Exhibition
HAMANO Toshihiro Harmony of Tradition and Modernity
The Illustrated Life of Prince Shotoku and New Works
Dates: September 12 – October 14, 2023
Closed: Sundays and national holidays
Opening hours: 10:00 - 17:00 (reception closes at 16:30)
Organizer: Marubeni Gallery, Nikkei Inc.
Cooperation: Chugu-ji, Mecenat Kagawa/Hamano Art Foundation
About this Exhibition
Since its opening, the Marubeni Gallery has showcased works from the Marubeni Collection over the course of four exhibitions. This time, we turn away from the collection to introduce the work of Hamano Toshihiro.
Alongside of The Illustrated Life of Prince Shotoku, Pensive bodhisattva – hriiH, we exhibit new works like Tea Room series, Katsura Imperial Villa series, Chugu-ji series which were painted between 2020 to 2022.
For Hamano, there is no dichotomy between East and West, tradition and modernity, figurative and abstract, or even self and others. Rather, he is constantly striving to achieve a state of wa (harmony) between these polarities.
We hope you appreciate the art of Hamano as much as you like.
Prominent Works to be Displayed
Approach The Illustrated Life of Prince Shotoku
These four screens took 15 years to complete from the point of their conception.
The story told here does not depict the life of Prince Shotoku chronologically or by location; rather, events that occurred in spring, summer, autumn, and winter are plotted by respective season, regardless of the prince’s age when these took place.
It is believed that this style involving seasonal depictions of events was first utilized in 1305 during the late Kamakura period by the painters Kozuke no Hokkyo and Tajima-bo in their Illustrated Biography of Prince Shotoku (Important Cultural Property, Tokyo National Museum). The format appears to have been chosen for its potential to vividly express the artist’s love of the seasons. This is a work that conveys both Hamano’s reverence for Prince Shotoku and the powerful emotions and love he feels towards the changing seasons.
Tea Room Series
A tea garden, earthen floor, nijiriguchi teahouse entrance, tokonoma alcove, tea room window, and tai-an (covered waiting area) are depicted in shapes and colors completely stripped of extraneous elements, in accordance with the spirit of Zen. Through the interpretation of the artist, these simplified shapes and colors also convey the essential wabi and sabi (beauty in natural simplicity) elements of the tea ceremony.
Katsura Imperial Villa Series
These paintings render in planes and lines the Katsura Imperial Villa, unchanged from when it was built, in a stripped-back abstract rendering of the complex’s architectural charms. The Villa is presented from various angles: Koshoin (Old Shoin Reception Hall), Chushoin (Middle Shoin Reception Hall), the Gakki-no-ma (Instrument Room), Shingoten (New Palace), and an aerial view.
During 2021–22, Hamano produced a new series consisting of night views of the Katsura Imperial Villa.
Beauty of Compassion
Pensive Bodhisattva—hriiH
In this painting, Hamano deploys an original technique to render the face and body, in the form of a Sanskrit “seed,” of the Nyoirin Kanzeon Bosatsu (Pensive Bodhisattva), principal image of the Chugu-ji temple, giving rise to an unmistakable expression of the “beauty of compassion” to which the artist aspires. The Sanskrit character hriiH signifies peace and tranquility, in a work that melds beauty and religion in a profound and majestic manner.
Abstract and Imaginative
This section consists of abstract works featuring parts of teahouses, as well as Hamano’s latest piece, a phantasmagoric rendering of the rooster who crowed to lure the Sun Goddess Amaterasu out of a cave.
