ARTS & MORE: Respected Japanese artists square off

We normally associate competition with sports--be they the Olympic Games or minor league baseball--while we don't tend to regard the fine arts as competitive. Awards such as the Turner Prize or the Praemium Imperiale are conducted in a formalized, almost apologetic manner: "This is not competition," is the message, "this is culture."

But great artists do compete, often against their teachers or their contemporaries. This is the premise behind the exhibition "Dueling Geniuses: The Greatest Highlights of Japanese Artists," now showing at the Tokyo National Museum in Ueno.

The exhibition comprises about 100 works, including a large selection of nihonga paintings on byobu folding screens, scrolls, pottery and Buddhist sculpture. Ten of the works here are designated national treasures, while some 40 are classified as important cultural properties.

The show's design sets two dozen of Japan's most respected traditional artists against one another in competition. And so, for example, we have sections titled "Tessai vs Taikan" and "Utamaro vs Sharaku," with representative works by each artist displayed side by side.

"Okyo vs Rosetsu" pits the Edo Period (1603-1867) nihonga master against his student.

Maruyama Okyo's chief contribution to Japanese art history was his development of intrinsically original subject matter at a time when painting was still strongly linked to literature and legend. Okyo pioneered an art for art's sake approach, making paintings which could be appreciated without a back story. His student Nagasawa Rosetsu put something of a spin on the concept by placing mythical beasts in realistic environments--letting the animals out of the zoo, so to speak.

Central to the competition is a set of paintings depicting tigers. Okyo's "Tigers" (18th century) sees magnificently detailed animals floating against a gold-leaf background on a set of six-panel byobu screens. Rosetsu's "Tiger" (1786), sees a single, gritty beast, done up in sumi ink on a set of four shoji. It is speculated in the attendant text that this may be the largest painting of a tiger anywhere in Japan.

Okyo's luxurious, milky riverscape and Rosetsu's dramatic monochrome landscapes further establish this pair's work as a highlight of the show.

There really are no weak points in this exhibition. Owing to the fine collection of the Tokyo National Museum and the many other prefectural museums that have contributed pieces, "Dueling Geniuses" provides a top-quality introduction to Japanese traditional art forms.

Although banners proclaiming "Artist A vs Artist B" hang from the ceiling, visitors less familiar with traditional Japanese arts need not overly concern themselves with this theme. It is, after all, principally a promotional ploy--museums like to put new twists on centuries-old work. And so it is entirely possible to enjoy the exhibition without background information on the artists' rivalries or relationships with each other. The exhibition texts are supplemented by English-language translations, and an English-language list of works is available at the entrance.

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"Dueling Geniuses: The Greatest Highlights of Japanese Artists" is on view through Aug. 17 at the Tokyo National Museum near JR Ueno Station.

Open 9:30 a.m.-5 p.m. (until 8 p.m. Fridays; until 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays). Closed Mondays (except July 21 and Aug. 11) and July 22.

Call 03-5777-8600 or visit .(IHT/Asahi: July 18,2008)