Past Exhibition Release Date: 1998
Washington, DC -- Edo: Art in Japan 1615 - 1868, the first comprehensive survey in the United States of Japanese art of the Edo period (1615-1868), will be on view from November 15, 1998 through February 15, 1999, at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. Nearly 300 masterpieces -- including painted scrolls and screens, costumes, armor, sculpture, ceramics, lacquer, and woodblock prints from seventy-five Japanese collections, both public and private -- will reveal the vibrant culture of Edo. Forty-seven of these works have been designated National Treasures, Important Cultural Properties, or Important Art Objects by the government of Japan because of their rarity, historical significance, and artistic quality. Many of the works in the exhibition have never before left Japan. The National Gallery of Art is the sole venue for the exhibition.
The exhibition is organized by the National Gallery of Art, the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, and The Japan Foundation.
The exhibition is made possible by NTT.
It is supported by an indemnity from the Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities. All Nippon Airways has contributed essential in-kind support.
"Artistically, the Edo period is one of the richest in the history of Japanese art, and is fascinating to us today because it bridges the traditional and modern ages of that great country," said Earl A. Powell III, director, National Gallery of Art. "We are extremely grateful to the Agency for Cultural Affairs (Bunkacho) and The Japan Foundation for their collaboration in organizing this important exhibition, and to NTT for its generous support."
"NTT's exclusive sponsorship of this exhibition underscores our commitment to serving our friends in the U.S. business community and the American people," said Mr. Jun-ichiro Miyazu, president of NTT. "At NTT, we believe the study of history, culture, and art are vital to promote understanding and bring individuals and societies together."
The Edo period was one of unprecedented peace and prosperity in Japan. The city of Edo (modern Tokyo) evolved from its beginnings as a castle town in the early 1600s into the largest city in the world in the eighteenth century, with one million inhabitants. In fact, the influence of the new capital was so profound that its name came to denote the culture of all Japan during this time. For the first time in centuries the country was unified under the hereditary Tokugawa shogun (feudal overlords), who with various daimyo (regional military lords) continued to patronize the traditional arts, while the rising merchant class developed a new urban culture and artistic traditions that crossed social boundaries.
The guest curator for the exhibition is Robert T. Singer, curator of Japanese art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The artworks are presented thematically in the exhibition in six sections: "Edo Style," "Samurai," "Work," "Religion," "Travel and Landscape," and "Entertainment." Due to the light-sensitive nature of works on paper or silk, lacquerware, and textiles, these objects will be rotated at least once during the course of the exhibition. The major rotation will take place on an ongoing basis during non-public hours from January 6 through January 12. Rotations of woodblock prints will take place in mid-December and mid-January.
The tone for the high style and buoyant spirit of the age is set at the beginning of the exhibition in "Edo Style," which defines the aesthetic of the period. Included are screens such as Sakai Hoitsu's Spring and Autumn Maples, a brilliantly colorful work never before publicly exhibited, even in Japan, and a pair of screens by Ito Jakuchu depicting stone lanterns in a pointillist technique, a century before Seurat. Other gold-leaf screens feature wind and thunder gods, while abstract cranes fly over the surface of gold lacquer boxes.
The "Samurai" rooms of the exhibition highlight the peaceful arts created for the samurai class (the hereditary warrior class in feudal Japan) and masterpieces of their ceremonial armor. Included are spectacular helmets made of lacquer, decorated with giant rabbit ears or an upside-down rice bowl, and suits of armor with their bold geometric designs projecting power and authority. This section also includes the startlingly modern designs of Nabeshima porcelain made exclusively for the use of the daimyo and two ink paintings by the legendary samurai Miyamoto Musashi, famed for his book Five Rings, which is admired today by many in the western corporate world.
"Work" includes images of various urban and rural occupations during the Edo period. Meticulously painted on gold-leaf screens are crowded city scenes depicting every imaginable trade and craft, while lacquer boxes, kimono, screens, and prints display scenes of rice-farming and tea-growing. Four equally elaborate fireman's coats are emblazoned with images of dragons, waves, tigers, and gods.
