: - On September 1, 1923, at 11:58 am, an earthquake struck eastern
Japan with devastating force. Tokyo suffered vast damage and loss
of life. Attempts to reconstruct the metropolis were complicated
by domestic and international economic depression in the late
1920s. Ultimately, however, a vigorous rebuilding program,
particularly robust during the 1930s, virtually transformed the
city's face and patterns of life.
This fall, The Wolfsonian-Florida International University is
presenting "Tokyo: The Imperial Capital," an exhibition of
woodblock prints by Japanese artist Kishio Koizumi (1893-1945).
The exhibition runs through May 2. Koizumi captured the drama of
the rebirth of the imperial Japanese capital in the portfolio
One Hundred Pictures of Great Tokyo in the Showa Era
(Showa dai Tokyo hyakuzue), produced in installments from 1928 to
1940.
For most of the Twentieth Century Tokyo has embodied dramatic
transformations. Soon after Koizumi documented the postearthquake
renewal, Tokyo was again reshaped following World War II. These
images provide a snapshot of a city striving toward imperial
splendor.
"Only in recent years have social and art historians begun to
carefully study the art produced in Japan during the 60 or so
years of extraordinary social change between the 'reopening' to
interaction with the world in the 1860s and the debacle of the
Pacific war. Within this huge body of visual material are
fascinating indicators and clues about larger cultural and
political shifts," commented James T. Ulak, the chief curator of
the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery of the
Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., who co-curated the
show with The Wolfsonian's assistant director for exhibitions and
curatorial affairs, Marianne Lamonaca. Ulak also serves as head
of the collections and research division for the Freer and
Sackler.
"Kishio Koizumi used as his framework the well-known Nineteenth
Century print series The Hundred Views of Edo by
Hiroshige," Lamonaca explains. "But in this case he records the
period following the Great Earthquake of 1923, when Tokyo was
being rebuilt according to Westernized ideas about what a modern,
international city should be."
Through these prints he embraces the modern spirit of the times
but also maintains certain aspects of traditional Japanese
culture, she adds. "It's evident in the content, but it's also
based in the time-honored technique of printmaking. He accepts
modern amenities but insists on respecting the past." For
example, new facilities such as the Haneda International Airport
are juxtaposed with traditional structures, such as the Asakusa
Kannon Temple, whose main building was spared in the earthquake
and became a symbol of survival.
Rather than portray the actual devastation and resulting pain and
dislocation caused by the earthquake, Koizumi's prints look
forward, to a future bright with promise. Yamashita Entrance to
Ueno Park, completed in September 1931, depicts the area once
associated with the enormous refugee camp created in September
1923 to manage the displaced residents of Tokyo. Koizumi
contrasts the memory of turmoil with the peacefulness of 1931, a
time when women can walk alone at night and in Western dress.
In both of the prints, "Yamashita Entrance to Ueno Park" and
"Subway in Spring," March 1937, "we also see how women enjoyed
new freedoms in Koizumi's depictions of this newly modern city,"
Lamonaca observes. "Subway in Spring" portrays young girls
traveling to a modern department store, eager to participate in
consumer culture and unescorted by men.
"Along with the introduction of modern amenities, such as a
subway and department stores, the creation of this imperial city
included an airport and other facilities implicated in the
military buildup that led to the Second World War," Lamonaca
said.
By the time Koizumi developed Haneda International Airport in
March 1937, Japan had become an aviation powerhouse, and claimed
a substantial airplane manufacturing capacity. Military aircraft
had already been victorious in numerous excursions over China and
Manchuria.
When Koizumi produced "Army Shooting Range at Okubo" in August
1937, the China war had already started. Koizumi was so impressed
that the elite soldiers of Japan were training at such a firing
range that he wrote, "[The] sound of live fire is invigorating."
Representative of the individual artist-printmaker "s_saku hanga"
(creative print) movement that was emerging at the time, Koizumi
worked directly with the materials, actually carving the blocks
himself and making the prints. The resulting prints reveal highly
personalized interpretations of the city and its meanings.
Photographs and contemporaneous documents will complement the
print display. A catalog co-authored by Ulak, Lamonaca and
Frederic A. Sharf, collector and independent scholar, will
consider the Koizumi ensemble in the context of art history and
the social trends of the period.
The Wolfsonian-FIU, 1001 Washington Avenue, is open Monday,
Tuesday, Friday, Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm; Thursday, 11 am to 9
pm; Sunday, noon to 5 pm. For information, 305-531-1001 or visit
www.wolfsonian.org.
