RYOMI [cool treats]

Born in Tochigi Prefecture in 1967.
Completed his MFA at Tokyo National University of Fine Arts, 2000, awarded the Salon de Printemps Prize, and received his Ph.D. in 2004.
Carried out research on restoration of cultural heritages, exploring classical materials and techniques such as doroe (mud painting), and presented modern Japanese paintings.
He was asked to exhibit his work at VOCA (’00, ’05) and The Sompo Japan Exhibition (’06), and also exhibited at The Sato Museum of Art, Matsuzakaya Art Gallery (Nagoya/Tokyo), Sen Gallery, and Hagurodo.
Participated in exhibitions such as at Utsunomiya Museum of Art and Tochigi Prefectural Museum of Art, and international cultural exchange.
Very well-known as an up-and-coming Japanese-style painter at home and abroad.
Currently, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Arts, Tokyo Fine Arts University.

Born in Tokyo in 1973. 
Completed the graduate Japanese Painting course at Musashino Art University.
Private exhibition at Ueno Matsuzakaya in 2009.
Private exhibition at the Shonandai Gallery in 2010 (’11).
Young Art Taipei, 2011 (Shonandai Gallery). VARIA Matsuzakaya Nagoya Art Fair (Hirooka Art).
Hong Kong Contemporary (Shonandai Gallery), 2012.

This Ukiyo-e master was born in 1804-1856 in Bungo (now Oita Prefecture).
He moved to Tokyo at a young age, painted a lot in Kyoto, and left some fine Kansai kamigata-style) rounded, yet bewitching paintings of women.
This figure shows a woman in a cool summery yukata, with sasabeni rouge (like the gloss of today) applied repeatedly to her lower lips to get a greenish gold sheen, which was prevalent at that time.

This work bears the seal of Takamaro.
The details of the painter are unknown, but it seems to be from the late Edo period. From the hairstyle and look, it appears to be a painting of a Kabuki actor female impersonator (Oyama) at the time.
Actors who were female impersonators played the role of women in Kabuki. As the shogunate prohibited women from acting in Kabuki, men appeared as females instead.
Since they were training to be stage performers, they always had to live like women in daily life, dressed up in women’s clothes.
This is a modern work showing a dark blue yukata with a printed emblem.

Ukiyo-e, a renowned form of Japanese art, emerged after an era of unrest and conflict.
Compared with the printed versions, paintings which were hand drawn by artists are called ”Nikuhitsu Ukiyo-e” (hand-painted Ukiyo-e).
They also are historical materials which reflect the culture of different eras through depicted characters, such as beautiful women or actors, and landscapes. Ink was used for painting black, while chalk and pigments were used for colors.

These were paintings for common people produced around the end of the Edo Period and in the Meiji Period with opaque earth materials made from chalk and pigments, and in Edo, they were sold as souvenirs.
It is said that feudal lords and their men who were forced to observe “alternate attendance” by spending half the year in Edo,
used to bring them back home when they returned to the provinces, which is why they often feature famous spots with Mt. Fuji in the background, the white walls of the lords’ mansions in Edo, or the Gates of Edo Castle.
Due to the influence of imported works, they use techniques such as perspective seen in Western paintings, and are regarded as a form of simple, folk art which directly invokes Western culture.
Since the opaqueness of the materials resembled oil paintings, they were used as substitutes for oil paintings where vivid colors were required, such as for glass paintings or billboards used to advertise plays.
Images of Mt. Fuji typically seen on walls of Japanese public bathhouses today are believed to be remnants of those souvenir paintings.