| ■Tokyo National Research
Institute for Cultural Properties |
■Center for Conservation
Science |
| ■Department of Art Research,
Archives and Information Systems |
■Japan Center for
International Cooperation in Conservation |
| ■Department of Intangible
Cultural Heritage |
|
Fluorescent X-ray analysis of 'Yamaji' painted by Yokoyama Taikan
Yokoyama Taikan, a giant of modern Japanese-style paintings, painted “Yamaji” when he was 43 years old (in 1911, stored by Eisei-Bunko Museum and deposited by Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art). It is an important piece in which Taikan heavily used the “touches”, a reputed technique consisting of the blending of the Western impressionist school and the Southern school of Chinese painting at the time the piece was made public. It was the vanguard of the ‘new Nanga-style painting’, prevalent in the Taisho Period, escaped from the hazy style attempted by Taikan in the Meiji 30’s (1897). In addition, Mr. Arai Kei (Tokyo University of the Arts) recently pointed out that ‘Yamaji’ likely used mineral pigments, which were new at that time. This painting is thus noteworthy even when examining the materials used in Japanese style paintings during the era.
On the occasion of the restoration of “Yamaji”, the Eisei-Bunko Museum, which owns the painting, and our Institute will begin joint research, conducting many-sided investigational studies with Mr. Miyake Hidekazu of the Museum. To start with, on October 10th, we conducted near-infrared reflectance photography and qualitative analysis using the fluorescent X-ray analysis method at the Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art where ‘Yamaji’ has been deposited This was done together with Mr. Arai mentioned above, Mr. Taira Yuichiro (Tokyo University of the Arts) and Ms. Ogawa Ayako (Tokyo University of the Arts), in cooperation with Mr. Hayashida Ryuta at the Kumamoto Prefectural Museum of Art. The result of research revealed that ‘Yamaji’ consisted of an abundant amount of modern pigments, which are different from conventional pigments. The restoration will continue for a period of one year. We will gather the obtained survey results; the progression status of the restoration, and various types of information that include reviews from the time the work was made public. We would like to release such items publicly as fundamental materials.
Presentation by Ms. Suga Miho on the first day
Mr. Takahashi Toshiro answered the questions at his presentation on the second day
The Department of Research Programming of this Institute holds a public lecture every autumn in order to disclose the results of our research on art history. This public lecture is the 44th with the first held in 1966. Since 2006, we have established a common theme titled “The Dynamics of Interaction between Objects and People”, and four researchers from both within and outside the Institute gave presentations on October 15 and 16.
On October 15, Mr. Tsuda Tetsuei (the head of Archives Section of the Department of Research Programming) gave a presentation, entitled “Creation of the statue of the virtuous founder of Shinran School on the Amida Rure Land Buddhism in the medieval period”, on the background of the creation of the life-sized statue of the school successors and the meaning of the creation of the statues. Dr. Suga Miho (associate professor at Okayama University) gave a presentation entitled “Beauty of flowers and grasses – Space of pavilions at the Tsuku-busuma-jinja Shrine”, and clarified the formative expression and space configuration based on the detailed investigation of pavilions while using a great deal of pictures. On the following day, Mr. Takahashi Toshiro (curator at the Naritasan Calligraphy Museum) gave a presentation entitled “Imperial Court Poets and Calligraphy”, and clarified the cultural role of the activities of poets whom gathered in the Imperial Court of Poets (opened in 1888), in terms of the background pertaining to the maintenance and expansion of the modern imperial system. Mr. Shioya Jun (Head of the Art Research Materials Section at the Department of Research Programming) gave a presentation entitled “Akimoto Shatei and Japanese-style paintings in the Meiji Period”. He focused on the activities of Akimoto Shatei, a brewer in Nagareyama who played an important role as a supporter of Hishida Shunso as leader of Japanese-style paintings in the Meiji Period. During the presentation he clarified the reception to artworks during the Meiji Period.
