Kimono

Sergey Smirnov (1953-2006): Woman in kimono

If Petersburg and kimono, then Loft. There they opened on Sunday the new scene of the traveling exhibition “1001 kimonos”. This imposing private collection has gone around Russia since last autumn. From the material of the exhibition covering the period from the early 18th to the 21th century now we only want to present a group homogeneous in time and subject, from the 1930s.



The center of the group is the kimono embroidered with the portrait of Oda Nobunaga (1534-82) on horseback and with the weapons of the warlord on the sleeves. The figure of this national hero was a usual motif of boy’s kimonos. The other, cheaper, industrially printed boy’s and man’s kimonos of the period vary on this motif, the contemporary national heroes and their weapons.

Boy’s kimono

Boy’s kimono

The visitors of the exhibition cannot decide whether on the second kimono the Japanese infantry assaults an enemy tank like kamikazes, for the machine gun of the tank turns towards them. However, weapon experts point out that the picture is a true representation of the Japanese tank I-Go, introduced in 1931, which also had a gun on the back. Just as the battleship above it is also a faithful image of the Nagato-Mutsu cruiser.


The two boy’s kimono hang on the sides of a pure white man’s kimono which is traditionally  worn only once in a life, on the occasion of seppuku, ritual suicide.

The two clothes belonging to one of the boy’s kimonos

Sleeveless child’s kimono

Man’s kimono

Boy’s kimono

Sleeveless boy’s kimono

Boy’s kimono

Boy’s kimono

Boy’s kimono

Chuya-obi with the representation of an air battle

Kamikaze airplane above Mount Fuji. New Year’s postcard, 1937

Update:

Bad Guide has thought futher on the post, and has compared the involuntary irony of these “sweetened” images of war to the voluntary irony of James Rosenquist’s installation F-111 made during the Vietnam war, on which the pictures of American prosperity fuse with the war cuts running uninterruptedly in the background.

James Rosenquist: F-111 (detail). 1964-65

Wave propagation

Hokusai (1760-1849): The Great Wave off Kanagawa (From Thirty-six views of Mount Fuji, 1832)

Софья Петровна Лихутина на стенах поразвесила японские пейзажи, изображавшие вид горы Фузи-Ямы, – все до единого; в развешанных пейзажиках вовсе не было перспективы; но и в комнатках, туго набитых креслами, софами, пуфами, веерами и живыми японскими хризантемами, тоже не было перспективы: перспективой являлся то атласный альков, из-за которого выпорхнет Софья Петровна, или с двери слетающий, шепчущий что-то тростник, из которого выпорхнет все она же, а то Фузи-Яма – пестрый фон ее роскошных волос; надо сказать: когда Софья Петровна Лихутина в своем розовом кимоно по утрам пролетала из-за двери к алькову, то она была настоящей японочкой. Перспективы же не было.

Sofya Petrovna Likhutina hung up everywhere on the walls Japanese landscapes depicting the views of the Mount Fuji-Yama, one and all; on the little landscapes there was no perspective; but also in the little rooms, stuffed with armchairs, sofas, puffs, fans and living Japanese chrysanthemums there was no perspective; the perspective was the satin alcove hangings from behind which Sofya Petrovna glides in, and the cane curtain hanging from the door and whispering something, from behind which the same Sofya Petrovna glides in, and the Fuji-Yama is only a colorful background to her luxuriant hair; one must say: when Sofya Petrovna in the morning flew from behind the door to the alcove in her pink kimono, she was a real Japanese woman. For there was no perspective.

Andrei Bely: Петербург (Petersburg, 1913)

Ivan Bilibin (1876-1942): The son of Czar Saltan travels the sea in a barrel.
Illustration to Pushkin’s Tale about Czar Saltan and his son Gvidon.
Bilibin created the illustrations in 1905 – in the same year of
the plot of Bely’s Petersburg – and dedicated them
to the composer Rimsky-Korsakoff.

Chinese cats

Julia has attempted to find a name for her new cat via an internet poll, and we have recommended to her the name Chifu which, although rather popular in Spain, sounds quite Chinese. On this occasion it came up whether the Chinese have traditionally kept cats.


Naturally the Chinese have kept cats, and primarily for catching mice (and, er, for consumption). Already the Book of Rites, attributed to Confucius, remembered about the hosts of cats defending the granaries against the mice and rats, to whom the emperor offered a sacrifice each year. Buddhist monasteries also kept cats for the protection of the holy scripts. Emperor Ming-Ti (A.D. 58-76) had them directly brought from India for the Temple of the White Horse where the first Chinese sutra translations were preserved. And Lu Yu (733-804), author of the Book of Tea has even dedicated a poem to the cats protecting his library and tea collection.


