English The Ten, 16/25, 1981, etching, 55x40 cm. Signed Ouchi M. Published by the Tolman Collection, Tokyo.
Plate 10
We found it remarkable that although ukiyo-e employed much Kabuki lore as subject matter, all of the latest prints featuring Kabuki were executed in other media. Ouchi Makoto's etchings were certainly a link with the past, but he felt that ukiyo-e were very flat. Wanting his work to be more three-dimensional, he often used cubes and cylinders as compositional devices. He created the print The Ten to celebrate our gallery's tenth anniversary, which coincided with his twenty-fifth anniversary as an artist. To commemorate that event we compiled a book about him. Ouchi was a diamond-in-the-rough, heart-of-gold, shirt-off-his-back type, but somewhat hard to take when he was in his cups, which he often was, a circumstance that eventually resulted in strained relations between us. Just as we could not love every print to the same degree, we realized we could not enjoy every artist's personality the same way either. And so we devoted our time to artists with whom we had much in common.
Looking back, we recall that our conversations came to be more and more concerned with our hobby. We wondered what people thought since it became increasingly obvious that we were devoting a considerable amount of time and money to this avocation. What to others was an occasional diversion was becoming our main interest. We were building a collection, having a great deal of fun, and finding it effortless to involve ourselves in such an absorbing occupation. Other bonuses were that we began to meet people who had a similar passion and we were learning in depth about the history and culture of Japan.
At this point we became a bit self-conscious about what others might think of the level of our collection. Although we know by now that even among people of independent spirit with supreme good taste and the intellectual means to defend their choices, there is a period when one considers "what others might think." Whether this is expressed verbally or not does not matter. We notice that people do it in our gallery even today. After all these years we can recognize the look of uncertainty and we know the reason. We had it once too.
The notion of creating a collection and making it a focal point in our lives was still a bit hazy, so the matter of justifying our purchases still lurked in the background, encouraging us to turn for a moment to subjects that seemed easy to rationalize. We found that cats were mostly a "safe" item. They were then and they are now a subject that finds a ready audience among cat-o-philes. We have clients who will buy any composition featuring a cat; everyone is familiar with them and even those who do not particularly like real cats find they can tolerate them in art. Compositions with cats can thus be given as presents, along with that other "safe" subject— trees. Two artists have become famous mainly for using only these objects in their woodblock prints.
Plate 11
Plate 12
Long Tail Cat by Inagaki Tomoo and Mist by Hoshi Joichi have universal appeal, and like so many other Japanese printmakers, both artists found their major themes early in their print careers and spent the rest of their lives refining them. Inagaki's cat, with its glittering yellow eyes and insouciantly curled tail, recalls any particularly self-contained cat one may have encountered, with the emphasis on feline sensuality. Hoshi's trees in the mist are clearly recognizable elements, yet the intriguing fog invites one's mind to wander into the unknowable world beyond realism. Hoshi's earlier prints concentrated on star constellations but it is his trees that have made him famous. We bought these prints primarily not because they were by our favorite artists but because they were first praised and collected by others.
Hoshi was the man of the hour in those days, and his prints seemed to be everywhere. It was even said, as a sort of selling point, that Henry Kissinger had bought a few during a trip to Tokyo. As young, rising art dealers we joked about how unusual it was that people who were not so interested in what we had to say about foreign affairs could take Kissinger's purchase as the acme of what was desirable in the Modern print world. But, of course, a point was made: many people liked to own a Hoshi print just because Kissinger had one.
Needless to say, Inagaki and Hoshi are celebrated printmakers so they do not need our personal blessing on their work. But we were not so drawn to their prints as to others; we bought them because others recommended them and it seemed the thing to do at the time.
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