CMA Exhibition Feature : Focus: The Art of Shibata Zeshin

Special Exhibitions

Unfolding Beauty


Unfolding Beauty
	Exhibition Highlights
		Highlights on View July 15 – August 12



Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891) Narihira Viewing Cherry Blossoms, late 1800s Edo-Meiji periods (1615-1912) Two-fold screen; ink, color, lacquer, and gold leaf on silk Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1981.2

Focus: The Art of Shibata Zeshin

Shibata Zeshin began learning the rigors of lacquer craft at the age of eleven in Tokyo and by the end of his life had exhibited his work in international expositions in Vienna (1875) and Philadelphia (1876).

During his career, Japan became increasingly international in outlook. Although he was little interested in Western painting techniques or subjects, Zeshin continued to flourish. He worked in an impressive variety of media and formats, both decorative and functional. Zeshin's background and rigorous training as an artisan-craftsman enabled him to understand the physical properties and potential of an assortment of materials, all of which he exploited in novel ways. This knack for innovation and a keen designer's eye distinguish his work and elevate it above that of his contemporaries.

Shibata Zeshin (1807-1891)
Narihira Viewing Cherry Blossoms, late 1800s
Edo-Meiji periods (1615-1912)
Two-fold screen; ink, color, lacquer, and gold leaf on silk
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund 1981.2

The Tales of Ise (Ise Monogatari) is one of Japan's most treasured literary classics. Composed of poems embedded among narrative stories, it forms a kind of travelogue of an unidentified courtier, traditionally thought to be Ariwara no Narihira (about AD 825— 880). In this two-fold byõbu, he is presented as an aristocratic poet seeking inspiration in a spare spring landscape.

Of special note are the materials Zeshin employed in this painting and the three separate painting styles he used to portray the courtly Narihira and his attendants, the flowering cherry tree, and the blue stream. All were applied to a gilded silk—rather than paper—surface, producing a distinctive golden hue unlike that visible in the other gilded byõbu in this exhibition.

In addition, Zeshin painted the caps of the two courtiers in black lacquer, an especially demanding technique at which he excelled. Other artisans avoided it.

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