Japanese paintings: all the subtleties of oriental painting. The Greatest Ukiyo-e Artists

Hello, dear readers– seekers of knowledge and truth!

Japanese artists have a unique style, honed by entire generations of masters. Today we will talk about the most prominent representatives of Japanese painting and their paintings, from ancient times to modern times.

Well, let's plunge into the art of the Land of the Rising Sun.

The Birth of Art

The ancient art of painting in Japan is primarily associated with the peculiarities of writing and is therefore built on the foundations of calligraphy. The first samples include fragments of bronze bells, dishes, and household items found during excavations. Many of them were painted with natural paints, and research gives reason to believe that the products were made earlier than 300 BC.

A new round of art development began with the arrival in Japan. Images of deities of the Buddhist pantheon, scenes from the life of the Teacher and his followers were applied to emakimono - special paper scrolls.

The predominance of religious themes in painting can be seen in medieval Japan, namely, from the X to the XV centuries. The names of the artists of that era, alas, have not survived to this day.

In the period of the 15th-18th centuries, a new time begins, characterized by the appearance of artists with developed individual style. They designated the vector further development visual arts.

Bright representatives of the past

Tense Xubun (early 15th century)

In order to become an outstanding master, Xiubun studied the writing techniques of China's Song artists and their works. Subsequently, he became one of the founders of painting in Japan and the creator of sumi-e.

Sumi-e – art style, which is based on drawing with ink, which means one color.

Xubun did a lot to a new style took root in artistic circles. He taught art to other talents, including future famous painters, for example Sesshu.

The most popular painting Syubuna is called “Reading in the Bamboo Grove.”

"Reading in the Bamboo Grove" by Tense Xubun

Hasegawa Tohaku (1539–1610)

He became the creator of a school named after himself - Hasegawa. At first he tried to follow the canons of the Kano school, but gradually his individual “handwriting” began to be traced in his works. Tohaku was guided by Sesshu graphics.

The basis of the works were simple, laconic, but realistic landscapes with simple titles:

• "Pines";
• "Maple";
• "Pine trees and flowering plants."

"Pines" by Hasegawa Tohaku

Brothers Ogata Korin (1658-1716) and Ogata Kenzan (1663-1743)

There were brothers wonderful craftsmen 18th century. The eldest, Ogata Korin, devoted himself entirely to painting and founded the rimpa genre. He avoided stereotypical images, preferring the impressionistic genre.

Ogata Korin painted nature in general and flowers in the form of bright abstractions in particular. His brushes belong to the paintings:

• "Plum blossom red and white";
• "Waves of Matsushima";
• "Chrysanthemums".

"Waves of Matsushima" by Ogata Korin

The younger brother, Ogata Kenzan, had many pseudonyms. Although he was engaged in painting, he was famous more as a wonderful ceramist.

Ogata Kenzan mastered many techniques for creating ceramics. He was distinguished non-standard approach, for example, he created plates in the form of a square.

His own painting was not distinguished by splendor - this was also his peculiarity. He loved to apply scroll-like calligraphy or excerpts from poetry onto his items. Sometimes they worked together with their brother.

Katsushika Hokusai (1760-1849)

He created in the style of ukiyo-e - a kind of woodcut, in other words, engraving painting. During his entire career, he changed about 30 names. Famous work – « A big wave in Kanagawa", thanks to which he became famous outside his homeland.

"The Great Wave Off Kanagawa" by Hokusai Katsushika

Hokusai began to work especially hard after the age of 60, which brought good results. Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir were familiar with his work, and to a certain extent it influenced the work of European masters.

Ando Hiroshige (1791-1858)

One of the greatest artists of the 19th century. He was born, lived, and worked in Edo, continued the work of Hokusai, and was inspired by his works. The way he depicted nature is almost as impressive as the number of works themselves.

Edo – former name Tokyo.

Here are some figures about his work, which are represented by a series of paintings:

• 5.5 thousand – the number of all engravings;
• “100 Views of Edo;
• "36 views of Fuji";
• "69 stations of Kisokaido";
• "53 stations of Tokaido."

Painting by Ando Hiroshige

Interestingly, the eminent Van Gogh painted a couple of copies of his engravings.

