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Special Exhibition - Kamisaka Sekka's Momoyogusa Volume 3
''Kamisaka Sekka was a genius; effortlessly, prodigiously, boundlessly
imaginative, spontaneous, and free'' (Roger Keyes, Ehon, The Artist and
the Book in Japan at . 240). In 2006, the New York Public Library's
exhibition of the three volume set ''A World of Things'' created a
sensation among book and print collectors for its joyful and free
rendering of images from everyday life and surrounding nature. During
his working life and until he retired in 1938, Sekka was influential
in the Kyoto art world where he taught, edited magazines, founded art
groups, and accepted commissions for paintings. Sekka died in 1942
and his work was seemingly forgotten among westerners until Jack
Hillier revived interest in the artist's work in the 1970's. Hillier
devoted several pages in ''The Art of the Japanese Book, vol II'' to
Sekka and the Neo Rimpa manner in decorative arts.
Hillier writes ''Looking at these startling creations, we may well ask:
was Sekka aware of the affront that his printers were offering to the
shades of Koetsu, Korin and Hoitsu, or was he simply excited by the
new dimension that Chemicals presented to him, intending to shock his
audience into a second glance at designs that might otherwise pass
unnoticed as rehashed Rimpa? (Hillier, The Art of the Japanese Book,
Vol. II at 975) We invite you to decide.
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MicroCreations