The Bowers Museum Displays Japanese Masterpieces fromThe Price Collection

Written by Martin Wainwright Friday, 17 June 2011 22:00

Santa Ana, CA.– More than one million viewers have already flocked to experience the re-discovered Japanese painting masterpieces from the Joe and Etsuko Price Collection at the Bowers Museum. Because of the wealth of art in the collection, the exhibition had to be split into 2 parts, with the second part of "Masterpieces from the Price Collection" on view from June 18th through July 10th. The exhibition includes 26 sets of screen and scroll paintings by artists Nagasawa Rosetsu, Katsu Jagyoku, Maruyama Okyo, Mori Sosen, Isoda Koryusai, Sakai Hoitsu, Suzuki Kiitsu, Nakano Kimei, Yamaguchi Soken, Goshun and Matsumura Keibun, Yoshimura Kokei, Katayama Yokoku, Kitagawa Kikumaro, Katsukawa Shun’ei and Suzuki Shuitsu.

The exhibition provides a unique opportunity to survey the paintings of the top artists of Japan’s Edo period (1603-1868) - painters who are considered unconventional and eccentric in their approach to painting during their lifetimes. Now celebrated for their daring wit, exuberant luxuries, and their individualistic expressions of the natural world, these artists of Edo period Japan have been credited as the masters of their time, and more recently as the inspiration for the contemporary painting movement known as Superflat and the Japanese sensation of Anime. Art and culture flourished during the Edo period, a time when both artists and the samurai revered the use of unwavering precision. Be it by brush or blade, execution came with a single stroke. The Edo period saw the rise of a great warrior class called samurai. Samurai built their capital and named it Edo - modern day Tokyo. They greatly influenced the arts, preferring paintings that glittered with gold and presented subject matter that embraced the Japanese heritage of the past and rejected the Chinese influences that had dominated art making, in particular the iconographic art of ancient Buddhism and the severe canons of Zen aesthetics. The order to close their sea ports severed relations with the outside world and created a state of isolation and seclusion for the Japanese people. In this atmosphere, artists freely explored and experimented with the arts of the past, art unique to their own heritage and free from the foreign principles once so stringently adhered to. In content and style, the art of the Edo is purely Japanese.

Mori Sosen (1747-1821) was a master at painting monkeys.  His extreme talent is noticeable in "Monkey and Wasp", a drama between a capricious monkey so tensed that even its muscles seem visible under its fine fur, and its toes curled tightly with anticipation of catching a taunting wasp flying high above. Sosen demonstrates here that he is not only a master of fine brush stroke, but also a virtuoso at the art of wordplay. The Japanese word for “wasp” sounds like the word for “fiefdom,” and “monkey” sounds like “lord.”  Combining these words embodies the idea of the good fortune of being granted land from a lord. Sosen here allows room for symbolic play: will the monkey ever grasp the wasp? If he does will he get stung? The courtesan and her private world are the subject of several paintings. Outfitted in flowing robes, painted faces and fashionable hairstyles, these beauties are irresistible to admire. In "Courtesan in Snow" by Isoda Koryusai (b. 1735), a beautiful courtesan braves the cold as she stands beneath snow-covered bamboo branches. Though the hints of her red undergarments are difficult to ignore, it is the translucent garment she delicately drapes around her body and over her head to shield herself from the snow that demonstrates the immense talent of Koryusai. The flesh of two massive animals spills out onto the floor from "Bull" and "Elephant" by Nagasawa Rosetsu (1754-1799). On two opposing six-paneled screens, Rosetsu juxtaposes the animals and plays with the contrast between black and white and small and large, pairing black crows with the enormous white elephant, and a tiny white puppy with a robust black bull. The Buddhist symbol of mental and physical strength, as well as patience and wisdom, is the elephant. The bull is a symbol of unruliness, turbulent temperament, and masculine strength bows its head in submission to the elephant. Rosetsu’s message: peace tames chaos. Nature served as an inexhaustible amount of inspiration for the artists in this exhibition, which demonstrates the essence of nature by appealing to viewers’ senses.


Suzuki Kiitsu (1796-1858) applied unwavering lines using a single stroke of the brush to give a shell of a clam its ribs and leaves its veins in "Seashells and Plums". The objects in his paintings defy gravity, like a white egret with wings stretched in flight, seemingly suspended in space and time in "Egret and Willow". It is precisely the space between objects, and the flatness to his work that employs sensation of leaves fluttering amongst clam shells and a bird soaring on a hot and windless summer day. In the set of hanging scrolls, "Paulownia and Maple", Kiitsu allows viewers to observe how something as subtle as mist or as inescapable as a downpour of rain transforms nature. These sensitive observations of nature are easy to identify with. Patience awakens the senses. "Zhongkui Fighting Dragon" by Katsukawa Shun’ei (1762-1819) commands attention. Shun’ei, who painted mostly actors and sumo wrestlers, depicts the legendary Zhongkui battling a fierce dragon. He wears his characteristic black court official’s hat and long boots, and his dramatic demeanor is similar to that of a kabuki actor print. The Japanese believe Zhongkui could fight off plague-bearing demons, and images of the legendary figure are hung in homes on Children’s Day, the fifth day of the fifth month, to protect the children from this evil.

The Joe and Etsuko Price Collection is the result of a deep admiration for the mastery of skill he found in certain paintings. It is a collection uninhibited by outside teachings, a collection of what he loved -- not what he should buy. Above all, the beauty of nature and an artist’s ability to capture the essence of his subjects has driven the collection. What he calls his subordination to nature was instilled in him as a young man through a strong friendship with architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who taught Price to appreciate the growth and structure of things. The Price’s generosity has allowed parts of the collection to travel to many of the world’s greatest museums.  “I want everyone to examine the differences between the great masters, their gifted students, and those that, in the process of learning, attempted to copy their works. The Etsuko and Joe Price Collection is not intended to be seen as just a collection – it hopefully should be an experience.”

Founded in 1936 by the City of Santa Ana through a bequest from Charles and Ada Bowers, the Bowers Museum is one of California's finest and Orange County's largest museums. In 1986, the museum closed its doors for a period of self-study. In response to community needs and input, it reopened in 1992 as a new cultural center, and expanded children's programming in 1994 with the opening of the Kidseum. The museum also recently celebrated the grand opening of the 30,000+ square-foot Dorothy and Donald Kennedy Wing in February 2007. To achieve its mission, the Bowers offers exhibitions, lectures, art classes, travel programs, children's art education programs, and other special community programs. The Bowers is proud to be honored by the local community and recognized by world-renowned museums and industry professionals as a cultural center that exemplifies excellence in its field. Evidence of program quality and distinctiveness includes being voted "The Best Museum in Orange County" by the readers of The Orange County Register for 14 consecutive years. The Bowers is accredited by the American Association of Museums, an honor only 5% of museums receive. In the past 15 years the museum has produced more than 50 special exhibitions (many of which traveled nationally or internationally), published more than 24 exhibition catalogues and increased its facility size from 7,000 square feet to its current size of 93,000+ square feet. Visit the museum's website at ... http://www.bowers.org

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