Modernity

Takashi Murakami

An artist, sculptor, clothing designer, he earned a name already at the end of the 20th century. In creativity he adheres to fashion trends with classic elements, and draws inspiration from anime and manga cartoons.

Painting by Takashi Murakami

The works of Takashi Murakami are considered a subculture, but at the same time they are incredibly popular. For example, in 2008, one of his works was bought at auction for more than 15 million dollars. At one time, the modern creator worked together with the fashion houses Marc Jacobs and Louis Vuitton.

Quiet Ashima

A colleague of the previous artist, she creates modern surreal paintings. They depict views of cities, streets of megalopolises and creatures as if from another universe - ghosts, evil spirits, alien girls. In the background of paintings you can often notice pristine, sometimes even frightening nature.

Her paintings reach large sizes and are rarely limited to paper media. They are transferred to leather and plastic materials.

In 2006, as part of an exhibition in the British capital, a woman created about 20 arched structures that reflected the beauty of the nature of the village and city, day and night. One of them decorated a metro station.

Hey Arakawa

The young man cannot be called just an artist in the classical sense of the word - he creates installations that are so popular in the art of the 21st century. The themes of his exhibitions are truly Japanese and touch on friendly relations, as well as work by the whole team.

Hei Arakawa often participates in various biennales, for example in Venice, and exhibits in museums contemporary art in his homeland, deservedly receives various awards.

Ikenaga Yasunari

The contemporary painter Ikenaga Yasunari managed to combine two seemingly incompatible things: the life of modern girls in portrait form and traditional Japanese techniques from ancient times. In his work, the painter uses special brushes, natural pigmented paints, ink, and charcoal. Instead of the usual linen - linen fabric.

Painting of Ikenaga Yasunari

A similar technique of contrasting the depicted era and appearance The heroines give the impression that they have returned to us from the past.

A series of paintings about the complexities of a crocodile’s life, recently popular in the Internet community, was also created by the Japanese cartoonist Keigo.

Conclusion

So, Japanese painting began around the 3rd century BC, and has changed a lot since then. The first images were applied to ceramics, then Buddhist motifs began to predominate in the arts, but the names of the authors have not survived to this day.

In the modern era, masters of the brush acquired more and more individuality and created different directions and schools. Today's fine art is not limited to traditional painting - installations, caricatures, artistic sculptures, and special structures are used.

Thank you very much for your attention, dear readers! We hope you found our article useful, and the stories about the life and work of the brightest representatives of art allowed you to get to know them better.

Of course, it is difficult to talk about all the artists from antiquity to the present in one article. Therefore, let this be the first step towards understanding Japanese painting.

And join us - subscribe to the blog - we will study Buddhism and Eastern culture together!

Which covers many techniques and styles. Throughout the history of its existence, it has undergone a large number of changes. New traditions and genres were added, and the original Japanese principles remained. Along with amazing story Japanese painting is also ready to present many unique and interesting facts.

Ancient Japan

The first styles appear in the most ancient historical period of the country, even BC. e. Then art was quite primitive. First, in 300 BC. e., various geometric figures, which were performed on pottery using sticks. Such a discovery by archaeologists as ornamentation on bronze bells dates back to a later time.

A little later, already in 300 AD. e., appear cave drawings, which are much more diverse than geometric patterns. These are already full-fledged images with images. They were found inside crypts, and, probably, the people who are painted on them were buried in these burial grounds.

In the 7th century AD e. Japan adopts writing that comes from China. Around the same time, the first paintings came from there. Then painting appears as a separate sphere of art.

Edo

Edo is far from the first and not latest painting, however, it was she who brought a lot of new things to culture. Firstly, it is the brightness and colorfulness that were added to the usual technique, performed in black and gray tones. Most an outstanding artist This style is considered Sotasu. He created classic paintings, but his characters were very colorful. Later he switched to nature, and most of his landscapes were painted against gilded backgrounds.

Secondly, during the Edo period, exoticism, the namban genre, appeared. It used modern European and Chinese techniques that were intertwined with traditional Japanese styles.

And thirdly, the Nanga school appears. In it, artists first completely imitate or even copy the works of Chinese masters. Then a new branch appears, which is called bunjing.

