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NANKOKU HIDAIreportreport   Vol. 14-2 Kandinsky and Nankoku: Abstract Painting and Abstract Calligraphy (2)

Vol. 14-2 Kandinsky and Nankoku: Abstract Painting and Abstract Calligraphy (2)

2 Nankoku's "Shin-Sen Works"

In 1934, Nankoku graduated from the Printing and Crafts Department of Tokyo Koto Kogei Gakko (Tokyo Technological College, now Chiba University) and took a job with the Land Survey Department of the Army’s General Staff Office of Japan (currently renamed as Kokudo-Chri-In) at Miyakezaka. The next year his elder brother, Atsushi died, so Nankoku came to succeed to the business of his father Tenrai including the Shogakuin. FatherTenrai also died in 1939.

Japan headed straight from Sino-Japanese War to the World War. The war situation was growing strained, and Nankoku fell into depressed feelings in the situation where the future could not be seen.

In March and May 1945, the air raids destroyed Tokyo where the towns and trees were burned to the ground. Immediately after the end of the war, Nankoku left Tokyo and evacuated to Nagano Prefecture. At a kotatsu (a table with a heat source underneath) in his place of refuge, he asked himself, 'What will become of the future of Japan owing to the defeat? And can the calligraphy which depends on the originality of the Orient continue to have its significance in the future? Or is it no longer vain and delusional to praise calligraphy as a lofty cultivation of the Orient culture and as a backbone of mental discipline of Japan again?'  He asked himself, 'What is the essence of calligraphy, which had been going on for more than 3,000 years? and what kind of element (factor) establishes the art of calligraphy?' Nankoku was in anguish at the situation where he asked himself and could not find an answer.

The basis of the art of calligraphy that Father Tenrai recited is "Hitsu-i (the exquisiteness of work which brush lines express) and Kettai (Form and arrangement of Chinese character)", and there the calligrapher’s "mind (humanity)" that was expressed in the brush line of the character (Chinese character) appears and through this mind there is the power of expression of the character (brush line). Tenrai advocated training and learning 'Hitsu-I' by 'Rin-Sho' (copy and study the classical calligraphic books) up to the Tang Dynasty and 'San-Pitsu' (three calligraphers in Japan, Kukai, Emperor Saga, Hayanari Tachibana). 

While strange lines and points were written at the kotatsu in his place of refuge, Nankoku made a lot of scraps of paper and repeated trial and error. He was convinced that the basis of the art of calligraphy consisted in the quality of the line, and the expressivity of the forms with the combination of the lines was an element of artistry. However, the conviction did not shape just as he would hope.

Nankoku’s reminiscence : There was something that suddenly came to mind how long this lasted, which is my father's words, 'If you come to a deadlock, return to the archaic (or the origin).' It’s an archaic script. It’s an archaic script. First, let's return to the origin. And so, when I opened "「古籀彙編」('Gu zhou hui bian' the Edition of Old Styles of Calligraphic Vocabulary)" (note), the character of "Den" strangely attracted my attention, and I developed this with enthusiasm and became the first "Shin-Sen: Den-no-Variation (Lightning-Variation)." (Until the Birth of the Spirit Line in Nankoku, 1955)

Note : 'Gu zhou hui bian' edited by 徐文鏡 (Xu Wenjing). Xu Wenjing researched for a variety of ancient character’s artifacts such as the inscriptions on bones and tortoise carapaces in Shang Dynasty, the bronze-vessel and bell inscriptions in Shang and Chou Dynasty, the stone-drum inscriptions, bronze artifacts and gold-inlaid characters or inscriptions of ancient imperial seals, ceramics, coins, weapons in Chin Han Dynasty, etc. About 3,000 pieces per single character. Compiled according to the explanation of each character scholar. Completed in 1934.

 

(1) " Den-no-Variation (Lightning-Variation)"

Nankoku's first work not to write characters, " Den-no-Variation " in 1945. 'Den' is in 'No.11 the second volume of Gu zhou hui bian' ( the Edition of Old Styles of Calligraphic Vocabulary).