We had 114 and 86 audiences respectively on each of the two days. On the first day, Mr. Itsuo Ikushima, the Chief Priest of the Chikubushima-jinja Shrine and his wife, attended in relation to the presentation of Dr. Suga. On the second day, Ms. Akimoto Yumiko, a water-color painter and the grandchild of Akimoto Shatei attended in association with Mr. Shioyas’ presentation. Mr. Itsuo Ikushima and Ms. Akimoto Yumiko answered the questions from the hall and the public lecture ended successfully. From the results of the questionnaire performed after the lecture, we have learned that the audience was very satisfied with the content. We would like to actively plan for the transmission of the results of research conducted by our institute.
Panels displayed at Ueno Junior High School in Taito-ku, Tokyo
Students were looking at the explanation of National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo on a touch panel.
On October 30th, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo exhibited panels at a school festival at Ueno Junior High School in Taito-ku, Tokyo. We displayed two subjects: The clarifying of the structures of nohkan and ryuteki flutes by X-ray photography, and the survey and investigation of Buddha statues by X-ray photography.
The panels previously exhibited at the entrance of the Institute were reused, and both subjects were investigated using X-ray photography and results were seen.
Students at the junior high school know well that the state of ones chest can be revealed by X-ray photography during physical checkups. Therefore, we think that they understood what material of cultural properties this method is effective for and what can be revealed with the research results.
This is the second time that the panels of the Institute have been exhibited at the school festival at Ueno Junior High School in Taito-ku, Tokyo. Although the exhibition was on display for only one day, it provided a good opportunity for approximately 300 Ueno Junior High School students, teachers, and guardians to know that a research organization which protects cultural properties and hands them down to future generations exists near Ueno Junior High School.
We hope that this activity will continue cooperation with school education and with the local community.
We reported in Tobunken News Vol. 36 that, among the books of the late Professor Suzuki Kei (passed away on October 18, 2007), the leading authority on Chinese picture history and Professor Emeritus at Tokyo University, the “Wenyuange Edition Siku Quanshu”, “Si Bu Cong Kan Chu Bian Suo Ben” and “Da Qing Li Chao Shi Lu” were offered by his bereaved wife Teruko to the Institute in December 2008. On October 26, Ms. Suzuki Teruko additionally donated the series of publications – “an authorized collection of all-time books” and “Tien-i-ko tsang Ming-tai fang-chih hsuan-kan”. These donated series of publications enrich the library of the institute. We will arrange and register them in sequence so that many people can read and make use of them.
Genre Figures" exhibited on panel
Kabuki Performance and Audience" exhibited on panel
The Department of Research Programming is investigating early modern genre paintings, such as Genre Figures, said to be based on the romance of Honda Heihachiro and Lady Senhime, as a joint research project with the Tokugawa Art Museum. 2010 is the 75th anniversary of the opening of the Museum, and upon this occasion a special exhibition called the “Treasures of the Owari Tokugawa Family” was held (October 2 to November 7). In light of this opportunity, on display since September 28 are the enlarged picture panels of Genre Figures and Kabuki Performance and Audience (both are important cultural properties) as part of research investigation results. Genre Figures is a relatively smaller two panel folding screen, 72.2 cm height. We had the image outputted by magnifying it by approximately 3.5 times in order to match the Honda Heihachiro’s height with the average body height of 157 cm that was assumed from the male remains of the feudal lord class in the Edo Period. When the right panel is enlarged with the same degree of magnification, the female in a kimono with crest of hollyhock, the central figure, will match the average height 146 cm of the wives and concubines of feudal lords in the same way. This lets us know that the difference in physical size between males and females of the time is accurately reflected in the portraits. Kabuki Performance and Audience is 36.7 cm length, made up from two scrolls on which there are six pictures each. We had this scroll output by magnifying it by approximately 2.5 times. We can clearly confirm the color expression by delicate gradations and the elaborately drawn textural differences, and focus attention on detailed description, which has been overlooked until now. When the line drawings and the state of colors are observed in detail, the intention and reason for the expression techniques will come up. We will apply the information thus far obtained to the study of works and will work to deepen the understanding a variety of art pieces.