Modernization period

The Edo period gives way to Meiji, and now Japanese painting is forced to new stage development. At this time, genres such as the Western and the like were becoming popular around the world, so the modernization of art became a common state of affairs. However, in Japan, a country where all people revere traditions, given time the situation was significantly different from what was happening in other countries. Competition between European and local technicians is fierce here.

The government at this stage gives preference to young artists who show great promise of improving their skills in Western styles. So they send them to schools in Europe and America.

But this was only at the beginning of the period. The fact is that well-known critics criticized quite strongly western art. To avoid a big stir around this issue, European styles and techniques began to be banned at exhibitions, their display ceased, as did their popularity.

The emergence of European styles

Next comes the Taisho period. At this time, young artists who left to study in foreign schools come back to their homeland. Naturally, they bring with them new styles of Japanese painting, which are very similar to European ones. Impressionism and post-impressionism appear.

At this stage, many schools are being formed in which ancient Japanese styles. But it is not possible to completely get rid of Western tendencies. Therefore, it is necessary to combine several techniques in order to please both lovers of the classics and fans of modern European painting.

Some schools are funded by the state, thanks to which it is possible to preserve many of the national traditions. Private owners are forced to follow the lead of consumers who wanted something new; they are tired of the classics.

Painting from the Second World War

After the onset of wartime, Japanese painting remained aloof from events for some time. It developed separately and independently. But this couldn't go on forever.

Over time, when political situation As things get worse in the country, high and respected figures attract many artists. Some of them began to create in patriotic styles even at the beginning of the war. The rest begin this process only on orders from the authorities.

Accordingly, Japanese fine art was unable to develop particularly during the Second World War. Therefore, for painting it can be called stagnant.

Eternal Suibokuga

Japanese sumi-e painting, or suibokuga, literally means “ink painting.” This determines the style and technique of this art. It came from China, but the Japanese decided to call it their own. And initially the technique did not have any aesthetic side. It was used by monks for self-improvement while studying Zen. Moreover, they first drew pictures and subsequently trained their concentration while viewing them. The monks believed that strict lines, blurry tones and shadows - all that is called monochrome - help to improve.

Japanese ink painting, despite the wide variety of paintings and techniques, is not as complex as it might seem at first glance. It is based on only 4 plots:

1. Chrysanthemum.
2. Orchid.
3. Plum branch.
4. Bamboo.

A small number of plots does not make mastering the technique quick. Some masters believe that learning lasts a lifetime.

Despite the fact that sumi-e appeared a long time ago, it is always in demand. Moreover, today you can meet masters of this school not only in Japan, it is widespread far beyond its borders.

Modern period

After the end of World War II, art in Japan flourished only in major cities, villagers and villagers had enough to worry about. For the most part, artists tried to turn away from the losses of wartime and depict on canvas modern city life with all its embellishments and features. European and American ideas were successfully adopted, but this state of affairs did not last long. Many masters began to gradually move away from them towards Japanese schools.

Traditional style has always remained fashionable. Therefore, modern Japanese painting can differ only in the technique of execution or the materials used in the process. But most artists do not perceive various innovations well.

It is impossible not to mention the fashionable modern subcultures, such as anime and similar styles. Many artists try to blur the line between the classics and what is in demand today. For the most part, this state of affairs is due to commerce. Classics and traditional genres in fact, they don’t buy, therefore, it is unprofitable to work as an artist in your favorite genre, you need to adapt to fashion.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, Japanese painting is a treasure trove of fine art. Perhaps, the country in question was the only one that did not follow Western trends and did not adapt to fashion. Despite many blows during the advent of new techniques, Japanese artists were still able to defend national traditions in many genres. This is probably why paintings made in classical styles are highly valued at exhibitions today.

Art and design

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01.02.18 09:02

Today's art scene Japan is very diverse and provocative: looking at the work of masters from the Country Rising Sun, you will decide that you have arrived on another planet! Here live the innovators who changed the “landscape” of the industry in on a global scale. Here's a list of 10 contemporary Japanese artists and their creations, from the incredible creatures of Takashi Murakami (who celebrates his birthday today) to the colorful universe of Kusama.

