Image from http://www.artandcointv.com
The initial impetus for my East Coast trip was the news that Ito Jakuchu's "Colorful Realm of Living Beings" series would be on view in its entirety at the National Gallery of Art at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. On loan for just four weeks, this is the first time the series has been lent outside of Japan and only the second time in the modern era that the series has been reunited with the Buddha triptych that it had originally accompanied when donated by the artist to Shokokuji Temple in 1765. I had seen selections from the 30-scroll series on previous occasions in exhibitions in Japan, but of course had never seen all thirty together and had never realized (although I'm sure it must have been explained somewhere in the label text or catalogue descriptions I must have just glossed over) that these were produced together with a Buddha triptych, and I had certainly never seen those images before, so it was quite enlightening to see the whole group united and filling a single gallery. No photos were allowed in the gallery, but the above gives some sense of the installation with the triptych at front center flanked by fifteen bird-and-flower paintings on either side. Images of the individual nature paintings can be found below. The findings regarding Jakuchu's verso-painting techniques discovered during recent conservation work on the series were also mesmerizing.
Also on the docket was a visit to the Sackler Gallery, where two other single-artist/single-work exhibitions featured the work of Katsushika Hokusai and Kano Kazunobu.
Masters of Mercy: Buddha's Amazing Disciples is supplemented by a great online introduction to this intricately detailed series of one hundred scrolls depicting the five hundred rakan (arhat) disciples of the historical Buddha. If you don't get a chance to see the exhibition -- or even if you did! -- this gives a wonderful overview of this impressive series of paintings.
Hokusai: Thirty-Six View of Mount Fuji offers pristine and rare impressions of all forty-six images from this wildly popular print series, including a rare "Pink Fuji" early impression of Fuji in the early-morning sun, which became more popular in its later, more deeply colored incarnation that is more familiar as "Red Fuji."
Hokusai: Thirty-Six View of Mount Fuji offers pristine and rare impressions of all forty-six images from this wildly popular print series, including a rare "Pink Fuji" early impression of Fuji in the early-morning sun, which became more popular in its later, more deeply colored incarnation that is more familiar as "Red Fuji."
I was so excited about these exhibitions that I had to return with a group of students and art history faculty from Washington College in my home town of Chestertown, MD. Student photos from the trip can be found by clicking on the photo at left. Thanks to all who attended! (I hope they didn't mind having my niece and nephew tag along!)
There was so much more that I didn't get to see in DC, all as part of the National Cherry Blossom Festival celebrations. This year marks the 100 year anniversary of the gift of 3000 cherry trees from the city of Tokyo to the city of Washington in 1912. (Just imagine what a major undertaking that would have been at that time!!)
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