'Pretend you are at the Louvre'

By Victoria Gail-White
Special to The Advertiser

•	'Japan & Paris Impressionism, Postimpressionism and the Modern Era' 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays; 10 a.m.-9 p.m. Thursdays; and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays Through June 6 Henry R. Luce Gallery, Honolulu Academy of Arts $15 for nonmembers Ticket reservations: 532-8719

The chance of a lifetime is here: a chance to gaze and gawk at 53 portraits, landscapes, still lifes, self portraits, city scenes and nudes, immortalized through paint and canvas by great masters of the Impressionist and Postimpressionist period, both European and Japanese.

What is most impressive about the work of these masters (Corot, Pissarro, Monet, Renoir, Degas, Toulouse-Lautrec, Bonnard, Signac, Cézanne, Gauguin, Picasso, Redon, Braque, Matisse, Vlaminck, Sérusier, Rouault, Utrillo and Modigliani), both known to us and not as well known, in the case of the Japanese masters (Asai, Kojima, Morita, Saeki, Kume, Kojima, Umehara, Maeta, Yorozu, Wada, Fujita and Mitsutani), is the intensity of energy that still emanates from the canvases.

It isn't just the names of these painters that impresses; it is the force, the spirit in their work, the rhythm of the brush strokes, the dabs of color, the emotional interpretations of light and shadow, the choice of subject matter and the fact that we can see all this up close.

Catalogs are important (there is a wonderful catalog that accompanies this exhibit), but a picture in a book can never give you the experience of standing in front of the original painting. There are a few paintings in this exhibit that can bring tears to your eyes.

After so many years, these paintings are still alive, completely vital and powerful enough to accomplish today what they accomplished then — heighten our senses. The revolutionary spirit of these painters is intact and strong. The thrust of creative individuality and expression communicates a universal message of courage across cultures and time. It is about the courage to follow your heart and your instincts.

Lingering in mind's eye

For many of the Japanese artists seen here, the new materials and subject matter posed enormous challenges. After all, they were accustomed to working with ink on paper.

The Barbizon School, represented by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot's painting "Ville d'Avray, Pond and Birches" (circa 1855-1860), exemplifies the harmony of light and dark values he achieved through his muted color palette of gray, green and earth tones.

One of the first Japanese artists to be taught by Italian landscapist Antonio Fontanesi was Asai Chu. His oil on canvas "Fields of Spring" (c. 1888) marked a new way of seeing and perceiving the beauty of nature in his homeland. Tree blossoms and light surround a dark verdant field being planted by five farmers.

Rapha‘l Collin, a prominent French painter who also taught Japanese students in Paris before assuming a position at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, was supportive of the Impressionists despite his formal training and urged his students to experiment with lighter color palettes. His large oil on canvas, "Young Woman" (c. 1894), depicts the full figure of a woman in a white dress leaning against a dark tree. She is luminous, as if the light emanated out of her instead of the sun.

The esteemed Salon at the Palais de l'Industrie repeatedly rejected the French Impressionists' works. In the eyes of the professors who juried the salon, they were art rebels and painted like monkeys who had gotten hold of boxes of paints.

Out of determination, desperation and hunger, 30 of these rejected artists opened their own exhibition in 1874. They were deemed "mad" by the critics, didn't sell many paintings and had to take turns guarding the doors for fear that an angry public would destroy the work.

In 1921, the Japanese collector Matsukata visited Monet's studio in Giverney and purchased 16 canvases. Six months later, he bought another 18. The artistic appreciation was mutual: Monet (as well as Degas, Matisse, and Toulouse-Lautrec) was a fan and collector of Japanese ukiyo-e prints, especially those of Hokusai (which are presently on display at the Academy of Arts).

Acceptance, appreciation

In 1990, a Van Gogh and a Renoir were auctioned at Sotheby's for $82.5 million and $78.1 million respectively. Today, the work of the Impressionists is widely loved and appreciated. It took the world some time to see what the Impressionists wanted us to see: a world alive with energy and emotion.

Fortunately, many of them lived long enough to transform their early rejection into successful careers.

There are four oil paintings by Monet in the exhibit. One, "The Cave at Port-Domois" (c. 1886), is so reminiscent of our island coastline in composition, light and color that it is uncanny.

The nudes in the show that linger in the mind's eye are "The Nymph" by Jean-Jacques Henner (c. 1880), "Standing Nude Indoors" by Pierre Bonnard (c. 1912), "Bather" by Pierre-Auguste Renoir (c. 1891), "Scarlet Rug" by Mitsutani Kunishiro (c. 1932) and the tiny gem "Bathers" by Paul Cézanne (c. 1883-1887).

The color-pixilated "Pine Woods, St. Tropez" by Paul Signac (c. 1892) becomes a painting of premonition in that it precedes the separation of color cells that we have all become accustomed to in our television and computer screens.

In Maurice de Vlaminck's "Landscape, Saint-Denis" (c. 1908), we can see the seed of abstraction. The reflection of the houses on the water in the bottom half of the canvas is long, loose and expressionistic as compared to the more structured upper half of the painting.

The portraits: Pablo Picasso's "Head of a Woman" (c. 1901), Henri Toulouse-Lautrec's "Portrait of Madame Marthe X-Bordeaux" (c. 1900 and painted shortly before his death in 1901), Wada Eisaku's "Portrait of Mrs. H."(c. 1911), Amedeo Modigliani's "Woman with a Necklace" (c. 1917), and Edgar Degas's "Mary Cassatt" (c. 1880-1884) are exceptional treats, but the work of Fujita Tsuguharu is the surprise.

His "Portrait of Anna De Noailles" (c. 1926) seems to float on porcelain. Fujita's secret formula called "grand fond blanc" was a polished, almost translucent creamy white surface that combined materials from both oil painting and traditional Japanese art. The ultra-fine brush strokes of the tulle and the sensuous quality of the skin give this painting a surrealistic aspect.

Fujita and Modigliani became friends. Their studios were situated alongside each other in the Cité Falguiere section of Paris. It was Fujita who introduced Modigliani to Japanese traditions and techniques.

Cross-cultural exchange

But this exhibit is not just about the artwork. It's also about the story beneath the story — the cross-cultural exchange (beginning in the late 19th century) among Japanese artists, European artists and Japanese collectors. It's also about the team of staff members from the Honolulu Academy of Arts (beginning five years ago with the previous museum director, George Ellis, and continuing with the present director and president Stephen Little) and the 24 museums, private and corporate collectors and their staff generous enough to make this exhibit a reality.

"It took an army of people to put this show together," says Little. "And it puts the academy and Honolulu on the map internationally."

For the art museum, it is a masterwork of logistical coordination.

Early Japanese collectors

Matsukata Kojiro, Hayashi Tadamasa and Uhara Magosaburo originally purchased many of the paintings in the exhibit, as long as a hundred years ago. Some of the works have never been out of Japan and consequently have never been gathered together as they are here, thematically, touching on the different points of contact between East and West.

"There are also case studies; two paintings hung side by side, one French and one Japanese," says Jennifer Saville, curator of Western art for the museum. "This sets up a dialogue so you can understand what is going on between the two countries with these two painters." The written narratives, as well as the information on the random-access audio tour, are helpful in understanding the influences these artists had on one another.

Honolulu is the only venue for this show. It is beautifully installed and will only get better with repeated viewings.

It and the companion exhibits at the museum will fill up the entire day, so try to come early.

"The rumors are not true: It is not sold out," says Little. "But I urge everyone to make their reservations. The academy has extended its hours, and once inside the exhibit area, you can stay as long as you like, and pretend you are at the Louvre."