Shunso Hishida Exhibition @MOMAT

A Japanese painter, Shunso Hishida is one of the most important people to express what today’s Japanese painting is.

We have been living with the own culture that has been improved with taking such a long long time over 2000years. But also we can not explain about that without other culture from overseas.

We must talk about him when explain Japanese painting history at Meiji period .

One of most famous Japanese painter Katsushika Hokusai was inspired with European painting and found how they catch the spaces and tried how express those in his works.

As you can see on his some works.Last month I went to his exhibition and I saw those.
In the other hand, for example,Post-Impressionism is not able to explain without Ukiyo-e and Japanese culture.

We inspired each culture for long time, sometime,maybe we need being fresh to found how live getting into the future with something new which we never see or know. Never stop improving, also that is showing future to the next generetion.I hope.

Shunso Hishida was trying to find today’s Japanese art to the future. first of all, he found something in researching color expression.

He use Japanese and European one in a painting and challenging new combination of the color for Japanese.Of cause we can not explain this without Tenshin(Kakuzo) Okakura and Ernest Francisco Fenollosa.

His sensitivity was not only the painting, may be that was really tough life for him I guess. He had disease with his eyes once and couldn’t have any pen for a few years.At the time, He often went to forest as a kind of treatment. I don’t know he knew it would be the chance the experience makes his masterpiece after that.

He was taught by Tenshin Okakura who was trying to make a new stream in Japanese art. He worked with Taikan Yokoyama and Kanzan Shimomura. Both are also leaving a lot of masterpieces.

movie “Tenshin”2013.

Today, there is a lot of painters who still inspired with his technique and expression in Japan. It is may be good, may be not. to finding a way to the future such a trying, It is tough enough for them. not easy, I respect their challenging.

• Shunso Hishida 1874-1911(Meiji period)
  He left four Important Cultural Properties in his life.
  『王昭君』』1902／山形・善寶寺
  『賢首菩薩』1907／東京国立近代美術館
  『落葉』1909／永青文庫所有・熊本県立美術館寄託
  『黒き猫』1910／永青文庫所有・熊本県立美術館寄託The exhibition is now at The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo.

  

  

Also we can find his work here☟
The Museum of Modern Ari, Ibaraki
http://www.modernart.museum.ibk.ed.jp/archive/collection/thema/izura/07.html