Recently, thanks to the power cuts caused by the damage to the Fukushima nuclear reactors, many of us have been rediscovering exactly what light is again. Instead of something to be taken for granted, unvarying and instantly available at the flick of a switch, it has once again become altogether more tentative, vacillating, and mysterious. Such a reawakening to the subtle qualities of non-electric light is the best preparation for the exhibition now on at the National Museum of Western Art: "Rembrandt: The Quest for Chiaroscuro."
Rembrandt (1606-1669) is one of those painters who frequently disappoint the young and inexperienced. Attracted by what is one of the greatest reputations in art, modern audiences are often baffled by his canvases, which can seem dull and tenebrous, populated as they are by puffy, sombre-faced figures, almost cloaked in shadows. In this age of electric effulgence, the twilight world created at the end of Rembrandt's brush seems somehow funereal.
A casual look at this exhibition is likely to reinforce this negative impression as the show mixes a couple of early unsightly apprentice pieces and a handful of better paintings with around 100 black and white prints made by the artist.