama" represents a sequel that begins with right after the end of the previous work, which is JB style. James Brown? No, that's one of the most notable JB in the world, I admit it, but not that one. To me, it's Jason Bourne, The Bourne Ultimatum. It's an homage to my favourite film series and a greeting to you all. Sorry, I'm late. I've been busy. I'm not a full-time blogging adventurer. 


About Season 2

This is the sequel to the last adventure. Its sub-theme is —— "sequel". The sequel deals with sequel itself, sounds like very my taste. The first season: the theme "to go on an adventure and share it", the motto "Sometimes you gotta run, before you can walk", the goal "to attend Hans Zimmer Live", the sub-theme "Heian / Japanese beauty". The second season: the same theme, the same motto, the same goal, the sub-theme "sequel". Okay?

REVIEW: Exhibition 'Kaii Higashiyama: Nature, Men and Towns'

"I left home shortly after noon, but now it is 15:58, on the taxi, hoping to arrive there as soon as possible. The museum will close at 17:00. Probably approximately only 50 minutes left. What can I do now?" 

What I can do now is to praise the artist.


My Visit / Outline of the Exhibition

As I said before, I was looking forward to the exhibition a lot and had prepared an advance ticket — a two-times ticket for the two-terms exhibition — and attended twice. For some reasons, I visited the museum in the late afternoon of the final day of each term. It was a close shave. I almost missed them both actually.


The exhibition was held in the feature-exhibition gallery at the third floor(the second floor in English) of the Kyūshū National Museum 九州国立博物館 last summer in the midst of the Heisei-period major repair of Mieidō 御影堂 of Tōshōdai-ji 唐招提寺. They took the opportunity to have his largest painting work that was dedicated to the temple as a special feature exhibit.

It was the most splendid, spiritual, satisfying exhibition that I've ever seen, because of the power of the artist 東山魁夷, in the first place, of course, and also the enthusiastic ambitious elaborate arrangements which are based on a deep appreciation of art. Curated by Masaaki Ozaki 尾崎正明. I loved it, including the comments on paintings, and the pictorial catalogue. The book was excellent, full of properly photographed and printed his artworks. I have considered finishing this post only by saying "Just read the book". However, this is my blog, and that's nothing adventurous. Then, shall we have a close look at the exhibition and his life?


Into the Gallery

"Huge", that was my first impression. Section I: Seeking the Way (The Prewar Period); soon after the entrance into the gallery, the large canvases had a great impact. His early works were not yet sophisticated but quite energetic, and indicated young painter's ambitions. In fact, his painting works were all bigger than I thought. His tendency toward abstraction left cute impressions on the canvases, and small copies on books or the internet don't tell us about the size, details, matière, texture. They reminded me of the Aura of a work of art right after I ended the first season of this blogging adventure. In this Information Age, I am interested in something that cannot be reproduced. Life is Time. Experience cannot be reproduced and is made with Time. Higashiyama's artworks are truly worth experiencing. From his early works to the last, the retrospective exhibition traces the path that the artist had taken in chronological order except the works for Tōshōdai-ji temple.


His Early Years

Kaii Higashiyama was born in Yokohama in 1908 (Meiji 41). Since near the end of Edo — the abolition of "Sakoku" the National Isolation (1854), the change of the political system, modernisation and westernisation, wars — around this time, Japan was in turbulent times, and the successive dynamic changes of this country lasted actually until the 1990s.

A Mirage of Guggenheim

Walk down the fifth avenue from the "Twilight" museum to the south. I saw a couple of museums from the street, then it showed up. The building of the distinguishing feature, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York City designed by Frank Lloyd Wright(1867 -1959). I love his way of thinking in design works and the details that he designed. When I was a student I've visited Yodoko Guest House 旧山邑邸 in Ashiya, Japan. I loved it. The museum was designed in a different style from it but some things are common.

Just enter the building soon after taking the picture briefly. At the security gate, security officers check people's baggage. A black security officer checks my backpack, my half-eaten roll sandwich that fell off as soon as he opened the backpack gets him significantly. The officer came back to his duty after the short-time laughing and gave me permission to enter. In the hall at the ground level, some people are doing something like radio broadcasting. That seems to be related to the feature exhibition "On Kawara – Silence". They say that it is the first comprehensive retrospective exhibition of a Japanese conceptual artist On Kawara(1932 - 2014), conceived by the artist himself before his death on 10th July 2014 – my birthday last year. When I designed this journey, I looked into the museums and their locations but not the exhibitions. I unexpectedly encountered a compatriot in this foreign country. It is said that the artist born in Japan settled in the city of New York in 1965 after he experienced the life in Mexico, travels through Europe.