The "Religion" section of the exhibition illustrates how Buddhist and Shinto beliefs were reflected in the arts. Included are riveting images of fierce Zen masters and their explosive calligraphy, and gigantic screens by Hokusai, Shohaku, and other artists who painted Buddhist subjects of great power and volatility. These screens, showing gods and sages subduing monsters and demons, differ greatly from the tranquil Buddhist paintings of pre-Edo times. Sinners boiling in foul liquids and lanced with spears are shown in images of Buddhist hell that were popular in Edo times, while a pair of seven-foot, totemlike statues by Enku illustrate the work of an eccentric itinerant sculptor of Buddhist images. A choice selection of festival screens depicts the boisterous and lavish festivities accompanying solemn rites in or near Shinto shrines. Humor is also included in this section with Sengai's widely illustrated but rarely seen Frog in Zen Meditation, with its blissful smile.
"Travel and Landscape" focuses on the first appearance of group tourism in Japan -- religious pilgrimages to distant temples and shrines. The Edo period also saw the proliferation of paintings of specific sites of celebrated beauty, such as the blossoming cherry trees of Mt. Yoshino, as well as the new experimentation of several artists with Western perspective. The brilliant printmakers of the late Edo period, Hokusai and Hiroshige, respectively, produced the Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji and the Fifty-Three Stages of the Tokaido, which were popular then and are now famous the world over.
"Entertainment" themes appear often in Edo period art as social barriers were relaxed in the theater and pleasure quarters and members of all classes freely intermingled. The newly wealthy merchant class commissioned paintings and prints of actors and geisha dressed in current fashions, while the artist Sharaku invented a new style of close-up actor prints. Also included in this section are no and kabuki costumes with bold designs embroidered in gold-wrapped threads.
A multimedia computer program called "Exploring Edo" will be available on interactive computer kiosks adjacent to the exhibition. Through the use of NTT's InterSpace technology, visitors to the exhibition will be able to explore life in the great urban center of Edo using three-dimensional computer-generated images, high-resolution digitized photographs, and video clips. This program is being developed by the National Gallery of Art and NTT.
Accompanying the exhibition is a fully illustrated catalogue written by a team of leading scholars led by exhibition curator Robert T. Singer. Contributors include John T. Carpenter, assistant professor of fine art, Vanderbilt University; Hollis Goodall, associate curator of Japanese Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Victor Harris, keeper of Japanese antiquities, The British Museum, London; Matthew McKelway, instructor, art and architecture, University of Pittsburgh; Herman Ooms, professor of history, University of California at Los Angeles; Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere, art history, University of East Anglia; Henry D. Smith II, professor, Japanese history, Columbia University; Sharon S. Takeda, associate curator of costumes and textiles, Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Melinda Takeuchi, associate professor of art history, Stanford University.
The catalogue may be purchased at the National Gallery of Art Shops, which are open Monday-Saturday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m., and Sunday, 11 a.m.-6 p.m. To order from the National Gallery Shops by phone using a credit card, call (301) 322-5900 or (800) 697-9350, Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Complementing the exhibition will be a Performing Arts Festival in September and November that will feature traditional Edo arts, which are still popular today in Japan. Included will be a marionette theatre company, festival dancers, fireman acrobats, Taiko drummers, a kite festival, and evening perfomances of kabuki theatre and traditional Japanese dance. A lecture series, a symposium, films, and other educational programs will be offered for children, adults, and students of all ages.
The performing arts festival is made possible by The Circle of the National Gallery of Art; the Fund for the International Exchange of Art; The Japan Foundation; the Japan Society, New York; the Nissho Iwai Foundation; and the Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture. Transportation has been provided in part by United Airlines and United Worldwide Cargo.
The National Gallery of Art, located on the National Mall at 4th Street and Constitution Avenue, N.W., is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Admission is free. For general information, call (202) 737-4215, the Telecommunications Device for the Deaf at (202) 842-6176.
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