Cats being kept as pets are first remembered by the sources from the Tang period (618-907). This was an age when China was extremely open to the outside world, and the Iranian merchants arriving in large number from the West brought at this time the long-coated Persian cat to the country. This race became the favorite of the noble ladies, as it is attested both by classical novels and the paintings left to us from the Song period (960-1127) and later.

Classical cat paintings of a thousand years from the Taiwan National Museum

Demand generates offer, and Chinese painting, which has been traditionally differentiated by themes – bird and flower painting, mountain and water painting, horse painting, bamboo painting – also created the genre of cat painting. Cat painters were provided by special manuals – such manuals are being published and widely used even today –, and the rules of the new genre were summarized by such authoritative books like the 相貓經 Xiāngmāojīng, The Classic Book of Cats or Cat Painting, included among the great classic books (經 jīng). This latter has even used special terms for different fur colors and defined their order of rank:

至於毛色，以純黃為上，所謂「金絲貓」的就是。其次純白的，名「雪貓」，但廣東人不喜歡，叫它做「孝貓」，主不祥。再次是純黑的，叫「鐵貓」。純色的貓通名為「四時好」。褐黃黑相兼，名為「金絲褐」。黃白黑相兼，名「玳瑁斑」。黑背白肢，白腹，名為「烏雲蓋雪」。

As to the color of fur, the perfect yellow ones are called “golden cats” after their color. The second place is for the perfectly white ones, called “snow cats”. The Cantonese do not like this kind. They call it instead “the cat of filial piety” and consider it a [bad] omen. After this follow the perfectly black ones, called “iron cats”. The cats with a perfectly homogeneous color are called “excellent in all four seasons”. The yellow-brown-black cats are called “golden brown”. The yellow-white-black ones – like the one Julia has [translator’s note] – are called “turtle shell spotted”. And those with a black back and with white legs and belly are referred to as “black cloud covering the snow”.

Cat, crab and quail from the animal painting model book of Shen Zhou (1427-1509)

The establishment of cat painting as an autonomous genre was also supported by the fact that the word 貓 māo cat is a homonym of 耄 mào “eighty-ninety years old”, so such paintings were a perfect gift for a birthday. Especially if they also represented a 蝶 dié butterfly, because then the names of the two figures, pronounced loud, also had the meaning 耄耋 màodié “very long old age”.





The late Qing court painter Shen Chenlin (active between 1850 and 1870) composed a whole album with the title “Cats” or “Elders” which became an estimated coffee table book of the last emperors. The twelve pages album was published as a wall calendar by the Taiwan National Museum. It is worth to observe how much the last page follows the four hundred years earlier model page of Shen Zhou.



The tradition of the classical cat painters has been continued by Gu Yingzhi, professor of the Tianjin Academy of Art, one of the greatest authorities of cat painting in contemporary China.



The modern cat paintings by Wu Guangwei already trespass the border separating the stylized figures of classical Chinese painting from Western hyperrealism, so fashionable nowadays in China.


But the word 貓 māo cat is not only a homonym of “old age”, but also of the name of Chairman 毛 Mao. Even their meanings are somewhat close to each other, for the latter means hair or fur. No wonder that some contemporary Chinese avant-garde pictures, inspired by pop art, occasionally represent Chairman Mao with a cat’s face, perhaps as a kind of a shock therapy.

Qiu Jie: Chairman Mao, 2007

Qiu Jie: Chairman Mao on the lands, 2006

And finally Classical-inspired modern Chinese art also uses the motif of the cat without any secondary meaning, just for the sake of the gracious and elastic lines which are so akin to Chinese calligraphy.

Chen Yang

Din Yanyong

Tien Yuchang

Vlad Gerasimov is a Russian painter, but his pictures, inspired by Chinese art,
are very popular on Chinese sites as well.

Taipei, switchboard of the Cat 107 coffee bar imitating a shelf with classical Chinese books.
The titles of the books are: Seeing cats. Dreaming cats. Home with cats. Cats,
friends of the virtue. The cat has left for a coffee. The cat has come.
Cats around the world. One town, six cats. Encounter with cats.
On the switcher: Second volume, which, when pro-
nounced, also means “Switch it on”.

