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6/04/2014

Kogei Industrial art

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koogei, kôgei 工藝 / 工芸 Kogei, industrial art



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. Japanese Aesthetics エスセティクス - Nihon no bigaku 日本の美学 .

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The Kanazawa College of Art 金沢美術工芸大学, Kanazawa Bijutsu Kōgei Daigaku
literally Kanazawa Art and Industrial Design University
is a university in Kanazawa, Japan. It was founded in 1946 by the municipal government following the World War II. The graduate program opened in 1979.
© More in the WIKIPEDIA !

5-11-1 Kodatsuno, Kanazawa, Ishikawa 920-0942
石川県金沢市小立野5-11-1

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- quote - October 8, 2013
Major Japanese Art Exhibit
“Contemporary Kôgei Styles in Japan”
Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens





The special exhibit, “Contemporary Kôgei Styles in Japan,” is a unique collection of 90 Kôgei style contemporary artworks including ceramics, textiles, dolls, works of metal, urushi (lacquer work), wood, bamboo, and glass.

Kôgei is the Japanese original art style that requires the practical use of nature’s artistic beauty by using organic natural materials such as stone, minerals, trees, and plants. Kôgei is thought to be the backbone of Japanese industrial technology. Many people want to know about Kôgei to understand key concepts or ideas of Japanese technology.

The first Kôgei exhibit, “Crafting Beauty,” which focused on traditional arts and crafts was showcased at the world famous British Museum in 2007, followed by another exhibition in 2012 at Palazzo Pitti in Italy called “Historic Art and Crafts,” which focused on modern art.

This new exhibition, “Contemporary Kôgei Styles,” is the first of its kind in the United States. It will be the starting point for a presentation of Kôgei art worldwide.
- source : www.thebrickellian.com


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quote - Japan Times
How Japan crafted its modernization
When Japan ended its isolation in the mid-to-late-19th-century and became part of the global economy, it had lots of disadvantages compared to the other major powers. But one distinct advantage that its isolation had preserved was its craft industries and the skills of its craftsmen.

The other major powers, by industrializing earlier, had lost many of their craft industries, so the skilled hand-made products of Japan — including metalwork, lacquerware, ivory carvings and silk embroidery — had an appeal that extended far beyond mere exoticism. Known collectively in Japan as kogei, these craft arts continue today, with the best craftspeople designated as Living National Treasures.



The latest exhibition at the Mitsui Memorial Museum, “Kogei: Superlative Craftsmanship from the Meiji Period,” focuses on the initial impact these crafts had as the West got to know Japan through the skill of its artisans.

As Japan imported foreign technology and expertise in its effort to modernize, it needed to export something in return. The Japanese state turned to its craft industries, and through participation in a number of international expos it promoted the crafts while paying close attention to which items were popular with foreigners, pushing production into those areas.

At the Vienna World Exposition of 1873, for example, the highly decorative lacquerware of Zenshin Shibata was a big hit. This led the Japanese government to push the production of maki-e, lacquerware decorated with gold powder. The show includes a few examples of Shibata’s work, ranging from the muted wave pattern of “Tea caddy with blue ocean waves” to the more eye-catching “Incense container with sake bottle gourd and cherry blossoms.”

The fact that Meiji Era (1867-1912) kogei was mainly for export means that most of the best works ended up in foreign collections, although there is now a drive to reverse this through the efforts of Japanese collectors. This show is sourced from the Masayuki Murata collection of the Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum.

Because of the need to appeal abroad, one of the interesting points of consideration is the degree to which indigenous Japanese styles were adapted to suit foreign tastes, and the degree to which this fed back into domestic tastes and styles. The lacquerware of Shibata is a good example, seeming more decorative than the true Japanese taste. Some of the other pieces — including ceramics and metalwork — also seem to push in this direction.

But while some craft artists clearly upped the level of gaudy Japanese exoticism to appeal to foreign buyers, others, perhaps unsure of foreign tastes, went for a kind of hyper-realism, creating articulated metal models of animals or lifelike painted ivory facsimiles of fruits and vegetables that would impress anyone anywhere.
source : C.B. Liddell, Japan Times, June 2014

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The Kiyomizu Sannenzaka Museum 清水三年坂美術館
is the first museum in Japan to take as its permanent collection metalwork, cloisonne, makie lacquerware and Kyoto Satsuma Ware artworks of the late Edo and Meiji period.

