Publication of “YOKOYAMA Taikan’s Yamaji (the Mountain Path)” and display boards in the Institute’s entrance lobby
This spring, the Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems published volume 6 of the Archive of Art Studies, entitled “YOKOYAMA Taikan’s Yamaji.” The Department of Art Research, Archives, and Information Systems started publishing the Archive of Art Studies in 2002. This volume summarizes the results of 3 years of research on YOKOYAMA Taikan’s Yamaji conducted jointly with Eisei Bunko. In the past, individual research reports were made available via the Institute’s website, but the full nature of that research has now been revealed to the public thanks to the cooperation of a number of individuals.
Vol. 6 of the Archive of Art Studies features Yamaji (painted in 1911) in Eisei Bunko’s collection and a variant of that piece, Yamaji (painted in 1912), in the collection of the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto. This volume assembles information on the individual pieces based on their restoration and analysis of the pigments used as well as textual information regarding the pieces, such as critiques when they were presented and a description of their provenance. Reliable articles based on surveys of the pieces and other materials have been authored by ARAI Kei (Tokyo University of the Arts), OGAWA Ayako (Tokyo National Museum), SATO Shino (Yokoyama Taikan Memorial Hall), TAIRA Yuichiro (Tokyo University of the Arts), TAKEGAMI Yukihiro (Association for Conservation of National Treasures), NOJI Koichiro (Nerima Art Museum), HAYASHIDA Ryuta (Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Arts), MIYAKE Hidekazu (Eisei Bunko), and SHIOYA Jun, who were involved in restoring and studying the pieces. Hopes are that this case study of research on a single work will, like previous volumes of the Archive of Art Studies, contribute to future studies of art history. Vol. 6 is available from Chuo Koron Bijutsu Shuppan. Please see the website below for details.
http://www.chukobi.co.jp/products/detail.php?product_id=635.
In conjunction with the publication of this volume, display boards describing Research on YOKOYAMA Taikan’s Yamaji were exhibited in the entrance lobby on the first floor of Institute starting on March 28. The display boards provide an overview of the research with a focus on images of Yamaji in Eisei Bunko’s collection (the same images are featured in Vol. 6). Thanks to high-resolution images taken by SHIRONO Seiji of the Institute, visitors to the Institute will be able to see for themselves the ingredients of the pigments used in Yamaji.