 This work was praised violently, "You are Kandinsky in Japan" said by painter Hiroshi Kado, the husband of elder sister Chizuko who saw this work in the evacuation place, but it is said that Nankoku did not know what kind of painter Kandinsky was. After this, elder sister Chizuko’s letter of sending Kandinsky's books to the evacuation place remains because she obtained Kandinsky's books of art theory. These books seems to be the Japanese translation of Kandinsky's Art Theory in 1924 (Translated by 'Über das Geistige in der Kunst'[Concerning the Spiritual in Art]published in 1912) and 'Bauhaus Bücher's Volume 9', W. Kandinsky 'Punkt und Linie zu Fläche' [Point and Line to Plane](1926) .

Nankoku’s second work, "三つの父The Three Fathers": 'No.3 the second volume in Gu zhou hui bian'. It is developing a combination of three forms of "Father" in 金文 (jīn wén). The third "女と子Woman and Child" is a development of the forms of 'jīn wén based on "Woman" in 'No12 the second volume of Gu zhou hui bian' and "Child" in 'No.14 the second volume 小臣兒卣', etc. This first three works were exhibited in the "Gendai Bijutsukyokai-ten" (Modern Fine Art Association Exhibition) of the world of Western-style painting through the introduction of brother-in-law Hiroshi Kado in 1946.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

(2) Nankoku's "Abstraction"

In Nagano where he was evacuated, Nankoku ruminated over his father Tenrai's words, " Return to the archaic (or the origin)."

More than 3,000 years of the history of calligraphy. In the "Gu zhou hui bian", a variety of ancient character’s artifacts such as the inscriptions on bones and tortoise carapaces, the bronze-vessel and bell inscriptions, the stone-drum inscriptions, inscriptions of ancient imperial seals, ceramics, etc. are collected. Other books of the history of calligraphy and dictionaries of calligraphy contain examples of typical styles of calligraphy, such as Seal style, Clerical style, Square style, Half-running style or Semi-cursive style, Running style or Cursive style, etc. The Chinese character is called an ideographic character, especially seemed to have a close relation with the character’s form and the meaning that the character’s form signifies has been especially insisted as a mysterious uniqueness of the Chinese character. It was thought that the training of 'calligraphy' which wrote such the Chinese characters and the classical Chinese writings had a feature of a kind of quest which connected with the heart of the life and the world. Calligraphy was considered the education of the nobleman, the man of letters, the politician, and leaders, and it was one of the ways of the mental cultivation in China and Japan. But if calligraphy is art, artistic value must be sought in the works of calligraphy.

Beauty must appear in the written calligraphy. Artistry should exist in written 'form' before the meaning of the written character or a literary content of sentences. It is a form which consists of the point and the line that the calligraphy 'writes'. The artistic value is requested to the written form consisting of the point and the line, whether it is the form of the inscriptions on bones and tortoise carapaces or is the form of square style.

"Abstraction" that Nankoku thought was not to be tied to the meaning or content of the character and sentences, but to be liberated from the meaning or content. There would come into existence 'Love' itself in the Chinese character of 'Love' and if you wrote the Chinese character of 'Nothing', the "state of nothingness" of Zen thought would be expressed. Nankoku abstracted such repeated prejudice habitually and returned to the power of expression of the line itself of calligraphy.

Nankoku insisted without fear that the artistic essence of calligraphy was in the expression by the disciplined line and was unrelated to the meaning of the character (Chinese character) and the content of sentences. The line of calligraphy is not a subordinate one which conveys the meaning or content of the written character as it is. Moreover, it is not an emotional manifestation of the feelings of the writer entrusted to the character. Nankoku emphasized that the form itself of the line such as the quality of the line, the slow or fast speed, the straight or curve, the moist or dry, and the strong or weak, etc., appeared as beauty of calligraphy.

Painter Kandinsky realized that the concrete object of the eternal world inhibited the pure beauty of the picture, and went to abstraction, convinced of the independent existence of colors and forms (lines), which were the essential elements of the painting. Calligrapher Nankoku thought that the meaning or content of the character which had been soiled and fettered by convention concealed the artistic essence of calligraphy. The essence of calligraphy was the power of the line, and only the expression of the line filled with the power was calligraphy itself, and he declared that calligraphy existed even if the character was not written (even if it was abstract).

