In a summertime exhibition to celebrate the 120th anniversary of Kokka, the authoritative Japanese journal on pre-modern Asian art, and the 130th anniversary of the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, the (TNM) has taken an interesting change of direction in its curation.
Though at first the thematic structure of "Dueling Geniuses — The Greatest Highlights of Japanese Artists" seems gimmicky (especially in publicity fliers advertising "Jakuchu vs. Shohaku" as if they were sumo wrestlers), the construct works well. The curators have chosen to pair the works of two leading — perhaps competing — artists of more-or-less the same periods or genres. For example, Buddhist figures by the leading Kamakura Period (1185-1333) sculptors, Unkei and Kaikei, stand as highlights of that best period of Japanese religious sculpture, when both faith and funding provided the necessary nutrient for such geniuses to flower.
Likewise, scrolls and screens by two Muromachi Period (1333-1573) artists, Sesshu and Sesson, represent the Zen-inspired school of ink painting that appealed to the austere, astringent tastes of priests and warriors. To exemplify subsequent artistic schools, Eitoku is paired with Tohaku, Sotatsu with Korin, and so on up until the modern, post-Edo period (1868-present day) where powerful screen paintings by Yokoyama Taikan are paired with those by Tomioka Tessai.