DOI Heft:
Nr. 166 (December, 1910)
DOI Artikel:Harada, Jirō: Japanese art and artists of to-day, 4, Wood and ivory carving
DOI Seite / Zitierlink: https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.19869#0148
Japanese Art and Artists of To-day.—IV. Wood and Ivory Carving
Japanese Exhibition at Shepherd's Bush have
received from the general public, perhaps, the
highest praise next to that of embroidery, they do
not very much appeal to the Japanese. Because of
this demand in the West, regardless of its artistic
merit, we have an abundance of mediocre artists in
this line of work. It is maintained by many that a
numberof years must elapse before the ivory carvings
will find favour in Japan, and win an honoured
place as an ornament on a tokonoma, for as sup-
plied to the West they are by no means'expressive
of the saving characteristics of Japanese carving.
On the other hand, there are comparatively few
sculptors in wood in Japan, owing to the fact that
they have not yet found a market for their pro-
ductions outside of Japan, while the demand at
home is limited to very choice creations. One
will appreciate this fact more deeply when one
realises that in Japanese houses only on a tokonoma
—a special place slightly raised from the floor and
cut into the wall as an alcove—are art objects
placed, and generally one at a time. Take, for in-
stance, the wooden statue of Sugawara Muhizane, by
Yonehara, already referred to. In a Japanese home
WOOD PLAQUE WITH IVORY CARVING
BY SAITO KASUKE
Il8
CARVED AND LACQUERED SCREEN
this would most probably be placed on a tokonoma
in front of a scroll of a plum tree, as the statue
represents Michizane in boyhood composing a
poem on plum blossoms, on which occasion he
startled his teacher with his literary genius, and
these two objects would, no doubt, constitute the
whole of the decoration.
When we survey the progress of wood-carving in
Japan, we find that its path has been rather a
straight one. The course of its craftsmen has
been more easily marked out for them than for
those engaged in painting. This is chiefly because
there have not been many critics of the glyptic art,
as there are in the case of painting, who, being
often incompetent, only bewilder the artist until
he hardly knows which path to follow. The
sculptors are more or less left to themselves. Of
course, the introduction of European methods
referred to above has somewhat altered this aspect.
As in painting, the idealistic has more or less
come into clash with the realistic. It was found
extremely difficult by Japanese painters of the
idealistic schools to adopt the best of the Occidental
method and still preserve the life of their creations,
namely, the beauty and the strength of their
brush work; so Japanese sculptors in wood, who of
the olden schools stand for idealism, have found it
extremely hard to maintain the glyptic character of
the Western school, yet retain the beauty and
strength of their chisel strokes. As with Japanese
painters, the problem for the sculptors lies in the
combination and harmonisation of the idealistic
Japanese Exhibition at Shepherd's Bush have
received from the general public, perhaps, the
highest praise next to that of embroidery, they do
not very much appeal to the Japanese. Because of
this demand in the West, regardless of its artistic
merit, we have an abundance of mediocre artists in
this line of work. It is maintained by many that a
numberof years must elapse before the ivory carvings
will find favour in Japan, and win an honoured
place as an ornament on a tokonoma, for as sup-
plied to the West they are by no means'expressive
of the saving characteristics of Japanese carving.
On the other hand, there are comparatively few
sculptors in wood in Japan, owing to the fact that
they have not yet found a market for their pro-
ductions outside of Japan, while the demand at
home is limited to very choice creations. One
will appreciate this fact more deeply when one
realises that in Japanese houses only on a tokonoma
—a special place slightly raised from the floor and
cut into the wall as an alcove—are art objects
placed, and generally one at a time. Take, for in-
stance, the wooden statue of Sugawara Muhizane, by
Yonehara, already referred to. In a Japanese home
WOOD PLAQUE WITH IVORY CARVING
BY SAITO KASUKE
Il8
CARVED AND LACQUERED SCREEN
this would most probably be placed on a tokonoma
in front of a scroll of a plum tree, as the statue
represents Michizane in boyhood composing a
poem on plum blossoms, on which occasion he
startled his teacher with his literary genius, and
these two objects would, no doubt, constitute the
whole of the decoration.
When we survey the progress of wood-carving in
Japan, we find that its path has been rather a
straight one. The course of its craftsmen has
been more easily marked out for them than for
those engaged in painting. This is chiefly because
there have not been many critics of the glyptic art,
as there are in the case of painting, who, being
often incompetent, only bewilder the artist until
he hardly knows which path to follow. The
sculptors are more or less left to themselves. Of
course, the introduction of European methods
referred to above has somewhat altered this aspect.
As in painting, the idealistic has more or less
come into clash with the realistic. It was found
extremely difficult by Japanese painters of the
idealistic schools to adopt the best of the Occidental
method and still preserve the life of their creations,
namely, the beauty and the strength of their
brush work; so Japanese sculptors in wood, who of
the olden schools stand for idealism, have found it
extremely hard to maintain the glyptic character of
the Western school, yet retain the beauty and
strength of their chisel strokes. As with Japanese
painters, the problem for the sculptors lies in the
combination and harmonisation of the idealistic