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Kamisaka SEKKA
(Japan 1866–1942)
- Title
- Momoyo-gusa: Ichi
- Alternative title:
- World of things: vol.1
- Place of origin
-
Japan
- Period
- Meiji period 1868 - 1912 → Japan
- Year
- 1909
- Media categories
- Print, Book
- Materials used
- folded book: 23 leaves, 20 prints, colour woodcut
- Dimensions
-
29.7 x 22.2cm leaf; 29.9 x 22.4 x 2.0cm closed book; 29.7 x 44.5cm open book:
a - [poem]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; text; leaf a and leaf b
b - [table of contents]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; text; verso leaf b and leaf c
c - Momoyo-gusa [Momoyo flowers]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf c and leaf d
d - Nokiba no ume [A plum tree at the eaves]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf d and leaf e
e - Kuroki uri [A maple tree seller]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf e and leaf f
f - Gyoson [A fishing village]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf f and leaf g
g - Kasugano [Kasuga plain]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf g and leaf h
h - Yayoi [March]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf h and leaf i
i - Tatsunami [High waves]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf i and leaf j
j - Fukami-gusa [Peonies]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf j and leaf k
k - Yatsu-hashi [Eight folded bridge]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf k and leaf l
l - Tsuta [Ivy]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf l and leaf m
m - U-no-hana (Deutzias); 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf m and leaf n
n - Tadanori (A warrior drawing); 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf n and leaf o
o - Fuji [Mt Fuji]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf o and leaf p
p - Suehiro (A folding fan); 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf p and leaf q
q - Asagao [Morning glories]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf q and leaf r
r - Hakuhô [A white pheonix]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf r and leaf s
s - Sato no yuki [Snow in the countryside]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf s and leaf t
t - Nomiya (A No actor with a mask); 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf t and leaf u
u - Shirasagi [A white egret]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf u and leaf v
v - Secchû no take [Bamboo in snow]; 29.7 x 44.5cm; image; verso leaf v and leaf w
w - [Dates of printing, publication, aritst's name and; 29.7 x 44.5cm; text; verso leaf w
- Signature & date
- Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- Purchased with the assistance of the Sidney Myer Fund 1991
- Accession number
- 176.1991.1.a-w
- Location
- Not on display
- Further information
Kamisaka Sekka is considered to be one of Japan’s most significant artists, designers and art instructors of the first half of the 20th century. The three-volume 'A world of things' (Momoyo-gusa) is generally recognised as marking the pinnacle of Sekka’s design career.
Each volume contains 20 images appropriated from the established Rinpa repertoire, and inspired by Chinese/Japanese legend and folklore: irises, the Thunder god, plum blossoms, deer in autumnal settings, the moon behind waves, the maid of Ōhara and the Chrysanthemum boy, to name but a few. Sekka represents them as crisp, clear shapes defined by areas of opaque, brilliant aniline dyes that are captured from unconventional vantage points. In this way, he successfully re-enlivens these well-worn images and imbues them with a modern touch.The title 'Momoyo-gusa’ is taken from a poem by Nobuyuki (dates unknown), which is reproduced on the first page of volume one:
At first, it was the beauty of the
cherry blossoms.
Now, as I grow older, the flowers of
a hundred worlds (momoyogusa)
leave seeds in my heart.Momoyo-gusa is a poetic name for the chrysanthemum, an autumnal flower. It is enlisted in the above verse as a contrastive note to the cherry blossoms of spring and in turn becomes a comparison of youth with old age. In his title cartouche for the album, the eminent Meiji-era painter and calligrapher Tomioka Tessai (1837-1924) sets up a word play by writing the Japanese character for ‘one hundred’ twice, making it thus ‘flowers of ten-thousand worlds’ or ‘a world of myriad things’.
Kamisaka Sekka: A dawn of modern Japanese design, AGNSW 2012, pg 142.
- Bibliography (3)
-
'Inspired by Sekka' by Ann Macarthur, pg.28, Look Jun 2012, Jun 2012, 28 (colour illus.). This is an image of part k, Yatsu-hashi [Eight folded bridge]
Khanh Trinh (Editor), Kamisaka Sekka: dawn of modern Japanese design, Sydney, 2012, 142-151 (colour illus.). cat.no. 82
AJIOKA Chiaki (Japan) (Curator), Heroes and villains: from Japan's floating world, Sydney, May 2001, 6. cat.no. 1.8
- Exhibition history (2)
-
Heroes and Villains, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 19 May 2001–19 Aug 2001.
Kamisaka Sekka - Dawn of modern Japanese design, Art Gallery of New South Wales, 21 Jun 2012–26 Aug 2012.
