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November 22, 2024
 

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Matthew Larking
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 14, 2019
Kanjiro Kawai: Pots of incredible talent
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto's 'Potter Kawai Kanjiro: Works from the Kawakatsu Collection' is just the fourth time it has presented such a substantial selection of works from its renowned Kawakatsu Collection of over 400 pieces.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 23, 2019
First, there was Matsumura Goshun
The recent focus on the vibrant idiosyncratic works of the Edo Period (1603-1868) eccentric painters has left the achievements more traditional masters in neglect. 'Road to Shijo School' at the Otani Memorial Art Museum, Nishinomiya City, is a welcome reparative.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 16, 2019
The rise, fall and resurrection of Kyosai
An overachieving infant, Kawanabe Kyosai (1831-89) sketched at age 3, studied ukiyo-e from 7 and joined a branch of the Kano school of painting at 10. He offended officials, was shunned as an ex-convict, applauded by Josiah Conder and then forgotten after WWII. Now, he's finally back in favor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 26, 2019
Japanese artisanship: As real as it can get
From perfect replicas of fruit to tiny articulated dragons, Japan's ceramic, metal, wood and other craft industries excel at making decorative items that are so detailed and realistic, they can fool the naked eye.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Mar 5, 2019
Ways to never forget Christian Boltanski
Memories eroded, recovered, or forged from or for other peoples and times are the major themes of 'Christian Boltanski: Lifetime,' the artist's first full-scale Japan retrospective at The National Museum of Art, Osaka.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 26, 2019
The complicated perception of heroism
As the Hyogo Prefectural Museum of Art's final Heisei Era (1989-2019) exhibition, this ambitious and somewhat provocative show looks back on the socio-political roles art played in the midst of the past 90 or so years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2019
Gentaro Komaki: A pioneer of surrealism
Gentaro Komaki (1906-89), the son of a Kyoto Prefecture silk crepe wholesaler, lived a decadent youth of literature and philosophy, until seeing the work of Max Ernst and Yves Tanguy inspired to pursue surrealist art.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 22, 2019
Left-field visions of Kyoto's rising artists
The Museum of Kyoto's latest exhibition presents a promising cast of 45 emerging local artists working in miscellaneous mediums from lacquer to small-scale mixed-media installations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 15, 2019
'Boars Galore': The Year of the Boar finally gets its day
Despite being among the least popular, revered or symbolically loaded of zodiac animals, the boar still holds an aesthetic presence.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 28, 2018
The art world's oversight of Escher's mathematical work doesn't add up
M.C. Escher's preoccupation with perspective was like that of the Renaissance, his early intricate stone topographies were in the vein of Andrea Mantegna and his mesmerizing architectures recall Giovanni Battista Piranesi — yet his fans were mostly from outside the art world.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 2018
Japan's artistic rebels of the 1980s
While nothing so much as an epochal rupture occurred, 1980s' artists in Japan were reactive to the lingering concerns of the '70s — in that decade, oil painting and sculpture were mostly passe, while modernism appeared exhausted.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 30, 2018
Kichizaemon Raku reads between Wols' lines
Kichizaemon Raku, the eldest son of Kakunyu XIV, succeeded to the role as the 15th head of the revered Raku family of tea bowl craftsmen in 1981, a tradition founded in the Momoyama Period (1573-1603) by Tanaka Chojiro (d. 1592). His latest exhibition, "Raku Kichizaemon × Wols" at the Sagawa Art Museum...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 16, 2018
The cutting edge of Kyoto swordmaking
Showcasing 170 blades, 19 of which are National Treasures and 61 are Important Cultural Properties, 'Swords of Kyoto: Master Craftsmanship from an Elegant Culture' is the largest sword exhibition in the Kyoto National Museum's 120-year history.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 25, 2018
Keiichi Tanaami's visually trippy past
Sometimes innocent, sometimes pornographic, influences percolated, exploded and re-formed in multiple and mutant ways during Keiichi Tanaami's career, which took off in the 1960s and is still going strong.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 11, 2018
The painterly prayers of Higashiyama
Kaii Higashiyama's best-known works are often called 'quintessentially Japanese landscapes,' but they were also examples of the artist's conservative dialogue with European and American abstraction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2018
An education in modernist art teaching
The Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto surveys German, Japanese and Indian Bauhaus developments as part of a wider collation of international exhibitions and research in preparation for next year's Bauhaus centenary anniversary in Berlin.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 21, 2018
Tanaka Isson: Better late than never
Limited success in Tokyo led Tanaka Isson (1908-77) to burn his sketchbooks, sell his house, and move to Oshima, where he lived in near poverty painting in a vibrant style that posthumously captured the nation's heart.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 26, 2018
Yokoyama Taikan: Driven by loyalty
Yokoyama Taikan (1868-1958) is inarguably the definitive artist in creating pictorial and organizational frameworks inaugurating and furthering modern nihonga (Japanese painting.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 29, 2018
Kasuga's grand treasures hold history high
Around a half-century after Heijo (present-day Nara) became Japan's capital in 710, Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Nagate constructed Kasuga Grand Shrine at the behest of Empress Shotoku in 768. The shrine complex went up at the foot of the sacred Mount Mikasa, the closest mountain in the direction...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 8, 2018
The funny side of Edo Period culture
Sometimes vulgar or ridiculous, and occasionally cliched, the toba-e of Nichosai, Kuniyoshi, Hokusai and Kyosai at the Osaka City Museum of Fine Arts offer a panorama of what the historically amusing.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Ishiba aggravates his own political failures with diplomatic faux pas
Prime Minster Shigeru Ishiba is greeted at the APEC summit in Lima by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday. The Japanese leader was criticized for remaining seated while meeting several world leaders at the event.
Japan's 3.31 million visitors in October set monthly record
Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto in December 2023. Famous autumn leaf colors contributed to increased tourism demand last month from many markets across Asia, Europe and North America, the Japan National Tourism Organization has said.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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