To commemorate the achievements of Kuroda Seiki and to contribute to the development of regional culture, we have jointly held the Kuroda Seiki: Master Western-style Painter of Modern Japan Exhibition with the host museum every year since 1977. This year, the exhibition was held at the Iwate Museum of Art from July 17th (Saturday) to August 29th (Sunday). 147 oil paintings and drawings including designated the Important Cultural Properties “Lakeside” and “Wisdom, Impression, Sentiment”, a sketch block, and letters were exhibited. The “Boat”, “Peony”, “Attacking the battery on the Er Long Shan hill during the Sino-Japanese War” and two “Portraits of Hayashi Masafumi” donated last year were also displayed. Paintings of Kuroda Seiki can be tracked from his early to later years.
The Iwate Prefecture is the birth place of Yorozu Tetsugoro and Matsumoto Shunsuke, whom studied under Kuroda Seiki at the Tokyo Fine Arts School, then learned the new Western artistic activities, and set a new tone in the world of Japanese modern paintings. The Iwate Museum of Art introduces the paintings of these artists in the regular exhibition room, so this exhibition gave us a good opportunity to track the flow of Japanese modern paintings along with the Kuroda Seiki exhibition. The exhibition had 11,942 visitors and ended successfully.
Monthly Flowers and Ornamental Plants on a right-hand folding screen, painted by Murakoshi Koei Owned by Adachi-city Folk Museum
Monthly Flowers and Ornamental Plants on a left-hand folding screen, painted by Murakoshi Koei Owned by Adachi-city Folk Museum
The 4th workshop of Department of Research Programming 2010 was held on July 28th. The following were the presenters and the titles of their presentations:
• Emura Tomoko (a researcher at Department of Research Programming)
“Concerning Suzuki Kiitsu’s paintings of flowers and grasses, centering on Flowers and Grasses painted on a small sliding door fusuma owned by the Portland Art Museum”
• Mr. Sanada Takamitsu (curator of Adachi-city Folk Museum)
“Senju and Edo Rimpa”
Emura verified from her works and from the literatures that the expression techniques of the above paintings had been closely related to Kiitsu’s learning about the Korin’s paintings, and also considered the Kiitsu’s patrons who have not been completely unveiled. Mr. Sanada made a presentation on the activities and works of Mr. Murakoshi Kiei and Koei, parent and son, who were Kiitsu’s disciples and whom flourished in Senju, associated with the “Edo Rimpa” exhibition that will be held at the Adachi-city Folk Museum in March 2011. We invited Ms. Tamamushi Toshiko (professor at Musashino Art University) as a commentator and held a research discussion. We will make public the results obtained from this workshop in the form of research papers and exhibitions, pursuing further exchange and promotion of research.
Mr. Sato Tamotsu and Mizubasho (Skunk Cabbage) Mandala presented on 22nd Chikyukai exhibition (1978)
The Department of Research Programming received a donation of part of the materials owned by Mr. Sato Tamotsu, a Japanese-style painter, who died in 2004, from his wife Ms. Kiyoko. He broke new ground in postwar Japanese-style painting with his series of Mizubasho (Skunk cabbage) Mandala paintings that abstractly express skunk cabbages using bold circular arcs with sumi (Indian ink) lines. The donated materials include art journals and catalogs of the art group Chikyukai he set up with his colleagues in 1957 and various art groups. They have been delivered to the Institute, and we will organize the precious materials of postwar Japanese art so that they can be browsed and utilized.
Exhibition
From May 11 (Tuesday) to 23 (Sunday), we displayed art objects that had returned to their homeland of Japan and whose restoration had been completed by the domestic craft centers at the end of 2009, in the planning exhibition room on the first floor of the Heiseikan of Tokyo National Museum. The exhibition took place under the title “Special display: Restoration of Japanese Art Objects Overseas”, and also had the purpose of making publicly known the achievements of the Cooperative Program for the Conservation of Japanese Art Objects Overseas.
Three art objects were displayed in the above exhibition – Folding screen of Kabuki Acrobatic Performance and Audience owned by the Ashmolean Museum (UK), Wakaura Gold-Lacquered Shogi Board owned by the Cologne Museum of East Asian Art (Germany), and Incense Shelves with Makie Decoration of the Eight Views of Lake Biwa owned by Museum Velké Meziucí (Czech Republic). This kind of exhibition takes place in the Heiseikan of Tokyo National Museum around this time every year. We hope that continuing to hold exhibitions will let as many people as possible know something about the international cooperation that the Institute is working for.
