2007.08.28
Tezuka in the House
Tonight the Asian Art Museum held an event for their corporate sponsors. Jonny and I made our way over and enjoyed the art of Osamu Tezuka and Taiso Yoshitoshi. Tezuka is best known in America for Astro Boy and Kimba the White Lion (originally called Jungle Emperor by Tezuka). Yoshitoshi I had never heard of and was desperately impressed with. Though his work is over a century old it looks so much like stylized manga, almost a blend of Japanese and some American techniques. His line work is phenomenal, and much of his work was woodblock printing. For a brilliant overview with loads of pictures please visit Sinister Designs (less sinister than you’d think!).
Of course I can’t ever have a night out where some idiot doesn’t spoil the mood. I was walking through the Tezuka gallery when three well dressed and sophisticated looking people -a man and two women- walked by me. I over hear one of the women say, “Well, it’s no Road Runner or Bugs Bunny.” Her friends got a laugh out of that. The description mentioned the character travelled from Taiwan to Syria. The other lady said with an air of disbelief, “When I was a girl I didn’t even know where Syria or Taiwan was. How can this be real?”
Ladies, and your gentleman friend, I suggest that perhaps Asian art is not for you. Why were you even there? Did you expect to see some bland Saturday morning cartoons? It’s one thing to not like certain kinds of art. Everyone knows I’m no fan of most “modern” art. Still, there’s critically making fun of something and being simply rude and ignorant.
Oh well. I think I’ll have to head back and see if they have some prints of some of the Yoshitoshi pieces. It’s been a long time since I liked something so much I’d consider buying a print. In fact the last time I can think of was back in 2002 when I saw Bouguereau’s The Broken Pitcher.
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