Marius Gombrich - The Japan Times

Today's print edition

Subscribe for more access

Meta

Marius Gombrich

For Marius Gombrich's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Oct 2, 2009

Shin hanga bringing ukiyo-e back to life

The great print works of ukiyo-e, by the likes of Hokusai, Hiroshige, and Utamaro, became fine art almost by accident. Originally mass produced for the popular market, their status was roughly equivalent to that of illustrated calendars and posters of pop stars today. But, ironically, the fact that they weren't regarded as particularly valuable by the Japanese led them to be considered fine art abroad, as they were either discarded — increasing their rarity value — or exported to lands where their novelty and aesthetic merits gained them a keen following.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Sep 18, 2009

A chiaroscuro of Belgian artistic expression

Looking at the Tokyo listings, I see that there are a couple of exhibitions focusing on bygone civilizations — a not uncommon theme for exhibitions in Japan. The National Museum of Nature and Science is presenting "The Golden Capital of Sican," which looks at one of the South American societies that predated the Incas; while those entering the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum can encounter, once again, the manifold riddles of ancient Egypt.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Sep 11, 2009

The eyes have it in this light show

When you have a venue that provides such ample exhibition space as the National Art Center, Tokyo (NACT), it can be quite a challenge to find a single contemporary artist worthy to fill it. Earlier this year, Hitoshi Nomura, with a long, varied career and many large installations to his name, just about justified the generous allocation of space for his solo show. But, faced with NACT's spacious halls, most contemporary artists, especially those working in two-dimensional media, run a distinct risk of being dwarfed.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jun 12, 2009

Nomura fuses science, mysticism in artworks

If Pythagoras, Aristotle or any of the other axial luminaries of the Classical World were alive today, they might just be working as conceptual artists in the mold of Hitoshi Nomura, rather than philosophers and scientists. This is because the science and philosophy that these intellectual giants practiced were infused with a mysticism and metaphysical side quite at odds with the strict criteria and dry agendas of their modern equivalents, and much more in keeping with the interests and artistic methods of Nomura, whose career is the subject of a major retrospective at the National Art Center Tokyo (NACT).

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jun 5, 2009

Discovering an unexpected gem

Skeptic that I am, upon hearing there was an historical exhibition on the lives and art of Japan's Buddhist nuns, I assumed that this would be a drab show of temple artifacts and feminine articles veneered in the dust of incense smoke. As the show is largely curated by Western female academics, I also assumed the whole thing might be wrapped around a feminist agenda designed to overcompensate for centuries of male domination by exaggerating any female achievement, no matter how slight.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

May 29, 2009

Dissecting the cave on canvas

One of the greatest mysteries of art is what exactly the flat two-dimensional surface of the canvas is, and what it is for. The mundane answer, of course, is that it's a convenient rectangular surface on which to place and display aesthetically pleasing colors and lines. But this does not really explain the powerful effects that can be created on it or the fascination that it exercises on the minds of artists, such as Natsuyuki Nakanishi, who started his career as a Dadaist performance artist but is now one of Japan's most respected painters.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 27, 2009

Werner Bischof found a resurrected Japan

Although top photographers now enjoy high status and good money, they were once regarded as little better than any other button pushers — elevator girls, say — and were expected to run around, snapping whatever commissioning editors told them to.

CULTURE / Art

Mar 13, 2009

Bourgeois cinema

Since the recent meltdown of the global capitalist system, it wouldn't be surprising if many people have flirted with the idea of Marxism. Perhaps not that they would go the whole hog and attempt to storm the bastions of corporate Japan, but they might be inclined to cast a few wistful glances at the spectacle of Communist revolutions in more distant times and places.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Mar 6, 2009

The popularity of ukiyo-e (genre painting) woodblock prints is partly due to aesthetic reasons and partly symbolic ones. In terms of sheer beauty, there is much to recommend in the better examples in the genre, from bright blocks of color and sinuous lines to lively compositions and intriguing details, but a large part of the appeal also comes from what ukiyo-e represents and the emotional content this has for Japanese and foreigners alike.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 13, 2009

Light moments in a drab metropolis

Tokyo can be a drag. At least if you are a photographer trying to tackle what can appear on the surface as one of the most unphotogenic cities in the world. A scarcity of obviously iconic buildings, combined with cramped, crowded and twisted spaces — usually crisscrossed with unsightly wires and hemmed in by humdrum, functional architecture encrusted with garish advertising guff — present a unique challenge.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jan 23, 2009

Stuck on cellotape

Ryo Sehata is that often- mentioned but seldom- encountered individual, a truly unique artist. His art is so uncommon that his fame has now assumed viral form, spreading through the Internet via blogs, vlogs, Twitters, links, Diggs and other clickable whatchamacallits. The young artist and his unusual creations are seemingly worth a few minutes of anyone's online time.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jan 9, 2009

Synesthesia is a condition in which stimulation of one sense triggers sensation in another. While very few people have it, most of us are able to understand it at the level of analogy. Musicians, for example, use "chromatic" scales (derived from the Greek word for color), while visual artists routinely employ musical terminology such as tone and harmony.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Dec 4, 2008

Alternate visions of island paradise

In our global information age, when all of us are exposed to more data than we can perhaps adequately manage, the appeal of cliches has never been stronger. By a process of reduction and crude characterization, that which is complex, ambiguous, and difficult-to- know becomes simple, and is summed up by a few stock images or ideas.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Nov 20, 2008

Lost in the heartland

How would Gauguin be remembered if he hadn't chanced upon the lurid earthiness of Tahiti and its women? Would Van Gogh have made the same impact without sunflowers and cornfields to unleash his frenzy for yellow? After mastering the basics of their craft, the next important thing for painters is to find the perfect subject matter for their brush.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Feb 14, 2008

France's own proto-Andy Warhol

There are interesting parallels between Andy Warhol and the French fin-de-siecle artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Each was an instantly recognizable figure who moved in a Bohemian crowd, was obsessed with celebrity, and produced print works that embodied the relationship between art and commerce.

Japan Times

CULTURE / Art

Jun 28, 2007

Russia as it wanted to be

Sir Winston Churchill, one of history's most quotable characters, once described Russia as "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." The Anglo-Polish novelist Joseph Conrad summed it up as "an Asiatic monster with a European veneer," while the English writer Rudyard Kipling had a slightly more nuanced, but no more positive view: "The Russian is a delightful person till he tucks in his shirt. As an Oriental he is charming. It is only when he insists upon being treated as the most easterly of western people instead of the most westerly of easterns that he becomes a racial anomaly extremely difficult to handle."

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