Queensland Art Gallery Presscuttings Book 10 : Record of press coverage, March 1982 - May 1984

8-9 May 1982 ARTS A nation defined by I MAGES or the !lo- their origin., · In China, atln,c world 1uki110- the prime example being eJ, beautiful women the Ideographic form of (biiin-ga), classic .por- wr!Ung, they developed celalns the calm 80 _ quite dlatlnctlve and In- , dependent character- Jenmlty of the tea cer- !sties In the Island archl– emony and Zen cal- pelago. llgraphy are a far cry_ The very fact that the from the familiar Ima- ellhlbltlon Japan: Mtu– ges of modern Japan - terpteces of the /dl!mll.!u fri:netlc Industry, tlw Col/ecllon Is the first concentrated fluores- major exhibition or Jap– cence of the Olnza, a anesc art to be held In million motorcycles Australia Is testimony to and a plethora of tech- our ambivalent, perhaps nologlcal parapher- even confused, attitudes nalla. towards Japan. With the emphatic presence of Japan In to– day's world It Is easy to overlook that country's historical and cultural traditions which seem so at variance with he r contemporary Images. In addition, the art and c~re or Japan arc so ott11n ~rrn ns nuin• ,•x– tenslons to thos~ of mainland Asia, and China In MJtlcular. This view has an element of truth, but that Is all, for whilst many or Japan's cultural and artistic traditions ma.v ~ 1'-<I_', What Is certain L, that our current views are to– tally dominated by Ja– pan's overwhelming eco– nomic presencr and !or the most part we remain blissfully unaware of the cultural and historical traditions that have for– med the Japanrsc char– acter. The visual and decora– tive arts painting, cal– ligraphy, ceramics, lac– quer and metalwork, represent . various aspect.a of that cultural character. In almost all cases the origin& to these traditions· lle out- By EDMUND CAPON, Director of the Art Gallery of New South Wales side Japan and ultl– mately In China, often having been transmltt.i:d to Japan via the Korean peninsula which, either by regular Japanese as– saults from the 12th cen– tury on, or Invasion (such as In the !Cth cen– tury) or peaceful tnid– lng, had been a constant point of contact between Japan and China. Buddlsm, Cor example, was transmitted to Japan through Korea In the 6th century and yet even such a purely Ico– nographic artistic tradi– tion achieved a distinc– tive style In Japan which distinguished It from those or the mainland. Thr. 14th century paint– ing of Amlda Buddha lo I.le included In the exhib– ition, whilst based on 12th and 13th century Chinese prototypes, Is dlstlncUvely Japanese In Its fine line. colors and use of gold·. In the graphic arts the earllst example to be In- that for the concept or bujl was commented upon as early as the 8th century whrn it wa ldcn– tlflcd with mushln or "no-mindedness - no mind In work. no work in mind". Zen theology w,~, principally concerned with the seeking or en– lightenment through ex– perience and the manl– fcst.atlon of Zen thought In nrt, whether It be painting, calligraphy, poetry or music Inevita– bly cmbodies the ob– scure and the l11tan1rlblc. Any Zen rxprcsslon ls ultimately explicit but It ls by nature lmprrclse. 'Beauty UavirnJ a S1110/w' by Utayarvu To11okuni (1769-18250. · - Gnee again lhr ortir111s of Zen llr In China. Dur– ing thr Song dynasty (10Lh-12th centuries) 111 South Cluna a diMlnc- eluded In the exhibition seeml11gly spontaneous also perhaps best chn- but finely controlled on racterlsea qualities of gold-flecked dccordnted the Japanese ethic. It 13 paper. The text Is n a page of calllgrnphy, poem by Kl-no– ~tten In tl\e-early 12th Tsurnyukl (9th-10th crn– ~~ury Iµ the native tury), one of thr Thirty J~ese kana scrlr,t. · Six Immortal P0t•Ls. Anothrr. 111d rf'lalf•d. expression fo LIH• Japa– nese nestlu•tlc may lw seen in cxamplr s of Zc11 calll11raphy nnd in par– ticular In thr work of thr monk Olbon Srn11al (1750-1837). Th,• very lln1t work ul 1 rt nc– qulrcd by the latr Saw ldemli.su . foundrr of lhr !demit.au Kos1111 Com– pany ( one or J 11pa11·s largest oll and 1•1H'rgy companies) and loundrr or the IdcmlLsu Museum In Tokyo, wrLs n pal11tlng by Sen11al. Embodying ~hc-~n paradox al brev– ity In execution bUb com- 1,lexlty in co11ten~• ta Utl3 simple two r.haracter callllll'aphy scroll which readi ·bu/1, llternlly "no event" or "no matter". However, the lnt.crpreta– Uon Ls not rLS simple ILS tiV<'. conlf,zn11l11t1v,• school of Duddisrn devel– oped which wu.s lrss con– cerned with adhering to thr lorrnnl Iconographic traditions of the Bud– dhist church and sought LO relaLr that Ideology LO the human f'Xpcrit 1 ncr and In partlcular tlw hunuu1 t'KJH'ricncc rr– latrd through philoso– phy. art nnd llteratun• Zen thus tx-cnmc 11101'1' of I\ philosophy. manll– csti n.: Its thoughts and idNLis not through Icons but through Intense!)' p,•rsonnl artistic expn•s– slon. Perhaps tile most rr•adlly ldN1tlllablr form or th visual nrts of Japan ls the loldln~ scrrrn or b11obu . Onl'r agaln the origins of the folding scree JI, ru a .,crv– lce&ble dlvld,t!r' of ~pnc,·s 't'hether to · 'pro~de n room or within a i;pom. lie In China. Qu(; once again too. the concept developed In Jnp1m nnd bcc11me n distinctive and Lotnllv ldrntlflnble trlldl-