Lullaby Item Number: 3186/5 from the MOA: University of British Columbia
Description
Calligraphic work on paper. Work shows several lines of Japanese characters in various thicknesses and depths of colour, from light grey to black. A round red seal with the artist’s name sits near the bottom left corner.
Specific Techniques
Sumi ink on gasenshi (画仙紙) paper.
Narrative
The artist statement reads: About my work. “Writing moji (letter/character)” is crucial in creating my work. Because it is so important, I contradictorily depart and deviate from writing moji from time to time, but always naturally come back to moji. When there are a brush, paper and ink, the first thing I would do is to write moji or words. There is black space and white space in sho (Japanese calligraphy) and there is “ma” (space/a consciousness of place) between these two. This distance between the white and the black is very important in my work. Some of my works are without the urauchi—a technique of lining or backing a piece of paper by pasting another stronger piece of paper over the backside of the main paper to straighten it with minimal shrinkage. I avoided this commonly used technique intentionally because I wanted to leave the traces of moji and words visible to indicate the process of how these words were created amid the friction between the paper and the ink with various densities, which scratches, sometimes strokes or rubs the paper." This work by Yugami Hisao (湯上久雄) was acquired and shown during the "Traces of Words: Art and Calligraphy from Asia" exhibition at MOA, from May – Oct 2017 (curated by Fuyubi Nakamura).
Item History
- Made by Hisao Yugami (Maker) in Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan during 2009
- Owned by Hisao Yugami before 2016
- Owned by Fuyubi Nakamura before July 19, 2016
- Received from Fuyubi Nakamura (Donor) on July 19, 2016
What
- Name
- Lullaby
- Identification Number
- 3186/5
- Type of Item
- calligraphy
- Overall
- height 19.5 cm, width 34.5 cm
Who
- Culture
- Japanese
- Creator
- Hisao Yugami (Maker)
- Previous Owner
- Hisao Yugami and Fuyubi Nakamura
- Received from
- Fuyubi Nakamura (Donor)
Where
- Holding Institution
- MOA: University of British Columbia
- Made in
- Kyoto, Kyoto, Japan
When
- Creation Date
- during 2009
- Ownership Date
- before 2016 and before July 19, 2016
- Acquisition Date
- on July 19, 2016
Other
- Item Classes
- works on paper
- Condition
- good
- Accession Number
- 3186/0005