THE PROPERTY OF A NATION

At the present time an exhibition of works by Japanese artists called "Sharaku  Interpreted by Japan's Contemporary Artists" is taking place at Azerbaijan's National Museum of Fine Arts. The exhibition, organised on the initiative of the Japanese Embassy in Azerbaijan and the Japan Fund,focuses on the inseparable link between the artists of the past and those of the present. The exposition is therefore divided into three main themes: "Reproductions of Sharaku", "Sharaku in Graphic Art" and "Respect for Sharaku". Respect for the Country of the Rising Sun is not just presented in a formal, conventional way, but as a monument which is organically interwoven with the life of 21st-century Japanese.

A bit of history

The works of Toshusai Sharaku [operational in 1794-95] were developed at the end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuriesand coincided with the Edo period. This was the period in which the following things happened: the coming into being of the spirit of the Japanese; the conception of the Japanese national identity; the development of the economy and the bureaucratic apparatus; it coincided with the period of the Golden Age in Japanese literature and poetry; the dawn of the Kabuki theatre, the humorous stories, as well as the Golden Age of the colourful ukiyo-e engravings. This trend in Japan's fine arts was opposed by quite a few of those samurai who were attached to the old monochrome engravings. Sharaku has gone down in the history of Japanese fine art as a master of coloured engravings in the ukiyo-e genre (this translates as "floating world", and is more commonly known as the images of the changeable world). Pictures of everyday life are characteristic of ukiyo-e. Sumo wrestlers, geishas and Kabuki actors are depicted in the engravings.

With time the engravings began to be printed as separate works and posters for the Kabuki theatre. But nothing lasts for ever, and ukiyo-e gradually went out of fashion. Photography replaced this genre. But the genre which was no longer topical in Japan, became extremely popular in Western Europe and America. These engravings were a source of inspiration to European artists working in the styles of cubism (Juan Gris andPabloPicasso), impressionism (Claude Monet, EdgarDegas, and Alfred Sisley) and post-impressionism (VincentVan Gogh,Paul] Gauguin, and Paul Cezanne). The influence exercised by this art form has gone down in the history of world fine arts as Japonisme.

Sharaku's reproductions. A hymn to Kabuki

Sharaku's theatrical engravings are not just historical testimonies to the epoch, preserving in time the personalities of people, who left this life long ago. These are a frozen moment in time which displayed to the world an amazing invention of the Japanese, namely the Kabuki theatre. What exactly is Kabuki? In modern Japanese it is used to define a certain type of drama. This is Japan's traditional theatre, which is a combination of singing, music, dancing and drama. The art of Kabuki was always the preserve of certain families. Taught from early childhood, it is difficult, intense work, requiring that the child gives himself up to it fully. A great deal of time is spent on the poses, gestures, movements, the voice, the singing, and the declamation. Hours may be spent mastering the expressiveness of the gestures. Enormous mastery is needed to achieve a spectacular performance of Kabuki. This skilful art is passed down from father to son. Each family retains certain roles, which means they always play a certain theatrical type. This art form was always a family affair.

It was not until 1969 that a special centre was set up where those who were not related to a traditional acting dynasty could study this art form. One way of learning the art of Kabuki is to become an apprentice to one of the Kabuki actors. The students at the centre and those who have started on the training take lessons in Kabuki-style declamation, voice training, putting on stage make-up, dancing, body movements, playing musical instruments, learning to wear women's costumes, since for 400 years now men have always played all the parts in this theatre. The successes and achievements of Kabuki actors are marked with the ??? People's Respect Prize and the title of Living National Treasure of Japan.

In the reproductions the faces of actors are depicted, who were Sharaku's contemporaries. The male actors are wearing women's and men's costumes. You can see the make-up, the costumes and the poses. The artist has captured them in a moment of their emotional interaction, in an instant of life, an instant of history. This is evidence of the professional life and blossoming of the Kabuki theatre. There is a triptych here featuring sumo wrestlers. They are hardly any different from 21st-century sumo wrestlers. They are just large people carrying a lot of weight. They are wearing the same type of bands tied round their hips… or perhaps we just think they are.

Graphic art

Eleven of the contemporary Japanese artists, paying tribute to the cultural heritage and traditions of the ukiyo-e genre, are creating their own versions of the subject matter used by Sharaku at one time. The lines and colourful rhythms in Sharaku's engravings stimulate the imagination of modern artists and designers who are creating their own works, as if paraphrasing the ukiyo-e genre and expressing it in a modern format. The works of their Japanese ancestors form a point of departure from which they manifest their own individual styles, setting out their own views in their quest for a method of self-expression. It is as if the artists are having a dialogue with the master through the depths of the ages. Almost all the works which are on display for the residents of Baku to see were created for this exhibition. So, Sharaku is the main personage in this exhibition, which, while on tour round different countries, reveals the Golden Age in the fine art of Japan's past and the potential of the present, which is drawing support from the past. There was a time when the art of Sharaku "awakened" the artists of Europe. And then it returned from Europe to Japan to reveal to the Japanese what they had not managed to spot at close quarters. Then the interest in the mysterious personality of Sharakuwas awakened with fresh force. 

Respect for Sharaku

Nothing arouses interest more than secrets, than what remains unsaid or gentle hints. Today, in acting as a "mediator" between the past and the present, Sharakucontinues to be a mysterious personality, just as in his lifetime, perhaps now even more than during his lifetime. According to one version, ToshusaiSharaku was actually aNoh theatre actor in disguise, living in the city of Edo (Tokyo) and painting portraits of the Kabuki actors. But this is just one version. The work of the German art historian Julius Kurt, which was also called "Sharaku" became a real sensationin the West. This happened in 1910 and spurred a re-appraisal of the artist's work in Japan. He was recognised as an outstanding ukiyo-e artist both in Japan and throughout the world.

The theory about "another" Sharaku is very popular in Japan. It suggests that Sharaku is only a pseudonym, used by two popular artists at the end of the 18th and the beginning of the 19th century, so as to have the opportunity to work in this genre for some time without being noticed, since the genre had not received any particular recognition from the samurai, but then became popular with the city dwellers of Edo. Tokyo's residents could not afford to buy the pictures, but were able to acquire the engravings or little books illustrated with the engravings. But this theory only remains a nice story. It is similar to what happened to us with regard to who wrote the works of  [20th-century Russian writer Mikhail]Sholokhov or to the English with regard to the authorship of Shakespeare. All these identity theories just whip up greater interest in the name of the Japanese artist Toshusai Sharaku, whose works are scattered around museums in Europe and America. Only a small part of Sharaku's works featuring the portraits of actors are kept in the Tokyo National Museum and have the status of "important cultural property", of the property of the nation.