From futuristic worlds to dotted constellations: contemporary Japanese artists

Takashi Murakami: traditionalist and classic

Let's start with the hero of the occasion! Takashi Murakami is one of Japan's most iconic contemporary artists, working on paintings, large-scale sculptures and fashion clothing. Murakami's style is influenced by manga and anime. He is the founder of the Superflat movement, which supports Japanese artistic traditions and the country's post-war culture. Murakami promoted many of his fellow contemporaries, and we will also meet some of them today. “Subcultural” works of Takashi Murakami are presented in the art markets of fashion and art. His provocative My Lonesome Cowboy (1998) was sold in New York at Sotheby's in 2008 for a record $15.2 million. Murakami collaborated with the world famous brands Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton and Issey Miyake.

Quietly Ashima and her surreal universe

Member of the artistic production company Kaikai Kiki and the Superflat movements (both founded by Takashi Murakami) Chicho Ashima is known for her fantastical cityscapes and weird pop creatures. The artist creates surreal dreams inhabited by demons, ghosts, young beauties, depicted against the backdrop of outlandish nature. Her works are usually large-scale and printed on paper, leather, and plastic. In 2006, this contemporary Japanese artist participated in Art on the Underground in London. She created 17 consecutive arches for the platform - the magical landscape gradually turned from daytime to nighttime, from urban to rural. This miracle bloomed at Gloucester Road tube station.

Chiharu Shima and the endless threads

Another artist, Chiharu Shiota, works on large-scale visual installations for specific landmarks. She was born in Osaka, but now lives in Germany - in Berlin. Central themes her work is oblivion and memory, dreams and reality, past and present, and also the confrontation of anxiety. The most famous works Chiharu Shiota - impenetrable networks of black thread, covering many household and personal objects - such as old chairs, Wedding Dress, burnt piano. In the summer of 2014, Shiota tied together donated shoes and boots (of which there were more than 300) with strands of red yarn and hung them on hooks. Chiharu's first exhibition in the German capital took place during Berlin Art Week in 2016 and caused a sensation.

Hey Arakawa: everywhere, nowhere

Hei Arakawa is inspired by states of change, periods of instability, elements of risk, and his installations often symbolize themes of friendship and teamwork. The credo of the contemporary Japanese artist is defined by the performative, indefinite “everywhere, but nowhere.” His creations pop up in unexpected places. In 2013, Arakawa's works were exhibited at the Venice Biennale and in the exhibition of Japanese contemporary art at the Mori Museum of Art (Tokyo). The installation Hawaiian Presence (2014) was a collaboration with New York artist Carissa Rodriguez and was included in the Whitney Biennial. Also in 2014, Arakawa and his brother Tomu, performing as a duo called United Brothers, offered visitors to Frieze London their “work” “The This Soup Taste Ambivalent” with “radioactive” Fukushima daikon root vegetables.

Koki Tanaka: Relationships and Repetitions

In 2015, Koki Tanaka was recognized as “Artist of the Year”. Tanaka explores the shared experience of creativity and imagination, encourages exchange between project participants, and advocates for new rules of collaboration. Its installation in the Japanese pavilion at the 2013 Venice Biennale consisted of videos of objects that transformed the space into a platform for artistic exchange. The installations of Koki Tanaka (not to be confused with his full namesake actor) illustrate the relationship between objects and actions, for example, the video contains recordings of simple gestures performed with ordinary objects (a knife cutting vegetables, beer being poured into a glass, opening an umbrella). Nothing significant happens, but obsessive repetition and attention to to the smallest details make the viewer appreciate the worldly.

Mariko Mori and streamlined shapes

Another contemporary Japanese artist, Mariko Mori, “conjures” multimedia objects, combining videos, photographs, and objects. She is characterized by a minimalist futuristic vision and sleek surreal forms. A recurring theme in Mori's work is the juxtaposition of Western legend with Western culture. In 2010, Mariko founded the Fau Foundation, an educational cultural non-profit organization, for which she produced a series of her art installations in honor of the six inhabited continents. Most recently, the Foundation's permanent installation "Ring: One with Nature" was erected over a picturesque waterfall in Resende near Rio de Janeiro.

