Japanese Artists.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13673, 15 August 1908, Page 3 (Supplement)

Japanese Artists.

REPRODUCTIONS OF "OLD MASTERS." Recently in London there was an .exhibition nf Japanese colour prints, which includes some celebrated series by masters of ihe eighteenth and nineteenth centur'er - . . I In Japan such a filing as a gallery ■ merely for the purpose of containing pic- ! turn? is" unknown. A picture is regarded there only as a part, of the whole scheme of decoration. The painter—at. any rate up to recent time6 —so far as the ultimate uses of his work are concerned, ranked with the carpenter and other workers whose art. and craft were necessary for the building and of (ho domestic interior. ■•'■ It was not until about the middle of last century that Japan began to take r heed, slowly but certainly, of Occidental civilisation. An interesting incident in the ■ history .of Japanese- ■ art,' occurred in i 1840, when foreign intercourse was still restricted. An artist—Wanatabe Wwazan —a member at the patrician'order, died in Yeddo 'by his own hand: It happened thus. He was" suspe-cted of being influenced by wester ideass, and' the new knowledge displayed in. his pictures bearing strong witness against him he received the fatal order which no "Samurai',' would-.disobey. • - .

The assimilation of Western ideas in Japan is haying, for the time being, a depressing effect upon Japanese art. But although ite'form of art wlil never be repeated again- in exactly-" the? same way, there is every reason to believe that the future is hopeful. The art represented in the collection of -colour-prints at Mr. Paterson's gallery, though belonging, to an era in which lived and worked several of Japan's greatest artists, is,' comparatively speaking, late. There exists exquisite works which are done as early as the twelfth century. Special interest in. Mr. Paterson's exhibition belongs ([.o several series of prints by masters. A particularly beautiful' series, composed of seven upright;' prints, is by Utamaro, who was born in 1753, and represents the procession of the Korean Ambassador on a visit tothe Court of Japan. _ The "collection also contains the ■ finest impression'known of the celebrated series by Utamaro of.twelve prints treating of the process of the maunfacturing of silk, frorii the' egg of the silkworm to the loom. Another beautiful set depicts the Festival of" the Cherry Blossom held on the banks of the Sumida, and is. by Kivpnaga, an artist born in 1742.

A . triptych, by Hircshighe, or a- moonlight scene reminds one, of the nocturne by Whistler, who, in sympathy with and inspired by the.'aijfc of Japan, in .the ner and with-the materials of Western art enlarged and insisted upon the.- b'eauty and truth of decoration and selection.