Exhibition duration: 12.08.-19.09.2025 🎉 Opening: 11.08.2025 17:00 Free admission, we invite you! Exhibition description: Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869–1927), a student of the famous Yoshitoshi and a continuer of the ukiyo-e school tradition during the Meiji and Taishō periods, is remembered in Japanese art history as one of the most outstanding illustrators of Nō theater. His monumental work, "Nōga taikan" (Great Illustrated Encyclopedia of Nō), created between 1925–1930, although partially completed after his death, includes over two hundred colorful woodblock prints. This series developed the ideas of the artist's earlier projects, such as "Nōgaku zue" and "Nōgaku hyakuban," but had an even more systematic and encyclopedic character. "Nōga taikan" documents the full repertoire of classical Nō plays, presenting each in its dramatic climax, and showcases extraordinary details of costumes, masks, and props, becoming an invaluable iconographic source for researchers and theater enthusiasts. These woodblock prints are characterized by subtle coloring, soft transitions of hues, and delicate contours, typical of Kōgyo's late style. Each scene is depicted on a neutral background, emphasizing the symbolism of gestures and costumes in the spirit of yūgen, the mysterious beauty inherent in Nō theater. The artist used a muted palette of pastel colors, capturing the atmosphere of solemnity and stage silence, and his drawings are marked by exceptional precision in reproducing kimono embroidery, fabric patterns, and mask and headpiece decorations. "Nōga taikan" was not only an artistic work but also a visual encyclopedia of Nō theater, serving a documentary and educational function for actors, musicians, directors, as well as mask and costume creators. This series became the culmination of Kōgyo's creative life and the most significant achievement in the history of Nō theater illustration, preserving knowledge of stage forms that gradually lost popularity during the modernization of the Meiji and Taishō eras. Today, "Nōga taikan" remains an invaluable source for reconstructing performances, studying Japanese aesthetics, and theater history, and Tsukioka Kōgyo's woodblock prints are housed in the world's most important museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the National Noh Theatre in Tokyo. The exhibition features a selection of thirty woodblock prints from this series, published by Seibi Shoin 精美書院 in 1936. This collection is part of the private collection of Sylwia and Jakub Kurowski, hosts of the Siruwia Japanese Garden in Przesieka, and is being made available to the public for the first time. Thanks to Tsukioka Kōgyo's vision and mastery, Nō theater as depicted in "Nōga taikan" appears not only as a stage spectacle but as a spiritual and aesthetic foundation of Japanese culture, with each woodblock print becoming a meditation on gesture, sound, and silence that have shaped Japanese understanding of art and life for centuries. About the artist: Tsukioka Kōgyo (1869–1927) Tsukioka Kōgyo (月岡耕漁), also known as Sakamaki Kōgyo (坂巻 耕漁), was born on April 18, 1869, in Nihonbashi, Tokyo, as Hanyū Bennosuke, the son of innkeepers. At the age of fifteen, he began apprenticing under his future stepfather, the renowned ukiyo-e master Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839–1892), who married his mother, Sakamaki, in 1884. Yoshitoshi became his teacher and guide in graphic art and painting, giving him the name Toshihisa (年久). After Yoshitoshi's death in 1892, Kōgyo continued his studies under Ogata Gekkō (1859–1920), a respected ukiyo-e painter and graphic artist, from whom he received the artistic name Kōgyo. He also studied under Matsumoto Fuko (1840–1923), a painter in the Japanese style. From the mid-1890s, he published his works under his mother's surname, Sakamaki, and after her death in 1911, he began leading the Tsukioka school, adopting the name Tsukioka Kōgyo. He also used artistic names (gō) such as Kōhan (湖畔), Gyo (漁), Rekizan (歴山), and Nenkyu. Although Kōgyo occasionally painted other subjects, such as kachō-e (prints depicting birds and flowers), he focused most of his career on documenting Japanese Nō theater. He created both large paintings and colorful woodblock prints, many of which appeared in series published as multi-volume sets. Some, like Nōgaku zue, were bound in folding style (orihon) and preserved as albums, while others, like Nōga taikan, were published in stitched bindings (yamato toji). While most complete sets are now housed in institutional collections, individual Kōgyo prints are still available from dealers specializing in Japanese woodblock prints. He created over 550 prints documenting Nō performances in three major series, focusing on costumes and actor poses. His works, often published in books, magazines, and posters, are considered an elegant and artistic record of the customs of this theatrical genre. Kōgyo's most famous series is Nōgaku hyakuban ("One Hundred Nō Dramas"), published between 1922–1926 in vertical ōban format, characterized by painterly effects and subtle coloring. He also designed series in horizontal format. Kōgyo lived during the Meiji Restoration, which brought Japan into modernity, but his art remained deeply rooted in tradition. In 1910, he inherited Yoshitoshi's artistic seals, continuing the practice of ukiyo-e woodblock printing and the synthesis of Western and Japanese painting techniques. He passed away on February 25, 1927. His legacy was continued by his daughter Fumio (Tsukioka Gyokusei, 1908–1994), who also became an artist and took over the Tsukioka school. She remembered her father as a focused creator who could sketch theatrical scenes with extraordinary ease and speed even before the performance began—always completely immersed in his artistic world. Admission to the Department is always free, no appointment necessary. The public hall also features a library and reading room, as well as a manga corner. We invite you! Opening hours: - Mon.-Fri.: 9:00-17:00 For any questions, please contact us by email or phone: - Tel. 22 584 73 00 - Email: [email protected]