Ryoji Ikeda: sound and video synthesis

Ryoji Ikeda is a new media artist and composer whose work primarily deals with sound in various “raw” states, from sine waves to noise using frequencies at the edge of human hearing. His immersive installations include computer-generated sounds that are visually transformed into video projections or digital patterns. Ikeda's audiovisual art uses scale, light, shadow, volume, electronic sounds and rhythm. The artist's famous test facility consists of five projectors that illuminate an area 28 meters long and 8 meters wide. The setup converts data (text, sounds, photos and movies) into barcodes and binary patterns of ones and zeros.

Tatsuo Miyajima and LED counters

Contemporary Japanese sculptor and installation artist Tatsuo Miyajima uses electrical circuits, videos, computers and other gadgets in his art. Miyajima's core concepts are inspired by humanistic ideas and Buddhist teachings. The LED counters in his installations flash continuously in repetition from 1 to 9, symbolizing the journey from life to death, but avoiding the finality that is represented by 0 (zero never appears in Tatsuo's work). The ubiquitous numbers in grids, towers, and diagrams express Miyajima's interest in ideas of continuity, eternity, connection, and the flow of time and space. Recently, Miyajima's "Arrow of Time" was shown at the inaugural exhibition "Unfinished Thoughts Visible in New York."

Nara Yoshimoto and the evil children

Nara Yoshimoto creates paintings, sculptures, and drawings of children and dogs—subjects that reflect childhood feelings of boredom and frustration and the fierce independence that comes naturally to toddlers. The aesthetics of Yoshimoto's work are reminiscent of traditional book illustrations, is a mixture of restless tension and the artist's love of punk rock. In 2011, the Asia Society Museum in New York hosted Yoshimoto's first solo exhibition, entitled “Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody's Fool,” covering the 20-year career of the contemporary Japanese artist. The exhibits were closely related to global youth subcultures and their alienation and protest.

Yayoi Kusama and space growing into strange forms

Amazing creative biography Kusama's Yayoi spans seven decades. During this time, the amazing Japanese woman managed to study the fields of painting, graphics, collage, sculpture, cinema, engraving, environmental art, installation, as well as literature, fashion and clothing design. Kusama developed a very distinctive style of dot art that has become her trademark. The illusory visions depicted in 88-year-old Kusama's work—where the world appears to be covered in sprawling, outlandish forms—are the result of hallucinations she has experienced since childhood. Rooms with colorful dots and “infinity” mirrors reflecting their clusters are recognizable and cannot be confused with anything else.

Yayoi Kusama is unlikely to be able to answer what formed the basis of her career as an artist. She is 87 years old, her art is recognized throughout the world. There will soon be major exhibitions of her work in the US and Japan, but she hasn't told the world everything yet. “It’s still on its way. I'm going to create this in the future," Kusama says. She is called the most successful artist in Japan. In addition, she is the most expensive living artist: in 2014, her painting “White No. 28” was sold for $7.1 million.

Kusama lives in Tokyo and has been voluntarily staying in a mental hospital for almost forty years. Once a day she leaves its walls to paint. She gets up at three o'clock in the morning, unable to sleep and wanting to spend her time productively at work. "I'm old now, but I'm still going to create more work And best works. More than I've done in the past. My mind is full of pictures,” she says.

(Total 17 photos)

Yayoi Kusama at an exhibition of his work in London in 1985. Photo: NILS JORGENSEN/REX/Shutterstock

From nine to six, Kusama works in his three-story studio, without getting up from wheelchair. She can walk, but is too weak. A woman works on canvas laid out on tables or fixed to the floor. The studio is full of new paintings, bright works strewn with small specks. The artist calls this "self-silencing" - endless repetition that drowns out the noise in her head.

Before the 2006 Praemium Imperiale art awards in Tokyo. Photo: Sutton-Hibbert/REX/Shutterstock

A new gallery is opening soon across the street, and another museum of her art is being built north of Tokyo. In addition, two major exhibitions of her work are opening. “Yayoi Kusama: Infinity Mirrors,” a retrospective of her 65-year career, opened at the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington on February 23 and runs through May 14, before traveling to Seattle, Los Angeles, Toronto and Cleveland. The exhibition includes 60 paintings by Kusama.