Exhibiting images on the second floor of Institute
With cooperation from the National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo, we conducted an optical survey on “Landscape with an Eye” pained in oil (1938, 102.0 x 193.5 cm) by Ai-Mitsu (1907-1948) on January 18. We took a full-color photographing and a reflection near-infrared photographing at that time. These two images are exhibited on the second floor of the Institute as an original-size panel. Following the above survey, we executed another survey using transmission near-infrared photographing on April 27. Taking the opportunity of the work’s restoration, we transmitted light from the back of the painting with the wooden frame removed. We were able to capture an image of the painting nearest to the canvas surface, i.e., an image of the work when it was created. This work is highly valued because of its unique expression in acceptance of Surrealism paintings in Japanese modern art. However, there are still ongoing discussions about how it was created and its motif. We must make a detailed investigation from now, using the images obtained by reflection and transmission near-infrared photographing. As long as we think of transmission near-infrared photo, we can recognize the depth of image that the painter had, and the traces that the painter left when he was trying to visualize the image as a real thing, in the form of a mysterious metamorphosis, which is different from an animal or a plant.
“SO-IMAGINE” Tobunken version browser screen
The Department of Research Programming is now preparing for the launch of the Tobunken version of the information search engine “SO-IMAGINE” using associative searching technology within this year.
“SO-IMAGINE” is a search service that the National Institute of Informatics has developed and it is open to the public. This completely new search engine allows us to designate the information you wish to know much more precisely from various genres of data sources, such as the library’s bibliotheca database, database of books in stock of bookstores and secondhand bookshops, database on cultural properties, encyclopedia and tourism data, and deepen the association based on the retrieved data.
The search services of “SO-IMAGINE” combined with the independent database of the organization, such as the National Museum of Art version and the Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum of Waseda University version, have already started operating. Similarly, the Tobunken version will be an independent search service by combining “SO-IMAGINE” with “Tobunken art-related documents”, “Tobunken Odaka Collection”, etc. We will make public the data on approximately 400,000 items on the “Tobunken art-related documents”, and approximately 2,000 photos on the “Tobunken Odaka Collection”, taken by Odaka Sennosuke who first surveyed Bamian, Afghanistan as a Japanese researcher.
We hope that very useful data for studying cultural properties will be transmitted.
The National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo is creating lists of artists and art galleries for survey research and data arrangement, and has started to release them to the public on the “Research Database Search System”( http://www.tobunken.go.jp/archives/）
as the database on artists/art-related persons and the database on art galleries. The former database contains the names of 19,947 persons and allows you to check details such as their pseudonyms, history of works on exhibitions and dates of death. The latter database includes 521 art galleries, and allows you to confirm the titles of the art gallery history, and whether there is any information on exhibitions.
Among the materials donated by artists, art-related persons, art galleries and the Contemporary Art Document Center superintended by Mr. Sasaki Shigeo, the Institute stores thin catalogs, art gallery news, DM, flyers and newspaper articles in the artist files and art gallery files separately. The database we are now releasing to the public displays only whether or not there are any material files, and we plan to release the items of material to the public in sequence. See “Using Data Files” for how to read the materials.
Digital Image Gallery of Cultural Properties
In April 2010, we added a Digital Image Gallery of Cultural Properties to the website pages of the Institute.
At present, the gallery includes the contents of “‘Talk on Ancient Romance’ viewed with infrared eyes”, “Incomplete picture of warriors hidden behind chrysanthemum blossoms”, and “Joint research on national treasure Hikone folding screens” – all in Japanese only.
With “‘Talk on Ancient Romance’ viewed with infrared eyes”, we made public the results of research on ‘Talk on Ancient Romance’ painted by Kuroda Seiki. This painting had been damaged in a fire during the air raids of 1945, but taking near-infrared photographs of it revealed some slight remains of the oil-painted ebauche.
