Textile&Culture... Itchiku Kubota and tsujigahana as art form

 

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Today a new section of the blog begins, that will be developed in line with creations: it will be an articles columnist that will be dedicated to themes linked to textile as cultural expression. Enjoy the reading!

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Itchiku Kubota (1917-2003) was a japanese textile artist, particularly interested in reimagining and modernisation of  traditional clothings, implemented  by referring to a the use of a decoration technique dating back to the end of 15^th  century  and the beginning of  16^th century, called tsujigahana (literally, flowers at the crossroads). This was an obsolete production method , whose execution  is not easily documented in texts, and the kind of silk (nerinuki) used to its production  was almost entirely missed; to get to reproduce it, the artist has devoted himself to the study of this technique for more than thirty years. This research leaded him to the creation  of a further personal style, the itchiku tsujigahana, characterised by the use of  silk crepe, (chirimen) that is a result of the meeting between traditional knowledge and a new inner artistic vision. Itchiku Kubota’s aesthetic sensibility, as well as happened to another great artist, Yasujiro Yamaguchi, has led him  to the meeting with the japanese traditional theatre, from which he has been inspired by and involved. Nowadays, most of him amazing works of art are exposed at the Itchiku Kubota Art Museum.

For further information,

http://www.thekubotacollection.com/en/collection-highlights/itchiku-kubota-art-museum-japan