Her polka dots cover everything from Louis Vuitton dresses to buses in her hometown. Kusama's work regularly sells for millions of dollars and can be found all over the world, from New York to Amsterdam. Exhibitions of the Japanese artist's works are so popular that measures are required to prevent crowds and riots. For example, in the Hirshhorn, tickets to the exhibition are sold for a certain time in order to somehow regulate the flow of visitors.

Presentation of the joint design of Louis Vuitton and Yayoi Kusama in New York in 2012. Photo: Billy Farrell Agency/REX/Shutterstock

But Kusama still needs outside approval. When asked in an interview whether she achieved her goal of becoming rich and famous decades ago, she said in surprise: “When I was little, I had a very hard time convincing my mother that I wanted to become an artist. Is it really true that I'm rich and famous?

Kusama was born in Matsumoto, in the mountains of central Japan, in 1929 into a wealthy and conservative family that sold seedlings. But it was not a happy home. Her mother despised her cheating husband and sent little Kusama to spy on him. The girl saw her father with other women, and this gave her a lifelong aversion to sex.

Louis Vuitton boutique window designed by Kusama in 2012. Photo: Joe Schildhorn/BFA/REX/Shutterstock

As a child, she began experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations. The first time she saw the pumpkin, she imagined that it was talking to her. The future artist coped with the visions by creating repeating patterns to drown out the thoughts in her head. Even in this at a young age art became a kind of therapy for her, which she would later call “art medicine.”

Work by Yayoi Kusama on display at the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art in 2012. Photo: Billy Farrell Agency/REX/Shutterstock

Kusama's mother was strongly opposed to her daughter's desire to become an artist and insisted that the girl follow the traditional path. “She wouldn’t let me draw. She wanted me to get married,” the artist said in an interview. - She threw away my work. I wanted to throw myself under a train. Every day I fought with my mother, and therefore my mind was damaged.”

In 1948, after the end of the war, Kusama went to Kyoto to study traditional Japanese nihonga painting with strict rules. She hated this type of art.

One of the exhibits from the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Whitney Museum of Contemporary Art in 2012. Photo: Billy Farrell Agency/REX/Shutterstock

When Kusama lived in Matsumoto, she found a book by Georgia O'Keeffe and was amazed by its paintings. The girl went to the American embassy in Tokyo to find an article about O’Keefe in the directory there and find out her address. Kusama wrote her a letter and sent her some drawings, and to her surprise, the American artist replied to her.

“I couldn’t believe my luck! She was so kind that she responded to the sudden outburst of feelings from the modest Japanese girls, whom she had never met in her life or even heard of,” the artist wrote in her autobiography “Infinity Net.”

Yayoi Kusama in her Louis Vuitton boutique window display in New York in 2012. Photo: Nils Jorgensen/REX/Shutterstock

Despite O'Keeffe's warnings that life was very difficult for young artists in the United States, not to mention single young girls in Japan, Kusama was unstoppable. In 1957, she managed to obtain a passport and visa. She sewed dollars into her dresses to circumvent strict post-war currency controls.

The first stop was Seattle, where she held an exhibition in a small gallery. Then Kusama went to New York, where she was bitterly disappointed. “Unlike post-war Matsumoto, New York was in every sense an evil and violent place. It turned out to be too stressful for me, and I soon became mired in neurosis.” To make matters worse, Kusama found herself in complete poverty. An old door served as her bed, and she fished fish heads and rotten vegetables from trash cans to make soup from.

Installation Infinity Mirror Room - Love Forever (“Room with infinity mirrors - love forever”). Photo: Tony Kyriacou/REX/Shutterstock

This difficult situation prompted Kusama to immerse himself in his work even more. She began creating her first paintings in the Infinity Net series, covering huge canvases (one of them was 10 meters high) with mesmerizing waves of small loops that seemed to never end. The artist herself described them as follows: “White networks enveloping the black dots of silent death against the backdrop of the hopeless darkness of nothingness.”

