Tsukioka Kōgyo

Tsukioka Kōgyo is acknowledged today as a ‘modern painter of nō’ based on his prolific output of more than 70 paintings, over 700 designs and hundreds of magazine illustrations and postcards relating to this theme. His passion was first ignited at a nō performance staged in honour of the visiting Russian crown prince Nicholas II in 1883. For Kōgyo, studying the colourful costumes, the abstract quality of the masks and the movements of the actors was essential for his elegant figure studies.

From 1897 Kōgyo collaborated with Matsuki Heikichi of the Daikokuya, one of the leading publishing houses in Meiji-period Japan, to produce print series including those on display here. While in essence relying on the conventional repertoire of nō imagery, Kōgyo introduced numerous innovative compositional devices, some influenced by Western art. These sumptuous editions represent a concerted effort to generate renewed interest in traditional art forms in an age of increasing modernisation.

Questions and activities

• What traditional art forms and skills do you think we should preserve in our ever-changing digital world? Discuss and debate the value of maintaining things from the past.

• Research what life was like in the late 1800s in Japan. Why was this a significant period in the country’s history? How did art reflect this change? Discuss Tsukioka Kōgyo’s body of work in your analysis.