Linda Inoki - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

Meta

Linda Inoki

For Linda Inoki's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

CULTURE / Art

Sep 24, 2000

The powerful influence of Japan

Western artists of the mid-19th century were both entranced and distracted by their turbulent times. Many sought fresh ways to see the world around them, "savoir voir" as distinct from "savoir faire."

COMMUNITY

Jun 29, 2000

Fresh ideas keep old traditions alive

"A hundred people must have told me it was impossible," said Sarah Cummings as we sipped sake in the stylish Kurabu restaurant in the village of Obuse.

CULTURE / Art

Jun 18, 2000

Japan's premier graphic designer revisited

One of the most striking aspects of city life in Japan is the bold use of graphics: Posters and magazines continually shout for our attention on busy trains and streets. Artistically, we see the good, the bad and the ugly, but the work of Japan's first great graphic designer was consistently impressive.

CULTURE / Art

Jun 4, 2000

Victorian passion, Pre-Rafaelite dreams

In postwar Britain the reputation of high Victorian art fell to an all-time low, and a Pre-Raphaelite painting of Ophelia sold in 1950 for a paltry 20 pounds. Times have changed; this summer auctioneers will sell the same painting for around 2 million pounds.

CULTURE / Art

May 7, 2000

Jewels of the printmaker's art

"I call these my jewels," said Joanna H. Schoff, as we bent to catch a gleam of silver in the softly lit museum. Treasures indeed, but instead of the brilliance of diamonds we were looking at far gentler beauties: rare gems of Japanese printmaking from the 1800s.

CULTURE / Art

Apr 30, 2000

A century of Japanese-style painting

"Glue painting?" Rather unattractive.

CULTURE / Art

Apr 16, 2000

Picasso, magic and childhood

You may not like Picasso very much. You may even agree with the American who said, "If I can do it, it ain't art!" But you would have to be very thick-skinned to remain unmoved by "Picasso's World of Children."

CULTURE / Art

Apr 2, 2000

Parisian revolution in graphic art

Fashionable and pretty, a shapely young woman lifts her long skirts above the pavement, stranded by puddles of rain. In 1893 it was irresistible, and on the strength of this one print alone a hundred middle-class Parisians bought the first issue of l'Estampe originale. This was a novel project by the Journal of Artists to sell prints by subscription. But these were no mediocre reproductions of old masters. The artists and publisher claimed that the contemporary, original print was a modern work of art; a manifesto supported by established contributors such as Odilon Redon and Auguste Rodin, as well as young unknowns such as Toulouse-Lautrec and Pierre Bonnard.

CULTURE / Stage

Apr 1, 2000

Something Royal this way comes

"Stars, hide your fires. Let not light see my black and deep desires." True to the play's dark imagery, the Royal Shakespeare Company's new production of "Macbeth" is steeped in visions of the night.

CULTURE / Art

Mar 26, 2000

Impressions of an overlooked artist

In February 1866, three young artists tramped along the frosty paths of Fontainebleau, declaring that nature would ever be their muse. One, handsome, rich and carefree, would follow that muse until he lost everything except the respect of his friends. He died in poverty, in a home stacked with unsold paintings, while the others found success. Their names were Auguste Renoir and Claude Monet. His was Alfred Sisley, an Englishman and founding father of the Impressionist movement.

CULTURE / Art

Mar 12, 2000

'50 Masters' help to retune the eye

Compelling textures, mysterious forms and incredible skill: These are the vivid impressions of a visit to the exhibition "50 Masters of Contemporary Japanese Crafts," at Mitsukoshi's Nihonbashi store. Here are a hundred works in ceramics, textiles, lacquer, metal, wood, bamboo and the newer field of glass, all by established and rising stars, old enough to have mastered their skills, young enough to represent the here and now. This exhibition was originally organized for Mitsukoshi's Etoile gallery in Paris, where it attracted considerable attention. Two senior museum curators selected the artists, many of whom created items especially for the exhibition. From the gossamer fabric of Naomi Nakashima to the solid warmth of Akira Murayama's superb woodcarving, here are works that appeal to the senses, as well as the imagination.

CULTURE / Art

Mar 5, 2000

Treasures of the House of Orange

Four hundred years ago, in spring 1600, a Dutch ship made landfall in Kyushu, the sole survivor of five that had set out on the hazardous journey from Rotterdam two years before.

CULTURE / Art

Feb 27, 2000

Artistic exchange leaves a rich legacy

"Yokohama does not improve on further acquaintance," wrote Isabella Bird in 1878. "It has a dead-alive look. . . . I long to get away into real Japan." She quickly left and went in search of authenticity, complete with its dangers and delights. Bird was a purist to the point of eccentricity, but most foreigners were content with the picture-postcard version. After all, daily life for early ex-patriates was difficult enough, with its severe climate, political tensions and food described as "fishy and vegetable abominations."

CULTURE / Art

Feb 20, 2000

All of life in Daumier's cartoons

A picture is worth a thousand words, and no one knows that better than Honore Daumier. His life story reads like a strand in a novel by Victor Hugo. The poor son of a failed poet and glazier, young Daumier chanced his luck as an artist in Paris in the 1830s. He studied the new technique of lithography, and at the age of 22 his first political caricatures were published in papers such as Le Charivari. Almost at once, he received a compliment from the government censor -- a six-month jail sentence! But Daumier, born just 14 years after the French Revolution, was to prove a tireless rebel, and for the next 40 years his satires snapped at the heels of hypocrisy.

CULTURE / Art

Feb 13, 2000

At the cultural crossroads of art

Paris in the '20s, a journey on the Orient Express: "Art Deco and the Orient," now at the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, conjures up the Jazz Age, when everything from ocean liners to coffee cups was touched by the glamour of Art Deco.

CULTURE / Art

Jan 29, 2000

Marubeni Collection not to be blinked at

Department store exhibitions are the butterflies of the art scene: blink and they're gone!

CULTURE / Art

Jan 23, 2000

Eye to eye with 20th-century face

When photography was born and proclaimed the "mirror of nature," the death of portrait painting was announced.

CULTURE / Art

Jan 16, 2000

Stitched with love by mothers' hands

Teenagers rarely go to museums by choice, but Bunka Gakuen Costume Museum in Shinjuku is a special case. On a recent lunchtime visit groups of lively students came into the galleries and fell into quiet, appreciative murmurs over the needlework of Indian villagers and Japanese grandmothers.

CULTURE / Art

Jan 9, 2000

Buy the best, keep for 1,600 years

The first Emperor of Japan ascended the throne perhaps 1,600 years ago, and after his direct descendent, the present Emperor, inherited the office 12 years ago, he donated 6,000 heirlooms to the nation. Nearly 200 are being exhibited together for the first time at the Heiseikan galleries in Ueno.

COMMUNITY

Oct 2, 1999

Grains of water and drops of sand

Every day, when the beach is quiet, a small figure can be seen walking on the sands of Hayama, gazing at the waves. She is Reika Iwami, an artist whose work is in museums in Britain and America, and who is only now, at the age of 72, becoming better known at home.

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.

[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.

Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree

By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER

international-reports