Installation by Yayoi Kusama at the opening of the new building of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art at the Gorky Park in Moscow in 2015. Photo: David X Prutting/BFA.com/REX/Shutterstock

This obsessive-compulsive repetition helped drive away the neurosis, but it did not always save. Kusama constantly suffered from bouts of psychosis and ended up in a New York hospital. Ambitious and determined, and happily accepting the role of an exotic Asian woman in a kimono, she joined the circle of influential people in the arts and associated with such recognized artists as Mark Rothko and Andy Warhol. Kusama later said that Warhol imitated her work.

Kusama soon gained a degree of fame and exhibited in crowded galleries. In addition, the artist’s fame became scandalous.

In the 1960s, when Kusama was obsessed with polka dots, she began organizing happenings in New York: she provoked people to strip naked in places such as Central Park and the Brooklyn Bridge, and painted their bodies with polka dots.

Pre-show on exhibition Art Basel in Hong Kong in 2013. Photo: Billy Farrell/BFA/REX/Shutterstock

Decades before the Occupy Wall Street movement, Kusama staged a happening in New York's financial district, declaring that she wanted to "destroy the men of Wall Street with polka dots." Around this time she began to cover various items- a chair, a boat, a stroller - with phallic-looking protrusions. “I started creating penises to cure my feelings of aversion to sex,” the artist wrote, describing how this creative process gradually turning the terrible into something familiar.

Installation "Passing Winter" at the Tate Gallery in London. Photo: James Gourley/REX/Shutterstock

Kusama never married, although she had a marriage-like relationship with artist Joseph Cornell for ten years while living in New York. “I didn’t like sex, and he was impotent, so we suited each other very well,” she said in an interview with Art Magazine.

Kusama became increasingly famous for her antics: she offered to sleep with US President Richard Nixon if he would end the war in Vietnam. “Let’s decorate each other with polka dots,” she wrote to him in a letter. Interest in her art itself faded away, she found herself out of favor, and money problems began again.

Yayoi Kusama during a retrospective of her work at the Whitney Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2012. Photo: Steve Eichner/Penske Media/REX/Shutterstock

News of Kusama's escapades reached Japan. They began to call her a “national disaster,” and her mother said that it would be better if her daughter died of the disease in childhood. In the early 1970s, impoverished and failed, Kusama returned to Japan. She registered in a psychiatric hospital, where she still lives, and sank into artistic obscurity.

In 1989, the Center for Contemporary Art in New York staged a retrospective of her work. This was the beginning, albeit slow, of a revival of interest in Kusama’s art. She filled a mirrored room with pumpkins for an installation that was exhibited at the Venice Biennale in 1993 and had a major exhibition at MoMa in New York in 1998. This is where she once staged a happening.

At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock

Over the past few years, Yayoi Kusama has become an international phenomenon. Modern gallery The Tate in London and the Whitney Museum in New York held major retrospectives that attracted huge crowds of visitors, and her iconic polka dot pattern became highly recognizable.

At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock

The artist has no plans to stop working, but has begun to think about her mortality. “I don’t know how long I can survive even after death. There is a future generation that follows in my footsteps. It would be an honor for me if people enjoy looking at my work and if they are moved by my art.”

At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock

Despite the commercialization of her art, Kusama thinks about the grave in Matsumoto - not in the family crypt, she inherited it from her parents anyway - and how not to turn it into a shrine. “But I’m not dying yet. I think I will live another 20 years,” she says.

At the exhibition My Eternal Soul at the National Art Center in Tokyo, February 2017. Photo: Masatoshi Okauchi/REX/Shutterstock

Monochrome painting of Japan is one of unique phenomena art of the East. A lot of work and research has been devoted to it, but it is often perceived as a very conventional thing, and sometimes even decorative. This is not so. The spiritual world of the Japanese artist is very rich, and he cares not so much about the aesthetic component as about the spiritual one.

The art of the East is a synthesis of external and internal, explicit and implicit.

In this post I would like to pay attention not to the history of monochrome painting, but to its essence. This is what we will talk about.

screen "Pines" Hasegawa Tohaku, 1593

What we see in monochrome paintings is the result of the artist’s interaction with the basic triad: paper, brush, ink. Therefore, in order to correctly understand the work, you need to understand the artist himself and his attitude.

