Hototogisu in Misty Rain
1902
After the Meiji Restoration (1868), Japanese artists were exposed to Western art and artists, which introduced a fresh sensibility and challenging spirit to their work. Japanese modern painting (known as nihonga) created from the Meiji (1868-1912), Taish? (1912-1926) through early Sh?wa (1926-1989) periods is beautiful evidence illustrating each artist's effort to both explore modern artistic direction while still keeping with Japanese tradition. Though this period is significant, it has been a weak point in SAM's Japanese art collection.
Griffith and Patricia Way began to collect Japanese modern paintings beginning in the early 1980s, including artists such as Shiokawa Bunrin (1801-1877), K?no Bairei (1844-1895), Nishimura Gousn (1877-1938) and D?moto Insh? (1891-1975). What is so remarkable about the Ways' collecting is that they collected based on their personal aesthetics, resulting in a large collection of works by Tsuji Kak? (1870-1931), who was still obscure at that time.
These hundred and six promised works consist of hanging scrolls, screens and albums, nearly all of which were exhibited in Modern Masters of Kyoto: Nihonga from the Griffith and Patricia Way Collection held in the United States and Japan (Seattle Art Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and venues in Japan from 1999 through 2002). Several works by Tsuji Kak? are now in Japan in the artist's first retrospective exhibition (Kyoto, Tokyo and Kasaoka in Japan, 2006-2007). Many works have also been part of SAM's regular thematic installations in recent years. Thanks to the Ways, through these exhibitions, both scholars and the public have come to appreciate the importance of Tsuji Kak? in Japanese modern art.
Kak?'s representative work Green Waves; a sophisticated image of Bush Warbler under Spring / Sparrows in Autumn by Takeuchi Seih? (1864-1942); a humorous portrait of Wang Xizhi by Tomita Keisen (1879-1936): Forty-five artists' paintings let us to see a rich cross-section of the Kyoto art scene, and they make a perfect match with four pairs of Kak?'s screens recently gifted by Mary Ann and Henry James. Now, this priceless gift will mark a new moment in SAM's collecting history, and will make it possible to tell substantial stories connecting the historic with the contemporary, and the East with the West in Japan's modern age.
Ink on silk
96 9/16 x 34 1/8 in. (245.3 x 86.7cm)
Gift of Griffith and Patricia Way, in honor of the 75th Anniversary of the Seattle Art Museum
2010.41.1
