Читать книгу Contempory Netsuke - Miriam Kinsey - Страница 12

Introduction

HAVE YOU ever held a netsuke in your hand? It is an experience that may well lead you down enchanting, fun-filled trails.

Perhaps you will first explore the history of netsuke—their origin, their transition from purely functional pendants or toggles to an art form. You will find that the flowering of this art of miniature sculpture paralleled the longest peaceful period in Japanese history (Edo, 1603-1868). During this time, Japan had very little intercourse with the rest of the world. Because of the lack of foreign influence, the art of netsuke carving, like the art of woodblock printing, which also flourished during this period, represents an expression of pure Japanese creativeness, beauty, and artistic skill.

It the subject matter of the first two or three netsuke you acquire is based on legends or folklore, and you start down that trail, you will be off on a never ending adventure. You will be introduced to the life and customs, the history, and the religion of the Japanese people of that period through an art form captivating in its whimsy and incredible in its beauty.

A number of excellent books have been written during the past six or seven decades on the subject of netsuke (see Bibliography). These books have included brief biographies of the carvers and their signatures; photographs of representative netsuke; and information on materials, carving techniques, and subject matter of netsuke produced during the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries.

Information on twentieth-century carvers and their contribution to the world of netsuke art is extremely limited. The purpose of this book is to explore contemporary netsuke trails; not only for the enlightenment of the collector—both potential and sophisticated—but also to increase recognition of the distinguished work of a comparatively small group of truly superior contemporary netsuke carvers.

In writing this book on the contemporary netsuke scene, I have tried to be as representative and as up-to-date as possible. (More or less arbitrarily, I defined “contemporary" as the period from 1925 to the present.) But changes have occurred since the manuscript was completed: promising carvers have become important ones; new talents have emerged; and, unhappily, distinguished figures have vanished from the landscape. For any lapses or inaccuracies caused by such changes I must ask my readers' indulgence. As with any book on contemporary art, there had to be a cut-off point for current information.

THE AUTHOR

Note: As this book was nearing publication, we received the very sad news of Ichiro's death on June 22, 1977.