Q&A

With Daniel Eskenazi, from the gallery Eskenazi, behind this month’s Japanese bamboo art exhibition

QWhy has the West been so slow to wake up to the skill and beauty of Japanese bamboo art?

AIt’s certainly taken a while for the West to rediscover the subject.

In Japan, there had been a long tradition of making baskets for tea ceremonies, floral arrangements and carrying fruit, but it was only in the late 19th century that artists pushed the traditional boundaries of the craft towards individualistic, artistic expression, and when bamboo artisans became more like studio artists.

Soon after, bamboo artworks were exhibited at international expositions with great success, bringing widespread recognition and praise; Yamamoto Chikuryusai I (1868-1945?) won prizes at the 1925 Paris International Exposition of Modern and Decorative Industrial Arts and at the 1933 Chicago World Fair.

There’s definitely a 21st-century rediscovery underway in the West: this has been helped hugely by recent major exhibitions including Japanese Bamboo Art: The Abbey Collection which was held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2017, and Art of Bamboo in Japan which took place at the Musée du Quai Branly, Paris, in 2019.

We held our first exhibition of Japanese bamboo last summer and it was a huge success: we had a constant stream of visitors who were intrigued by these incredible creations, and the show was a sell-out.

QWhen did you first become aware of it?

AI’ve been travelling in Japan for the last 40 years or so, so I suppose I’ve been aware of it for most of that time. I’d even collected a few pieces over the years in a personal capacity.

It was only last year that we launched the series of summer exhibitions at Eskenazi for which this is such a perfect subject. While traditionally we show

Chinese works of art and host annual autumn exhibitions, we wanted to open the doors in the summer months and encourage a new audience to come and engage with the art of East Asia.

Japanese bamboo is perfect: it is a much more accessible subject and price range, yet it still reflects the gallery’s dedication to the the aesthetic of the East Asian literati.

QWhat is its greatest attraction?

AAside from the instant aesthetic appeal, it’s a subject of constant discovery. They have incredible presence and a sculptural quality, and can often look slightly different each time you look at them. And when you look at them for a long time, they start to reveal the incredible detail and the skill involved in their creation.

Q

Which UK museums have the best collections?

The genre is not yet hugely represented in UK collections. The V&A has some good examples, as does the British Museum.

A

Internationally, they can be found at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Asian Art Museum, San Francisco; Philadelphia Museum of Art; Denver Art Museum; the Musée du Quai BranlyJacques Chirac, Paris; Seattle Art Museum; and the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Q

How do collectors tend to display pieces?

In our experience, the majority of people who have acquired Japanese baskets display them as part of diverse and eclectic collections. They are fairly timeless and fit in with almost any aesthetic. Sometimes they’re placed in shelves, sometimes on pedestals, or sometimes people use them for their functional purpose, filling them with flowers or fruit.

A

What tips would you have on starting a collection – are there any ‘second-tier’ artists to look out for?

Q

A While the very best examples can be quite expensive, it’s possible to acquire a really good example by a top maker for under £10,000. It’s not often that you can acquire museum-quality works of art for four-figure sums. There are decent examples by established makers for the low-thousands, and they appear at auction sometimes, offering occasional bargains.

Bamboo Masterworks from Japan - Classical to Contemporary is on at Eskenazi, 10 Clifford Street, London until June 30, for more details go to www.eskenazi.co.uk

Above Katsushiro Soho (b. 1934) Kager (Heat Haze) hanging ower basket, 1968. Bamboo, rattan and staining. Height 33cm, width 33.5cm, depth 33cm

Below left Mimura Chikuho (b. 1973) Houn (Cloud on the Peak), 2018. Signed ‘Chikuho’. Madake bamboo and gilded lacquer. Height 39cm, width 39cm, depth 31.5cm