With “Incomplete picture of warriors hidden behind chrysanthemum blossoms”, we received cooperation from the Pola Museum of Art and made public the research results of an optical survey on three Kuroda Seiki paintings – “Field (Nobe)”, “Chrysanthemum” and “Sieving red beans” owned by the Pola Museum.
With “Joint research on national treasure Hikone folding screens”, we introduced part of the results of a joint research investigation conducted by the Hikone Castle Museum and National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, during 2006 and 2007, in which the Hikone folding screens were repaired.
The gallery plans to show “Old photographs of Nagoya Castle Keep Palace” and other articles.
Director Suzuki presenting a letter of gratitude to Ms. Kawashima Yoshiko.
The Muramatsu Gallery was a place where artists leading Japanese contemporary art had exhibited their works since 1960. This gallery closed in December 2009, and so Ms. Kawashima Yoshiko, a representative of the gallery, donated materials, such as an album which included documentary photos of its exhibitions, to our Institute. The Muramatsu Gallery opened around 1942 as a gallery of the Muramatsu clock shop which opened in Ginza in 1913, and was transferred to Ms. Kawashima in 1968. The materials acquired through the gallery’s 40 years of activities since 1968 are very precious, supplementing the materials of contemporary artists that we have collected, arranged and exhibited since before the war. Our Director gave her a certificate of gratitude on March 12. We will store the donated materials for ever, and make use of them and exhibit them.
While the Heisei Large Repair of the Phoenix Hall was being implemented from 2003 to 2008 at the Byodo-in Temple, the seated Amitabha Tathagata, along with the halo and pedestal, were transferred to a specially installed studio on the temple grounds. We took this opportunity to conduct a detailed optical survey of the painting in front of the wall behind the Buddha, with support and cooperation from Byodo-in Temple, in 2004 and 2005. We used high-definition digital camera techniques and recorded the current status of the painting in detail. As a report on the results, the “Phoenix Hall of Byodo-in Temple, the Wall Behind the Buddha Investigation Material List: Near-infrared Image Edition” was issued on February 26. This follows the issue of “Phoenix Hall of Byodo-in Temple, the Wall Behind the Buddha Investigation Material List: Color Image Edition” in 2009. As is well known, the panel painting on front of the Wall Behind the Buddha is usually behind the principal Buddha image, Amitabha Tathagata, so it is not easy to view the whole painting in detail. This edition, therefore, will prove very useful use not only for the study of the painting on the wall behind Buddha, but also for the study on Buddhist paintings during the Heian period. In 2011, we will issue the “Phoenix Hall of Byodo-in Temple, the Wall Behind the Buddha Investigation Material List: Fluoroscopic Image Edition.”
Front cover of “Capturing the ‘Original’: Conveying Cultural Properties”
Last year, the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo held the 32nd International Symposium on the Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, called “Capturing the ‘Original’: Archives for Cultural Properties.” After an editing period of a full year, we are now proud to publish a report on that symposium. It includes presentations and discussions by 26 national and international researchers, and explores how we should convey cultural properties while intending to maintain ‘original’ as it is. See the Department of Research Programming’s page for the titles of each publication.
http://www.tobunken.go.jp/~joho/japanese/publication/book/report_sympo32th.html
The contemporary artist Fukuda Miran created a mirror image of Hokusai’s famous “The Great Wave off Kanagawa,” which is part of his “Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji” series. Miran’s work is used as the front cover of the publication, and was also used as the public relations image of the symposium.
This publication is commercially available from Heibonsha under the title of “Capturing the ‘Original’: Conveying Cultural Properties.”
http://www.heibonsha.co.jp/catalogue/exec/frame.cgi?page=newbooks.html
Cover of “investigation report of joint research on pedestal for reading Kasuga Gongen Genki-e”
Mr. Shimizu Ken, a researcher at the Nara National Museum, is giving an explanation in front of the pedestal for reading Kasuga Gongen Genki-e in the Special Exhibition “On-Matsuri and the Sacred Art of Kasuga.”
