Way to Yamato (1976)
Chikuhaku Suzuki (1918-2020)
This work is part of a Nihonga collection held by the National Gallery of Australia. The collection is the enduring legacy of pioneering internationalist Asa Matsuoka (1893-1980). While working at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York with their Japanese art collection, Matsuoka became the first Japanese woman to gain a PhD in the US. Her thesis at Columbia University was entitled “Labor Conditions of Women and Children in Japan”. During World War II, she established Nanjing Children’s Academy and a soup kitchen for refugees in China. After the war, she founded UNICEF Japan and became its first chairperson, working to provide meals and education to underprivileged children until her retirement at the age of 73. Continuing her work as a cultural ambassador, she established the International Culture Appreciation and Interchange Society (ICAIS) two years later.
It was in 1972 when Asa Matsuoka thought "As a symbol of goodwill with the people of Australia, I would like for us to present the best works of Japanese art, which will represent the essence of Japanese culture.” It took five years of hard work and enormous funds to get 25 master Nihonga painters, recipients of Japan’s Order of Cultural Merit, to each paint a new work and donate it to the people of Australia. The exhibition of 25 Nihonga paintings was held at the National Gallery of Victoria in 1977, when Asa Matsuoka was aged 84. Her commitment was to ensure that the general public in Australia should have an opportunity to view these Nihonga artworks and in doing so deepen cultural understanding between Australia and Japan.
Intrinsic Value of 25 Nihonga Art Works
Former Prof. Masatsune Hojo
Professor at Tama Art University
Member of Soga Art Association
The history of Japanese painting is very old, with some of the earliest works from around 700 A.D. in the Asuka and Nara Periods still extant. For over 1,000 years, this traditional style of creating art that utilises materials and methods quite distinct from those of Western painting, has been highly treasured. The special techniques were passed down secretly from teachers to their apprentices.
Even in modern times since the Meiji Period in the late 19th century, the system of different "family lineages" of artists has continued in the form of separate art associations which hold their own exhibitions. This system could be seen in the famous art schools of the Edo Period (1600~1867) such as the Kano, Kishi and Maruyama Schools, which had much in common with the Andrea del Verrocchio Atelier where Leonardo da Vinci was an apprentice.
Art teachers from these various traditional schools of Japanese art became professors of art at the newly established art universities in the modern period. The Nihonga art works that have been introduced to audiences overseas were all created using traditional methods passed on by the leading artists of these schools within the present-day Universities of Fine Arts.
Most of the artists who created the 25 Nihonga in this collection were leaders in passing on this tradition in these places of learning. Two of my own Nihonga teachers, Shioda Hideo and Asada Takashi, are among the 25 artists represented.
And further, representative works of these 25 leading artists, active in the Meiji (1868~1912), Taisho (1913~1925) and Showa (1925~1988) modern periods, are among the holdings of major art museums in Japan. These artists and their works are highly valued by the Japanese people.
This is a brief summary of the history of Nihonga with comments on the 25 artists and their valuable works that were selected and donated to Australia through the earnest efforts and deep feelings of appreciation to Australia people by the late Lady Asa Matsuoka.