柴田是真 Shibata Zeshin, 白山松哉 Shirayama Shosai, 川之辺一朝 Kawanobe Itcho, 赤塚自得 Akatsuka Jitoku and others.


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清水三年坂美術館は幕末、明治の金工、七宝、蒔絵、薩摩焼を常設展示する日本で初めての美術館です.
..... Even those interested in Meiji art did not value it as highly as did Westerners; therefore, expensive items made their way abroad. Only bric-a-brac remained in Japan as a result, and the value of Meiji art objects continued to decrease.
As of late Edo and Meiji, however, is the most popular form of Japanese art overseas. ..... The houses of the shogunate and daimyo employed makie artisans and metalsmiths who made furniture and weapons. Inro pillboxes and sword fittings were not only practical necessities, but also tools to show off one’s style and wealth, which is why decorative techniques became highly developed. .....
337-1 kiyomizu-sanchome sanneizaka kita-iru kiyomizudera-monzen
higashiyama-ku kyoto, 605-0862
- source : sannenzaka-museum.co.jp -


. Shibata Zeshin 柴田是真 (1806 - 1891).
his art and haiku

. Uzawa Shogetsu  鵜沢松月 .
He was a disciple of the famous Shirayama Shosai 白山松哉 1853 - 1923

川之辺一朝 Kawanobe Itcho (1831 - 1910)
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赤塚自得 Akazuka Jitoku (1871 - 1936)
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- quote -
Jizai Okimono 自在置物 Articulated iron figures of animals
TOKYO NATIONAL MUSEUM Thematic Exhibition
Jizai Okimono are realistically shaped figures of animals made from iron, copper, shibuichi (copper and silver alloy) and shakudo (copper and gold alloy). Their bodies and limbs are articulated, and can be moved like real animals. Among these ornamental figures, models of birds, fishes, snakes, lobsters, crabs and insects, as well as imaginary beings such as dragons, are common.
The bodies of the dragons can be made to undulate, and their limbs can bend and even their claws can be extended. Likewise, the birds can spread their wings and turn their heads. Typical insects include stag beetles, dragonflies and butterflies, which are able to imitate all the movements of their real life counterparts.



Among works which bear dates, the earliest known is a dragon bearing a line-engraved signature of its maker Myochin Muneaki dated 1713. This is followed by a butterfly with a line-engraved signature by craftsman Myochin Muneyasu, dated 1753. From these dates, we know that jizai okimono were already in production in the first half of the 18th century, during the middle Edo period. The Myochins were armor makers who excelled in iron forging and hammer work, and are thought to have produced these okimono (ornamental figures) in the peaceful time of the mid-Edo period.
Jizai okimono began to be exported overseas in the Meiji period (1868-1912), with the studio of Takase Kozan as their major producers. Kozan used bronze and shibuichi in addition to iron, working to make their works more realistic by using metals of different colors. We hope you enjoy discovering more about the fascinating world of metal craftsmanship, and how techniques initially used to create realistic still figures were developed to create these movable works.
- source : flickr.com/photos/sushifactory -


. Myoochin hibashi 明珍火箸 Himeji Myochin Wind Chimes .
The Myochin family manufactured armor for the Himeji feudal government.

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Meiji koogei 明治工芸 Meiji Kogei
- reference -
artistic craft 美術工芸 bijutsu kogei
Meiji No Saimitsu Kogei
The Kogei Tragedy - The Journal of Modern Craft
Modern Japanese Art and the Meiji State: The Politics of Beauty by Dōshin Satō

Namikawa Yasuyuki  並河靖之 (1845 - 1927) cloisonné artist
- - - Namikawa Cloisonne Museum in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto
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Makuzu Kozan 真葛香山 (1842-1916)  - potter
- appointed artist to the Japanese Imperial household
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Takase Torakichi (1869-1934), known as 'Takase Kozan',
- reference photos -


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Daruma becomes an item of pop art だるまがポップに変身
from Sanuki Ittobori art 讃岐一刀彫
- source : www.47news.jp

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Fudo Myo-O from tsuge wood 柘植, 26 cm high


Kai-U Kogei Kan 海宇工芸館
- source : 海宇工芸館

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. Reference - kogei Japan - .

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. Join the MINGEI group on facebook ! .  



. Regional Folk Toys from Japan .

. Japan - Shrines and Temples .


. Tohoku after the BIG earthquake March 11, 2011

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