(3) Nankoku's Challenge

Nankoku was convinced that the expression of the line had the artistic essence of calligraphy. If so, he concentrated on the expression of the line which created the character, and paid attention to the archaic script. Moreover, he tried to emphasize, transform, and improve the power of the line which had been in the character of " the archaic (or the origin)" for raising artistic value. These attempts also included the intention to prove that the power of the line of calligraphy  was globally accepted.

The fifth work in 1947, "成による構成Sei-ni-yoru-Kousei", is composed of "Sei" of the bronze-vessel and bell inscriptions in 'No.14 the second volume of Gu zhou hui bian' and one line inspired by Kandinsky.

The sixth work, "鼎(てい・かなえ)と彝(い)Ding and Yi ". The right form is 'ding' of the bronze-vessel and bell inscriptions in 'No.7 the first volume of Gu zhou hui bian' (deep bowl made of bronze with both ears and three legs, the symbol of the throne) and the left is 'Yi' of the bronze-vessel and bell inscriptions in 'No.13 the first volume of Gu zhou hui bian' (a festival vessel offered to the temple, and represents the law or right). This is a work that extremely deformed the form of the bronze-vessel and bell inscriptions, and the device of lines and forms is interesting. Both were exhibited in the "Gendai Bijutsukyokai-ten" ( Modern Fine Art Association Exhibition) in 1947.

 

 
 
 
 

The 7th work in 1949, "鳥と弓Bird and Bow," combines the form of "Bird and Sui (little bird)" of the bronze-vessel and bell inscriptions in 'No.4 the first volume of Gu zhou hui bian' and the form of "Bow" in 'No.12 the second volume of Gu zhou hui bian'. The image of the character has been fading any longer, and it has created an especial taste as a new form of the line. The 8th work is titled "家庭Family", and there are a "father" of the bronze-vessel and bell inscriptions at the top, "woman" on the right side, and two "children" which connect hands, and the left end is connected to "person".

 

 
 
 

 
 

The 12th-A work in 1953 is a work that is familiar with "the four eyes", and it combines four forms of 'eye'. "目目" (Ku. The meaning of looking over right and left, placing two eyes) is in 'No. the first volume of Gu zhou hui bian', and he added one more form. It was held in the M+ Museum of Art and was used as a poster for the museum's pre-exhibition as a representative work of Ink Art.

The 12th-B, the 13th work "受によるAccording to Receiving" and the 13-B are works which boldly deformed the form of "Receiving" of the inscriptions on bones and tortoise carapaces in "受" in 'No.4 the second volume of Gu zhou hui bian' as entitled it. The rhythm of the brush line repeated in the form like a ladder is comfortable.

 
 
 
 

In 1953, Nankoku exhibited "論語古文 Analects of Confucius, the archaic style" at the "Nihon Shodo Bijutsuin-Ten" (Japan Calligraphy Fine Art Association Exhibition). This work is the one that Nankoku wrote  the famous sentences which start with "子曰、吾十有五而志于學 "Confucius said, At fifteen, I aspired to learning." in '論語為政第二(Analects, Governing No.2)' by 篆書Seal style (the bronze-vessel and bell inscriptions).

Unlike preceding 'Analects of Confucius, Seal style' (1886) of the epigraphy scholar 呉大澂(Wu Da-cheng 1835-1903) at the end of the Qing Dynasty, Nankoku's "Analects of Confucius, the archaic style" is composed to take an exquisite balance as a whole, while not telling (expressing) the content (meaning) of sentences of at the well-known Analects but that each strange character is independent with an original existence. It is calligraphy that "the content of sentences can be read" certainly for the person who understands the Chinese bronze inscriptions, but the viewer without the preoccupation can taste the form and the rhythm of the brush line written in this calligraphy, and taste the charm of the whole harmony rather than "What is written?"  It was possible to come close to the artistry of calligraphy and the essence of calligraphy that he traced back to the line of "Archaic" of the origin of calligraphy as Nankoku tried by first work "Den-no-Variation". It was no other than the culmination of Nankoku's challenges.

 

After this, Nankoku took on the challenge of calligraphy called "Hihaku" and pursued 'matiere' such as oil on canvas, and from the second half of 1956, he stepped into the unexplored realm of calligraphy, such as the expression of "lines" with no characters at all. And some of the subtitles that were previously attached to the work number were no longer granted after this year.

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