Gekko
Wonderful, crisp February day
in North Devon. I stayed in the Royal and Fortesque hotel as it was
central, it had an enclosed car park and the place was always a hive
of industry. Also, just opposite is a Antique-come-Jewellers shop, a
place where elderly middle class widows come to sell nick-nacks and
discerning retired gents buy their mistress charming Victorian rings
and thing in payment for some service rendered.
Friday was always a good day for
me. I had finished most of the gruelling stuff and left the car in the
hotel park while I made a few calls in the town, popped to the Friday
flea market and then around twelve into the Jewellers before signing
the hotel bill and beginning my homeward journey. Two weeks prior to
this visit I had purchased a Kodzuka at the shop, an elderly and slightly
deaf man, father of the dapper chap who for most part ran the place.
He shouted a little (as deaf folk often do) "Do you like Japanese
prints" he boomed, I nodded. "Next time you're in I
shall have them in the office" then he winked and walked away.
Now antique dealers winking holds
no fears (as it would be if it were say a barman or Banker), it usually
followed a simple path, they had found a mug, made him expectant and
also made the bugger wait. Great and often used ploy which inhibits
the buyer from real bargain mode because he is excited and the vendor
has a psychological advantage in that after all the expectancy the poor
swine is unlikely to go through the door without the item.
That day I walked in, the room
was filled with little old ladies, all seemed dressed in semi Victorian
black lace, a refined bunch but, accoutred in a natty dark blue pin
stripe complete with briefcase, I felt at ease. "Halloo there"
the old mans voice boomed out from the rear of the shop, I waved, aware
that most of the clients were staring in my direction. "I have
the Japanese prints, the dirty ones, do you want to come through"..........
Yes you can almost feel my embarrassment,
a silent room, twenty pairs of eyes that all said in a polite but horrified
middle class fashion that only Women of a certain age can.....'Pervert'.
The
prints were Shunga, an explicit art form that started in the early days
of woodblock prints and became an art form in their own right. These
were by a famous chap and apart from the anatomical incorrectness of
the male's member proportions, very fine quality. We did the deal and
the old fellow insisted in putting them in a large brown envelope for
me to take away, it did not matter now, the mingle of disgust outside
in the shop had made up their minds, one brown envelope more or less
would just mean another shred of my credibility more.
As I walked to the door, looking
everywhere but at the faces about me, I spotted a scruffy little print
that is in its way charming (See Gekko 1 above) and in some way fitting
the ordeal in progress. The print under my other arm I walked out into
the sun, lit a cigarette and wandered back to my car, the Shunga went
in the boot but the other was worth a closer look.
This
was a form of Japanese print new to me, modern and as you can see (Gekko1a)
the depiction of two samurai, one an old fellow, glancing with obvious
lascivious intent up the rear end of three young women planting rice,
was so real and sort of not starchy Japanese, I loved it.
It took a while to translate and
research this man. Born and orphaned in 1859, Nagami Masanosuke was
adopted by the Ogata family. The Japanese did this all the time, you
did not in fact have to be an orphan.. Shall we say that a famous swordsmith,
fifth generation, no heir to his throne or the famed line of the sword
making tradition, he may have a pupil, good chap, would do well, so
they would approach the pupil's family, make an offer then adopt the
fellow in the family line, change his name and on it would trundle.
Thus
Orphan Nagami became Ogata Gekko, some say he was self trained in the
art field, according to others he was a pupil of YoshiToshi. As far
as I can see there is little resemblance to Yoshi Toshi in his work
but what the hell does that matter (Gekko pictures 2 & 3).
European influence had crept into
Japanese art, also this man was obviously interested in historical fable
with more realistic production than I had seen before, he loved sketching
Samurai but these for the first time were real and not stylised mythical
creatures, in the picture Gekko 4 (below) you can see his horse is fed
up and so are the retainers.
The
life story of the man is clouded by my lack of in-depth research, again
it does not matter at this stage, you see real people doing every day
tasks, the workshop print gives a wonderful feeling of industry, off
to the right are a pair of clown like street entertainers, there is
dust and dirt and sweat (Gekko 5).
The style of the man as opposed to the great Ukoyo-e artist, Utamaro,
Hiroshige and Sharaku are splendidly crafted pieces of work sort by
collectors everywhere, yet this man is so simple in his approach yet
not lacking skill when you see the face in Gekko6 Gekko6a) you see
the real face of the Japanese outside of the block prints in say Ivory
carving's this is the face, the old man or woman, worn and weather
beaten, drunken or lascivious. He was accepted by the art world and
his work shown in the Japanese art society and academy. My work by
him is of generally poorer quality and in worse condition than those
we now see at auction. He still does not make a lot of money, at auction
I mean - as he whisked off the mortal coil in 1920.
Hoped you like one of my favourite
Japanese artists, let me know........
Greyman