“UNKNOWN” ARTISTS OF RENOWN

Dr. Benita Stambler Asian Art Coordinator

The Ringling’s special summer exhibition, Deco Japan: Shaping Art & Culture 1920–1945, dazzles with the sheer number and quality of decorative Japanese arts of this period. Art Deco was the first global design movement, but it is usually viewed as a mostly European and American phenomenon. Not so, as we see in this exhibition. According to Bob Levenson, the owner who amassed this collection, ”Japanese Art Deco is not only virtually unknown in the US, it is barely recognized as an art movement in Japan.” In their day, though, some of the artists featured in this exhibition were quite important, in Japan and elsewhere throughout the world. Two artists whose works are featured in the exhibition are highlighted below. Both these artists used traditional Japanese materials and motifs but infused them with a new sensibility that signifies their importance in artistic movements of a modern Japan.

Enomoto Chikatoshi (1898–1973) was a Japanese painter and printmaker famous for his studies of beautiful women. A graduate of the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, he frequently exhibited his work in Japan and the U.S. His works are featured in the collections of such major museums as the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Tokyo Museum of Modern Art. Beautiful women were a traditional subject in Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo period (1603–1868), where they were often shown dressed in traditional kimono and presenting a rather shy demeanor.

Chikatoshi’s women, in contrast, are seen in new milieus, acting in a most modern fashion. Among his works in this exhibition are panels and screens of women skiing, viewing fish in an aquarium and even waiting for customers in dancehalls. As a fledgling sport in Japan, skiing provided Japanese women with fresh air, exercise and a new sense of freedom. Dressed in a ski pantsuit, wearing lipstick and curled hair, this young woman (right) is certainly modern. The background shimmers with silver leaf and powdered shell, another special technique employed by Chikatoshi, reflecting the twinkling and glistening of falling snow.

Tsuda Shinobu (1875–1946) was one of the foremost metal artists of his period. As a professor at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, he was a major influence on many of the metal artists whose works are featured in the Deco Japan exhibition. After he returned from Europe, where he had been sent to study metalwork, Tsuda was instrumental in founding a group of Japanese artists dedicated to creating art and design based on fresh modes of thinking. He was commended by the French government for his contributions to art, which included serving as a juror for the 1925 International Exposition in Paris. Tsuda’s roaring lion (upper left) begins with the depiction of a traditional Chinese mythical lion, a frequent guardian figure. Here, however, the significance is turned against itself. The object’s title, Deluded Demons Run Away, refers to the Chinese, who had just become enemies of Japan in its quest for Asian domination. The lion’s aggressive stance, pointed mane and assumed roar signify Japan’s new militant attitude.

Deco Japan: Shaping Art & Culture

1920–1945 will be on view in the Searing Wing from July 13–October 28, 2012. Paid for in part by Sarasota County Tourist Development Tax revenues.

Members Only After Hours

Exhibition Opening of Deco Japan: Shaping Modern Culture

July 12th 5:00–7:00 pm

Searing Wing Loggia

Join fellow Members and be the first to see the special exhibition.

Light Bites and cash bar.

Open to all Ringling Museum members. No RSVP required. Members may bring complimentary guests based on their membership guest benefit.

Call 941.360.7332 for information about this event.