ARTIFACTS

Since the late 19th century, Japanese art has been schizophrenically split into yoga (Western-style) and nihonga (Japanese-style). The latter arose as a self-conscious response to the inroads of the former. Nevertheless, when nihonga took up the challenge of Western art, it was unable to avoid borrowing some of its ideas, most notably the romantically inflated concept of the “divine” artist. But instead of Michelangelo or van Gogh, nihonga found its role models in the elite artist/craftsmen of the Rinpa school. The Yamatane Museum of Art’s exhibition What Did Nihonga Learn from Rinpa? uses 50 mainly large works to look at echoes of the school in the works of 20th-century nihonga artists. Particularly worth seeing is Kaii Higashiyama’s vast seascape Rising Tide and Gyoshu Hayami’s Falling Camellias. Through Dec 25. See exhibition listings (Ginza/ Kyobashi/ Tokyo) for details. CBL Giveaway! Metropolis is offering readers ten free tickets to “What Did Nihonga Learn from Rinpa?” For your chance to see this excellent exhibition, email the following information by Wednesday, December 17, to editor@metropolis.co.jp: 1. Name; 2. Address; 3. Age; 4. Home country; 5. Last exhibition you visited Include the text “Nihonga” in the subject line. Winners will be selected at random.

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561-2: Fluxus: Art Into Life 560: Christopher Wool 559: Pop Art and co. 558: Art & Money 557: Art of the Japanese Postcard 556: Yayoi Kusama: Eternity-Modernity 555: Ihei Kimura: The Man with the Camera 554: Wolfgang Tillmans: Freischwimmer 553: Emerging Generation 552: Larry Clark: Punk Picasso 551: Cool & Light: New Spirit in Craft Making 550: Angelo Mangiarotti: Un Percorso 549: Endo Akiko: Poetry of an Everlasting Life 548: Paris and Klein 547: Yoshitomo Nara: From the Depth of My Drawer 546: Colors: Viktor & Rolf & KCI 545: Micro Presence & Macro Presence 544: Non-sect Radical: Contemporary Photography III 543: Pastoral and Flowers in Modern French Painting 542: Collapsing Histories: time, space and memory 541: Supernatural Artificial 540: Jiro Takamatsu: Universe of His Thought 539: The World Press Photo 2004 538: I Dreamt of Flying: Noguchi Rika 537: Man Ray Exhibition: The Gift of His Vision 536: Why Not Live For Art? 535: Brazil: Body Nostalgia 534: n_ext: New Generation of Media Artists 533: Empty Garden II 532: Street Art in Africa: A Color Commotion 531: Modern Crafts and Design from the Museum Collection: Art Deco 530: And or Versus? : Adventures in Images 529: Modern Means 528: Remaking Modernism in Japan 1900-2000 527: Treasures of a Sacred Mountain: Kukai and Mount Koya 526: Jan Jansen: Master of Shoe Design 525: Yasuo Kuniyoshi: Between Two Worlds 524: Beyond The Border: Seung H-Sang and Yung Ho Chnag 523: Testimony of Life: Ancient Roman Portraits from the Vatican Museums 522: I Love Art 521: "My" Siberia and "My" Earth: The 30 Year Memorial Retrospective Exhibition of Yasuo Kazuki 520: Time of My Life: Art with a Youthful Spirit 519: Joy of Life: Two Photographers from Africa-JD 'Okhai Ojeikere and Malick Sidibé 518: Roppongi Crossing: New Visions in Japanese Art 2004+Kusamatrix 517: Exposition Musee Marmottan Monet 516: Treasures of a Great Zen Temple: Nanzenji 515: Johannes Itten: Ways to Art 514: Meiji Kaigakan (Memorial Picture Gallery) 513: Kaii Higashiyama: One Man's Path 512: Future Cinema: The Cinematic Imaginary after Film 511: Yasujiro Ozu: Japanese Film Master 509/10: End-of-the-year review and 2004 preview 508: Surface tension 507: Jean Nouvel 506: Makoto Aida: My Ken Ten 505: Gaudi: Exploring Form 504: Ino Tadataka and Old Maps of Japan/Fusuma Paintings of Jukoin 503: Naoshima Contemporary Art Museum 502: Happiness: A Survival Guide for Art and Life 501: Today's Man 500: Taro Shinoda: Helicopter 1 Issues 499- Issues 449- Issues 399-

