The Fortnightly Flag
18th July 2017
WRITING AND ART ARCHAEOLOGY AND HISTORY STAGE AND SCREEN
Writing and Art
The must-see art event of this summer is the exhibition of work by the Japanese master Hokusai (1760-1849) currently at the British Museum www.britishmuseum.org
Creation is my Master
Katsushika Hokusai was born in Edo (modern Tokyo) in 1760 and died aged 90 in 1849. He often changed his professional name but was originally named Tokitaro. Apprenticed to a woodblock cutter in his teens, in 1779 he joined the studio of Katsukawa Shunsho, a leading artist in the floating world (ukiyo-e) school of art which celebrated the hedonistic pleasures of Edo and remained with him until his teacher died in 1792.
One of the early works in the exhibition 'Yuzhi and her dragon' (1798) bears a seal declaring 'Creation is my master' - Hokusai's personal affirmation of an artist's vocation.
From 1807 is a lovely painting of the Warrior hero Tamatomo exhibiting Hokusai's skill as a fantasy artist, a style that has much influenced Western fantasy art, and the energy and life he instils in his figures. It also demonstrates the hallmarks of his style, subtle colouring, a simple landscape as a background and, in this painting, a clever use of gold leaf to create the effect of autumn leaves, just dappled dabs of gold in drifts across the picture. Tamatomo's black bow stands out against the muted colours. It is just gorgeous.
In 1820 Hokusai re-invented himself as Iitsu (One Again) following the East Asian belief that at 61 a person's life-cycle begins again. His '36 Views of Mount Fuji' (there are actually more) was published in 1831 when he was in his early 70s.
He learned the use of perspective in European Art from Shiba Kokan (1747-1818). There is an example of this artist's work in the exhibition showing his introduction of European perspective into Japanese art, use of natural colour and, one of Hokusai's favourite subjects, a breaking wave. No artist comes from nowhere.
This use of perspective is in marked contrast to traditional Japanese style which shows perspective by putting different levels of viewpoint one on top of another with the most distant viewpoint at the top.
Hokusai quickly mastered the principles of European perspective and became adept at it.
'The Flower-viewing Party' (1824-26) shows how he demonstrated his skill by placing the distant garden in the lower part of the picture. There are four levels of viewpoint in this painting - the grass in the foreground, the middle distance where the figures are standing, then, clearly placed behind and below them, the garden and cherry trees with the clouds and sky beyond them. This must have seemed quite an extraordinary shift in perspective to Japanese eyes in the early 1820s.
The '36 Views' demonstrate the spare use of colour as well as Hokusai's superb technique. In 'Irises and grasshopper' the water in which the irises are growing is suggested audaciously just with a wash of Prussian blue. It is also used to represent water in the picture of the 8-plank bridge in Mikawa (1834) with unpainted paper providing the light on the water. He also cleverly uses just straight lines to suggest the horizon. At the same time, although the landscape is rendered with such simplicity, the figures, which are tiny, are each drawn as individuals in fine detail. It's a real tour de force and, for me, another favourite.
He worked with his daughter Oi, who was a fine painter in her own right. A lovely scroll of chrysanthemums caught my eye, beautifully detailed and richly decorative.
I bought the book published in conjunction with the exhibition, 'Hokusai: Beyond the Great Wave' edited by Timothy Clark, published by Thames and Hudson www.thamesandhudson.com and the British Museum www.britishmuseum.org. It's a tad expensive at £35 (and heavy) but chock-full of wonderful illustrations comprehensively researched and will make a great addition to your Art Book collection or start one off.
Archaeology and History
Exciting New Finds at Vindolanda
A new hoard of Ancient Roman writing tablets has been found at the Roman fort of Vindolanda on Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland. It consists of around 25 Roman ink documents on wooden writing tablets (letters, lists and personal correspondence). The fragile, wafer-thin pieces of wood about the size of modern postcards were found during the excavation of a small area of the site three metres in length. They are likely to represent part of an archive from the late 1st century AD. Some of the letters are complete and had partial or whole confronting pages. This is where the pages are protected by the back of adjoining pages and are the most exceptional discoveries providing the greatest chance of the ink writing being preserved.
The first Vindolanda tablets were discovered by Robin Birley in 1973. These documents are the very personal accounts of the residents of the fort, mostly written before the construction of Hadrian's Wall in cAD120. They form the most important archive of Roman writing from north-western Europe, a discovery that has revolutionised our understanding of life on the frontier of the Roman Empire.
More information and photographs can be found on the website at www.vindolanda.com/pressrelease
Twitter: @VindolandaTrust
Facebook: @thevindolandatrust
Stage and Screen
The Royal Court Theatre (@royalcourt) has announced its new season in which two thirds of writers and directors are women. Compare this with when I started as a playwright in 1979 when you could have counted us all with your fingers and toes. This is an enormous improvement. (Cheers) Having said that the Royal Court has never put on any of my plays. (Boo! Chiz! Shame etc.)
Alan Ayckbourn's #The Divide will play at the Old Vic Theatre (www.oldvictheatre.com) from 30 Jan - 10 Feb following its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Festival (@edinfest
The Divide is a tale that unflinchingly explores a dystopian society of repression, insurrection and forbidden love. It is directed by Annabel Bolton, an Associate Director of The Old Vic.
The play is set in the aftermath of a deadly contagion which a century from now has decimated the English population and rendered contact between men and women fatal. Under the dictates of an elusive Preacher an unthinkable solution is enforced. Separated by The Divide, the adult survivors are segregated by gender. Men wear white as a mark of their purity and the still-infected women wear black as a mark of their sin.
It's a far cry from Alan Ayckbourn's signature Middle England comedies. It will be interesting to see what he makes of the subject and, please note, another woman director.
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