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A 1966 roundtable discussion about Christian art.
A 1966 roundtable discussion about Christian art.
On my shelves is an old Japanese magazine Worship and Music, 礼拝と音楽 (1967, volume 13, no. 2). It has a beautiful cover with a Christmas scene by Tadao Tanaka 田中忠雄 (1903-1995). Tanaka was a Japanese Western-style painter, Christian artist, and professor at Musashino Art University in Tokyo. He and Sadao Watanabe were contemporaries. Their techniques differed: Tanaka painted in the Western tradition, while Watanabe created his prints using the Japanese stencil printing technique katazome. But their goal was the same: to convey the stories of the Bible for the Japanese people and the world.
This edition of Worship and Music is interesting, not only because of the cover, but also because of a report of a roundtable discussion about “Issues in contemporary Japanese Christian art”. That discussion took place in the context of the 2nd Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Christian Art 第2回現代日本キリスト教美術展, which was held in 1966 at Waseda church in Tokyo. Sadao Watanabe was one of the participating artists. His contribution to that discussion shows us his vision on Christian art and his own work. And that is interesting!
Watanabe’s views can be summarized as follows:
The less ego the artist has, the better. He believes that the most beautiful art is created when the artist sets aside his own pride and ambition (winning prizes, becoming famous).
The stencil process limits the artist’s control. It is precisely in these limitations that he sees the hand of God or "grace".
He modestly calls himself “not someone who possesses genius or talent” because he believes that the grace of God works through him to create his art.
The report on the roundtable discussion runs to six pages. I am quoting only Sadao Watanabe’s contribution here. If you would like to receive the full text, you can send me an email.
What did Sadao Watanabe say?
What did Sadao Watanabe say?
“Watanabe: If you want to create Christian art, all you have to do is bring in a talented painter and have them depict scenes from the Bible. In what sense is this “talented”? It is artistically talented. The work of art is meant to be admired. However, religious art was not originally intended to be merely admired.”
(...)
“ Watanabe: Earlier, Mr. Misaka (SHC: this is the sculptor Koichiro Misaka, 三坂耿一郎, member of the Anglican Church, 1908 - 1995) mentioned that he was deeply moved by works that do not assert the individual. For me, the question of why such works are more moving than those that do assert the individual—and why they possess such profound religious depth—is a matter of great significance. I believe such works can be described as having been born in a world of pure, unadulterated intent, detached from any desire to win awards at exhibitions or to be recognized in any particular way—though, of course, such systems likely didn’t exist back then. I see them not as works created by talent conquering the subject matter, but as works born from a stance of self-emptying and adapting to the subject itself.
I am not someone who possesses genius or talent, but unlike oil painting, which is created directly, printmaking emerges through various processes, and I try to interpret the constraints and natural qualities inherent in that process in my own way. If there is anything interesting about my prints, I believe it is that something given—a kind of grace—is manifested in the artwork.”
渡辺さんは何と言ったのですか。
渡辺さんは何と言ったのですか。
渡辺 キリスト教美術を作ろうとすれば，りっぱな絵かきを呼んできて，聖書の中の話を書かせれば良い．それはどうりっぱなのかというと，芸術的にりっぱなのです．鑑賞物です．しかし，本来宗教の芸術というものは鑑賞物ではなかった．
[...]
渡辺 さっき三坂さんが，あまり個人を主張しないものに感銘をうけたといわれたけれども，そういうものが，なぜ個人を主張するものよりも感動させ，またその中に深い宗教性を持っているかということが，私にとってたいへん大きな問題なのです．そういう作品は，展覧会で賞を得ようとか，何々にあげられようとか，もちろんそういう制度もなかったのでしょうが，そういうものを離れた無心の世界の中に生まれた作品ということができるかと思います．才能が物を征服して作った作品というのではなくして，自分をむなしくしてその物に順応した立場から生まれた作品なのだと考えるのです．
私など天才とか才能とかいうものは無い者なのですが，油絵などのようにじかに描くものではなくて，版画というものはいろいろの工程から出てくるもので，その中にある不自由さとか自然性というものを私なりに受けとってやっているつもりなのです．私の版画に何かおもしろいところがあるとすれば，それは何か与えられるもの，恵みというものが絵にあらわれているということなのだと思います．
Sadao Watanabe is the third person from the right.
Mingei and the grace of God
Mingei and the grace of God
In his beautiful essay ”A Dream in Stencil Prints” [1] Kenji Kanda refers to this roundtable discussion and connects Watanabe’s words to the Mingei concept of ‘beauty of use’. In Mingei philosophy the ‘beauty of use’ is seen as the opposite of ‘beauty for observation’.
This distinction between (making) art intended to be admired and (making) art that intended to show the grace of God, is clearly visible in Watanabe’s contribution to the roundtable discussion of 1966. Watanabe’s words show us with what intention he made his stencils and prints. He used the vocabulary of the Mingei theory to express his feelings about creating his works.
Kanda also refers to a later interview with Watanabe. In that interview he explains how he relates the technical aspect of his stencil printing to the grace of God. He said: “in stencil printing, washing in water is added to the transfer process, with unpredictable results. Albeit from the same stencil, each print comes to life with his own qualities. This is neither coincidence nor the manifestation of some hidden ability in me. I often think that it is the grace of God in my work.”
The last step in the stencil printing process is the washing of the print that is covered with a layer of black sumi. I sometimes think that through the washing of the water the stencil print is baptized to show the grace of God.
[1] A Dream in Stencil Prints - The Faith and the work of Sadao Watanabe by Kenji Kanda 型染版画に託した夢： 渡辺禎雄の信仰と作品、 神田健次
In: Biblical Prints by Sadao Watanabe - All Thy Marvelous Works くすしきみわざ―渡辺禎雄聖書版画集 by Kenji Kanda 神田健次 and Anne H.H. Pyle アン・パイル , Shinkyo Publishing, Tokyo 2013.
The good news to the shepherds (1966) of Sadao Watanabe was one of the works exhibited at the 2nd Exhibition of Contemporary Japanese Christian Art.
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