By Jeff Michael Hammond

Testimony of Life: Ancient Roman Portraits from the Vatican Museums

Chiaramonti Caesar (Julius Caesar), c. 30-20 B.C., marble, 56x19x26cm

A mirror vendor pitching his wares, a sculptor working on a portrait, and a skilled carpenter making a table leg. Creating a permanent record of people’s professions was just one of the uses the ancient Romans had for sculpture. But all work and no play makes Julius a dull boy—or Juliana a dull girl, for that matter. Prevailing fashions, hairstyles and ornamentation of the day also caught the sculptor’s eye.

These are just some of the subjects of ancient Roman portrait sculpture in “Testimony of Life,” currently showing at The National Museum of Western Art in Ueno. The exhibition is divided into six parts, with the first, “Birth of Portraiture,” comparing early Roman sculpture with Hellenistic Greek and Etruscan examples. While the majority of Roman works in the exhibition were rendered in smooth white marble, here you can see a few Etruscan portraits of young boys made from earthy, red terracotta.

Bust portrait of Manilia Hellas, c. 110-120 A.D., marble, 59x34x21cm

The Etruscan portraits are naturalistically represented, but a Roman marble copy (c. 120-130 B.C.) of a Greek sculpture of the philosopher Bias looking wise and stern illustrates the Greek concern for trying to grasp the ideal beyond mere physical resemblances.

This style was to influence the Roman artistic tradition, which can be seen in many of the sculptures in the “Symbol of the Empire” section, where renderings of Julius Caesar, Augustus and Trajan allow us to put faces to some familiar names.

The section “Mode in the Antiquity” highlights the elaborate coiffures and wigs that adorned the crowns of Rome’s most distinguished women. One of these, named Manilia Hellas, is topped with artificial braids running from ear to ear that stand up rigid and resemble hair bands.
Her natural hair carefully covers the frame of the wigs to make this artifice look like the work of nature. Also on display here are various hairpins, vases and unguentaria, small vials for holding perfumed oils or cosmetic lotions to beautify the living but also often put in tombs as gifts for the deceased.

Mosaic portrait of Simplicia Rustica, mid-4th century A.D. , mosaic, 64 x 64cm

Death, then, leads into the next section, “Portraiture and Eternity,” which looks at some images that the Romans left behind for posterity. In contrast to Christian tomb imagery familiar to us today—arms crossed and formal—a full-body sculpture (c.120-130 AD) from the tomb of the liberated slave Claudia Semne portrays her as Venus sleeping, casually reclining as though taking an afternoon nap. The soft curves of the drapery contrast well with a bust, also on display, of the same woman in life—upright and proud. Both of these sculptures were commissioned after her death by her husband who, like many liberated slaves, was actually quite rich.

The last section, “The End of Ancient Portraiture,” looks at the impact of the newly sanctioned religion of Christianity on Roman imagery. A mosaic portrait shows the wife of Fl. Iulius Iulianus holding her hands up and out to her sides—a common early Christian form of devotion.

The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo Until May 30. 7-7 Ueno-Koen, Taito-ku. Tel. 03-5777-8600. Open Tue-Sun (except May 3 and when national holidays fall on Mon). Adm: Adults ¥1,300, students ¥900, children under 15 free (taped guides are available for ¥500, in Japanese only). Nearest stn: Ueno, park exit. www. nmwa.go.jp

Photos courtesy of Governatorato S.C.V./all rights reserved