On Saturday I went to the new National Art Center to see a retrospective of Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958), a painter who mixed Japanese and Western techniques in a style known as Nihonga. As usual with special exhibitions in Tokyo, there was a pretty big crowd. One of Taikan's scrolls on display was fully unrolled, which gave a rare opportunity to see the entire work at once. However, there were so many people, we had to slowly side-step along the glass case inch by inch to see it. This gold leaf wall screen of Mt. Fuji and clouds was also on display. I bought a post-card sized reproduction of the screen that folds just like the real thing, allowing me to stand it up on my desk.
2.24.2008
Screens and Scrolls
On Saturday I went to the new National Art Center to see a retrospective of Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958), a painter who mixed Japanese and Western techniques in a style known as Nihonga. As usual with special exhibitions in Tokyo, there was a pretty big crowd. One of Taikan's scrolls on display was fully unrolled, which gave a rare opportunity to see the entire work at once. However, there were so many people, we had to slowly side-step along the glass case inch by inch to see it. This gold leaf wall screen of Mt. Fuji and clouds was also on display. I bought a post-card sized reproduction of the screen that folds just like the real thing, allowing me to stand it up on my desk.