Kamisaka Sekka
(1866 - 1942) Rimpa Master and Pioneer of Modern Design
Chigusa
(a thousand grasses)
Condition report: Slightly
creased, stained due to binding face to face (rubbing off).
Click pictures to view all prints and further condition problems.
Price for the two volumes together, mounted as leporellos: EUR 4'800.-
Vols. 1-3 / First edition by
Yamada Unsodo
(Kyoto) / 1899-1900, afterwards sold blocks to Geishudo. Polychrome woodblock prints,
printed with anilin colours, gold and silver pigments, blindprinting and
tsuya-dashi. 23,6 X 35,5 cm.
The Chigusa collection as it
survives today is bound in three volumes, but was not originally
published in book form. It was published serially three prints at a time
on the 25th of every month from February of 1899 to June of 1900. The
three volumes were most liklely compiled and bound at later dates
between 1900 und 1905. At the time of the original publication, Sekka
was thirty-five years old. It was during this period that he started
working as a technician at the Kyoto Municipal School of Arts and Crafts
in the Departement of Design Regulation. While he was on the one hand
submitting works and receiving awards in exhibitions related to the
Kyoto art and craft world, he was also nominated as a judge and was
establishing himself in the position of design expert.
When classified by motif,
the designs of Chigusa appear to be divisible into the following three
types:
1. Detailed depictions of features of classical life, such as fans,
hedges, kimono, bound books, human figures, ox-carts and other items.
2. Bold compositions with tightly focused compositions and cropping of
motifs such as the moon, grasses, mountains, streams, and other
conventional images.
3. Compositions dividing the background space into two or three solid
colors with flower patterns in negative unpainted space.
Sekka would not be esteemed
as a legitimate successor to the Rimpa tradition until later, but one
can already see distinctive Rimpa-style brushwork in Chigusa,
particularly in the second and third types of design. The feeling ot the
third group of images is reminiscent of Hon'ami Koetsu (1588-1637) and
Tawaraya Sotatsu's (?-1643) mica-printed Noh album covers, even though
the technique is different.
The Unsodo catalog says,
" ... not only is this design collection a valuable model book for
craft artists and designers, but it is also indispensable for anyone who
enjoys elegance and refinement and loves nature," showing that it
was not only a model book for creating designs but was also simply a
collection of images that could be enjoyed for the pictures themselves.
Text from the book:
Kamiksaka Sekka / Rimpa Master - Pioneer of Modern Design, published by
The National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto; Birmingham Museum of Art,
Alabama; The Asahi Shimbun / 2003 /
ISBN 4-87642-169-2
