Imre Jakabffy (szerk.): Ars Decorativa 3. (Budapest, 1975)

FERENCZY, László: Traditions and new trends in the Japanese art of the Meiji era

Hirai Baisens (born in 1888) „The Fall of the Heike Family", a horizontal scroll painting almost three metres long, bought for the Hungarian Museum of Fine Arts by Zoltán Felvinczi Takáts at the 1910 London exhibition was made in the period when the stormy art disputes of the early Meiji era were calming down.

10 Hirai Baisen working in Kyoto was also one of the group of artists who preferred to reach back for themes taken from the history of Japan, yet expressed themselves in a modern national style. He was best known as landscape painter.

11 In the 1890's there were fierce disputes about painting historical pictures, but at the Japan Art Academy Kanzan's Heike nionogatari (,/Tales of Heike") was awarded a Gold Medal, which was a sign of acceptance and estimation of the trend. In addition to keeping to the tradition of Japanese painting the members of the group aimed at individual expression and at the promotion of the historical aspect. Thanks to the generosity of Tibor Horváth we could exhibit together with this painting two sketches of Hirai Baisen's prepared for the picture and also his sketch book. In the early Meiji era Nanga painting — like many other preservers of old traditions, was forcefully pushed into the background, to enjoy a more favourable reception in 1880-1890. Two scroll paintings of this school were shown, while the late masters of the Kano school were represented by Kano Ansen's (1808— 1892) kakemono, „The Boys' Festival", with a shinto shrine in the background of the river landscape. This painting is dated to 1874 and comes from Francis Hopp's collection. The unsigned wooden relief of an unknown master goes also back to the oldest and revered traditions of Buddhist art in Japan. It is a large-size wooden relief representing figure No. 3 on the mural of the Kondö of 4. KOSAI: MONKEY WITH HIS YOUNG. BRONZE. PARUS WORLD FAIR OF 1878. the Hőryuji temple, Kaimon bosatsu, in a representative, independent rendering with a spare use of colours. It was carved about 1900 and was donated to the Museum by Imre Schwaiger. Japan, re-discovering the traditions of its old art, exhibited at the 1900 Paris World Fair in the Trocadéro a copy of the Horyu-ji temple as a symbol of old Japan.

12 There were several masters of the Meiji era who turned for inspiration to this Buddhist temple of the early 7th century. A good example for this trend was the sensation created at the Tokyo Art School Exhibition