100 Aspects of the Moon-Japanese Art
national |
arts and media |
other press 
Sunday December 16, 2007 15:53
by Ariko
On exhibition until Feburary 17th
The Rites of Passage religious exhibit is currently closed, which was mesmeric in it's
disection of the hypnosis of world religion, if one could avoid the big screens the bits of
the Nag Hammadi Gospel and huge Buddhist Mandalas were worth a visit.
'100 aspects of the Moon' is the current exhibition and every single print has a bit of moon
in it- on Helmets, behind women (!) and accomnpanying dark and scary warriors.
You could say there are many moons. The Chester Beatty is located in the Grounds of Dublin
Castle and is far better than the auction house that comprises the State apartments, where
Sarkozy will be welcomed to persuade the unsuae celts about his Reform Treaty.[2008]
The Chester Beatty Library was housed in Ballsbridge ,complete with outdoor pond and low
lighting to ensure against decreptitude. There are scraps of Gospel in climate control cases
generally on view and working quills in the gift shop. The Moon exhibition is in the Reading
area, which means going to the main gallery and following the bridge into the Japanese area
(temporary).
The images of women and the moon are pretty tremendous especially of the sucidal
Ariko in her boat:
-
'Ariko weeps as her Boat Drifts in Moonlight' [Ariko na Sushi 829-900)
the Print is 1886.
the poem:-
'it would be better for me to sink
beneath the waves
Perhaps then I could see
My man from moon capital'
(its about Hari-kari stuff. immolation, and if ye are not into that prostitution in the
moonlight vyes with moon-warriored helmetted men.)
The images are print and have a Western influence but the detail is tremendous
with very startling colours, its an Amercan collection. Monday to Friday of next week(btw)
will be probably the last chance people will get to see Yeat's eye glasses and sword
at the National Library.
Susano-o God of Moon and water appears in the narrative with the legend of the pillars
that are partially submerged in water told in both the prints and tales.
[The illustration is of Sen:- from 'Spirited Away' a recent japanese cartoon about naming
and was mostly completed in old style hand -painted animation, which completes the-is
little review of Japanese moon art].
Comments (4 of 4)
Jump To Comment: 1 2 3 4Well we could all go and buy books of Japanese art but for those interested in the exhibition:
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) was an artist who practised during great sweeping changes in Japan which saw a reduction in medieval world view to modernisn.
His technique was woodblock printing, which means every little detail was carved onto a plate first- that style in Japan is called 'ukiyo-e':- Pictures of the Floating World.
'The One Hundred Aspects of the Moon' series comprises a series of portraits of
individuals each being linked to a moon phase, which is why they feature a lot of women.
[according to the blurb which accompanies the showing).
Yoshitoshi began to adopt western spatial technique during the period he created his
'floating world'.
The collection is lent by the Museum of International Folk Art, Museum of New Mexico,
USA and follows on from the Leonardo Codex and the sublime Durer exhibition
which included his most brilliant prints.The info and catalogues from the Leonardo
and Durer's are excellent pressie material for the rampant Bibliophile.
Personally I found the moon more interesting than the western spatial technique
which is short -speak for 'using perspective' and his women are wonderfully drawn.
This time of year is good for galleries cos the cafes are largely unpopulated
and the exhibition spaces quite empty. (its not commercial and therefore you get
time to study the prints/paintings/photos in great detail)
The exhibition came from the bequest of the late Else and Joseph Chapman,
haven't googled them yet.
http://www.cbl.ie
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoshitoshi.
The exhibition continues until Feburary 17th 2008 in the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin.
climber- 100 aspects of the moon .7
He came from the Samurai honour tradition
So many of his images (not on show in Ireland) dealt with 'honour'
The only complaint about the Chester Beatty is that unlike virtually every State funded museum they don't seem that interested in the Irish language. There are some large charts and lip-service stuff like that for sure, but generally the labels and information are in English, which is annoying when you're bringing kids around, as well as adults who have an interest in the language. All signs and labels should be bi-lingual, but I suppose the years in Ballsbridge have had their effect.
Am pretty sure that it would be rather complex to render aspects of early biblical stuff
into our Gaeilge-the art must stand on its own really. but I hear ye- the NGI has bi-lingual
signage.
But a titular rendering of the Nag Hammadi Gospels into Irish-now that I would like to
see. Next time I go to a seance must ask Mr Chester why he doth not render his signage
in Gaeilge.
Question:- do ye explain the painting to the kids in the language-thats a wonderful
way to teach children about art!
Indymedia Ireland is a media collective. We are independent volunteer citizen journalists producing and distributing the authentic voices of the people. Indymedia Ireland is an open news project where anyone can post their own news, comment, videos or photos about Ireland or related matters.