Bestiary

omnis mundi creatura quasi liber et pictura nobis est et speculum each creature of this world is a picture and a word and a true mirror to us Alanus ab Insulis (1128-1202) God’s zoo • A zoo in my luggage the bird • Space for flying • God-bird 1 • God-bird 2 • God-bird 3 • Chinese magpies • More Chinese magpies • Persian thrust in Budapest • Armenian bird in Venice • Canari bird in London • Owl above the olive trees • Waiting for you, comrade bird • The birds of the air the nightingale • Sephardic nightingales • Singing for the second time • Singing for the third time • The prisoner’s romance • The zorzal • Morning bird the rooster • The rooster is crowing • Crowing for the second time the crow • Grow a crow the dove • Urban dove in Prague the butterfly • Heavenly and earthly love the tiger • Tiger’s Year in Budapest • Paper tiger • Tigers in Berlin the twelve animals • The great circle of time • Circular time

the dog • Dogs of God • The Trastevere’s dog • Lupus in tabula • Dogtours • Dogs of Sant Antoni • Dog-headed Saint Christopher • Sailor dogs • Semiramis’ dogs • Estonian military dogs • Dog on board • Frat dogs of Istanbul • Double-tailed dogs in Palma • Basket the bear • Bear cub • Bear hunting • Hunter’s equipment • The bear fires back • Bear ceremony in Moscow • Wandering bear • The Bear King • Little and Great Bear • Wine to the Two Bears • The two envious bear cubs • The Hungarian and his bear • Bears are very good Turks • Bear cave • Fox Tale the lion • The educated lion • Lioness in Odesa • The lion’s tail • Double-tailed lion and the lamb • Agnus Dei goats of the world! • Gorgan • Chongqing • Mallorca, West • Mallorca, North • Mallorca, South • Istanbul • The Holy Land • The Goat Island the donkey • Bookmobile the monkey • Monkey’s love • Kill King Kong! • Bruegel’s two monkeys the fox • Fox Tale • The fox and the cheese • The fox and the mouse

the cat • Muska • Yoshka • Hero cats of Leningrad • The Muromtsev Dacha • Cat funerals • Chinese cats • Cats in Mallorca • Cat in Cantabria • Argentine cats • The Cat Bride • Man with a Cat • The wind-swept spirit • The planet of cats the rabbit • Rabbit in the moon • Year of the rabbit the elephant • Czech elephant • Chinese elephant • Argentine elephant • Portuguese elephant • Nazi elephant the rhinoceros • 0. Rhinocerology • 1. The Pope’s rhinoceros • 2. Rhino on the reverse • 3. The first litter • 4. The truth suppressed • 5. A distant relative • Bookmobile the dragon/snake/crocodile • Dragon invasion • Dragons in Tallinn • Hidden dragons • Terra Sancta • Dragon anatomy • Snake on political posters • Maiden-headed snakes • Shaun Tan’s dragon in Venice • Blogger the fish • Little and big fishes • The big fish • Bruegel’s big fish the whale • Leviathan, or, The whale • St. Raphael the Whale-Slayer the monster • Pantagruel’s monsters • The monster of Anatolia the ant • Ant marries the cricket/grasshopper • Like the cicada • Winter grasshoppers the bug • Apotheosis of the bookworm

Streets of Cairo

We have already written some posts on our travel to Egypt. Setting out from Cairo and crossing the Western Desert, we arrived to Aswan. We have a photo album that we will be sharing here. We start it with this quick impression of the streets and the people of Cairo, a city where it seems that anything imaginable can happen at any time, and which is as friendly and warm inside as its surface looks hard from outside.

Move the mouse on the tiles to see the photos with their commentaries (it does not work in Google Reader). Enlarge the images by clicking on the tiles.

Calles de El Cairo

Hemos dejado algunos apuntes ya de nuestro viaje a Egipto. Dimos la vuelta desde El Cairo por el Desierto Occidental y llegamos hasta Asuán. Tenemos un álbum de fotos que iremos compartiendo aquí. Lo empezamos con esta impresión rápida de las calles y las gentes de El Cairo, una ciudad en la que parece que cualquier cosa imaginable puede ocurrir en cualquier momento. Con un fondo tan amable como es dura su superficie.

Desliza el cursor sobre las miniaturas para ver las fotos con sus comentarios (no funciona en Google Reader). Haciendo clic se abren a mayor tamaño.

Compatibility

On 17 September 1939, during the common Nazi-Soviet military parade  in Brest, the Soviet general Krivoshein expressed his hopes to the German general Guderian to welcome them soon in Moscow after their victory over Great Britain. But the supreme Soviet military leadership cherished even more extravagant hopes as to the place of the re-union.

The brother nations fixed the appointment
above the enemy city.
On each of their handshakes
the imperial Britain trembles.

However, times change and we change with them. The poster designed in 1940 by the Kukryniks troika – Kupriyanov, Krylov, Sokolov – finally become famous in its version of 1945.

The brother nations fixed the appointment
above the enemy city.
On each of their handshakes
the fascist Germany trembles.