"Landscape" Sesshu, 1398 for the Japanese master it is not just a material at hand, which he subordinates to his whim, but rather the opposite - it is a “brother”, and therefore the attitude towards it has developed accordingly. Paper is part of the surrounding nature, which the Japanese have always treated with reverence and tried not to subjugate, but to coexist peacefully with it. Paper is a tree in the past that stood in a certain area for a certain time, “saw” something around it, and it stores it all. This is how the Japanese artist perceives the material. Often, before starting work, masters looked at a blank sheet of paper for a long time (contemplated it) and only then began painting. Even now, modern Japanese artists who practice the Nihon-ga technique (traditional Japanese painting) carefully select paper. They buy it to order from paper mills. Each artist has a certain thickness, moisture permeability and texture (many artists even enter into an agreement with the owner of the factory not to sell this paper to other artists) - therefore, each painting is perceived as something unique and alive.

"Reading in a bamboo grove" Xubun, 1446

Speaking about the significance of this material, it is worth mentioning the following famous monuments Japanese literature such as “Notes at the Bedside” by Sei Shonagon and “Genji Monogotari” by Murasaki Shikibu: both in “Notes” and “Genji” you can find plots when courtiers or lovers exchange messages. The paper on which these messages were written was of the appropriate time of year, shade, and the manner of writing the text corresponded to its texture.

"Murasaki Shikibu at Ishiyama Shrine" Kyosen

Brush- the second component is a continuation of the master’s hand (again, this is natural material). Therefore, brushes were also made to order, but most often by the artist himself. He selected the hairs of the required length, chose the size of the brush and the most comfortable handle. The master paints only with his own brush and no other. (From personal experience: I was at a master class by the Chinese artist Jiang Shilun, the audience asked to show what his students who were present at the master class could do, and each of them, picking up the master’s brush, said that the result would not be what they expected , since the brush is not theirs, they are not used to it and do not know how to use it correctly).

"Fuji" ink sketch by Katsushika Hokusai

Mascara- the third important element. Mascara happens different types: it can give a glossy or matte effect after drying, maybe with an admixture of silver or ocher shades, so the correct choice of mascara is also important.

Yamamoto Baitsu, late XVIII- XIX century.

The main subjects of monochrome painting are landscapes. Why are there no colors in them?

Paired screen "Pines", Hasegawa Tohaku

Firstly, the Japanese artist is not interested in the object itself, but in its essence, a certain component that is common to all living things and leads to harmony between man and nature. Therefore, the image is always a hint; it is addressed to our senses, and not to vision. Understatement is a stimulus for dialogue, and therefore connection. Lines and spots are important in an image - they form artistic language. This is not the liberty of the master, who left a bold mark where he wanted, but in another place, on the contrary, underdrew - everything in the picture has its own meaning and meaning, and is not random.

Secondly, color always carries some kind of emotional connotation and is perceived differently different people in different states, therefore, emotional neutrality allows the viewer to most adequately enter into dialogue, to position him for perception, contemplation, and thought.

Thirdly, this is the interaction of yin and yang; any monochrome painting is harmonious from the point of view of the ratio of ink to the untouched area of ​​paper.

Why most of Is there no paper space used?

"Landscape" Xubun, mid-15th century.

Firstly, the empty space immerses the viewer in the image; secondly, the image is created as if it floated to the surface for a moment and is about to disappear - this is connected with worldview and worldview; thirdly, in those areas where there is no ink, the texture and shade of the paper comes to the fore (this is not always visible in reproductions, but in reality it is always the interaction of two materials - paper and ink).

Sesshu, 1446

Why landscape?

"Contemplation of a Waterfall" Gayami, 1478

According to the Japanese worldview, nature is more perfect than man, so he must learn from it, protect it in every possible way, and not destroy or subjugate it.

Therefore, in many landscapes you can see small images of people, but they are always insignificant, small in relation to the landscape itself, or images of huts that fit into the space around them and are not even always noticeable - these are all symbols of a worldview.

"Seasons: Autumn and Winter" Sesshu. "Landscape" Sesshu, 1481

Here, I think, are the answers to the main questions that arise in the viewer when faced with a monochrome Japanese painting. I hope they will help you understand it most correctly and perceive it when you meet.