The Department of Research Programming of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo is conducting joint research with the Nara National Museum as part of the research project Survey Research on Applications of High-definition Digital Images. In March 2010, a report on a pedestal for reading Kasuga Gongen Genki-e (owned by Kasuga Taisha Shrine in Nara) was published. With the Kasuga Gongen Genki-e, the scene of the grounds of Kasuga Taisha Shrine is drawn on a folding screen with six panels that are approximately 42 cm in length, using gold and silver paints and gold and silver cut foils. This work has attracted attention because it is regarded as an old example of a paper folding screen and also as a precise example of a picture with gold and silver paints created in the fourteenth century. On the fluorescent image photographed this time in the joint research survey, patterns and detailed expressions that are not apparent to the naked eyes were confirmed. We hope that the fluorescent image will be an important research material in future studies on scenery images and pictures with gold and silver paints. When the Kasuga Gongen Genki-e was displayed in the Special Exhibition “On-Matsuri and the Sacred Art of Kasuga” from December 8, 2009 to January 17, 2010 before issuing the report, we exhibited the color image and fluorescent image photographed in this survey on panels to announce some of the results.
In February 2010, we created French webpages of Kuroda Memorial Hall:
http://www.tobunken.go.jp/kuroda/index_f.html.
The content of the French version is almost the same as that of the Japanese version, and includes the sections of “About Kuroda Seiki”, “Calendar and Traffic Access”, and “List of Works of Kuroda Seiki”. The French version is the fourth foreign language version after English, Chinese and Korean.
In 1884, Kuroda Seiki traveled to France to study law, but after two years he switched to painting and followed that pursuit for the rest of his life. He often stayed and did many paintings in the small village of Grez-sur-Loing between 1890 and 1893, until when he returned to Japan.
We hope that the people in France and other French-speaking countries will come to know that Kuroda Seiki, who is called the father of modern Japanese painting, had strong associations with France through the French webpages of Kuroda Memorial Hall.
Discussions
The Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures was established in Norwich, in the eastern part of the UK, in 1999. It is developing activities as a base for research on Japanese arts and cultures. The Institute’s Lisa Sainsbury Library stores books and materials on Japanese arts and cultures. Among them there are collections on the ceramic artist, Bernard Leach, and the art history researcher, Yanagisawa Taka. The Yanagisawa collection has strong ties with the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo, where she worked. On February 25, the Department of Research Programming of this Institute and the Art Documentation Society co-hosted the workshop “Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures and Archives of Cultural Heritages in the UK” in the seminar room of the Institute. Mr. Hirano Akira, a librarian at the Lisa Sainsbury Library, was invited to participate. Mr. Hirano introduced the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts, and reported on the study of Japan in the UK. He also discussed the network of Japanese studies in Europe. Mr. Morishita Masaaki (a visiting researcher from the Department of Research Programming of the National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo) and Ms. Idemitsu Sachiko (a curator from the Idemitsu Museum of Arts), who have experience in conducting research based at the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, joined in the discussions as panelists. They developed topics on the real experience of researching Japanese art in overseas countries and the current status of the archives on contemporary art in Europe. The discussions with general participants revealed that it is difficult for people in overseas countries to view the bulletins, theses and exhibition catalogs at Japanese universities, art galleries and museums, and gave us another opportunity to understand the real issues with their computerization and international cooperation.
Text edition of 75 years’ of history of National Research Institute for Cultural Properties, Tokyo
Editing is complete in 2006 for the issuing of a 75 years’ history of National Research Institute for Cultural Properties Tokyo, commemorating the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the Institute in 1931.
We issued the “text edition” which records the development of the Institute, the investigation, research and current status of the Departments and Centers, along with relevant materials for each (B5 size, 607 pages, issued on December 25, 2009). In March 2008, we issued the “data edition” which includes lists of the records of operations since the foundation and the accumulated data. These data and text editions represent the 75-year history of our Institute.
The editors in the Departments and Centers played central roles in editing. In addition, we are very grateful for the cooperation received from many organizations and people from inside and outside the Institute.
We hope that this document is used to not only look back on the 75 year history of the Institute, but also to share pride in this history, and have an opportunity to open a new vision as one of our future Institute’s activity. Part of the document will be made commercially available by the Chuokoron Art Publishing Corporation.
