The textile design collection is currently owned by Kyoto Marubeni Co., Ltd., but its origin dates back to the era of Marubeni Shoten, Ltd., the predecessor of Marubeni Corporation, which was established through a merger of Itochu Shoten, Ltd., and Ito Chobei Shoten in 1921.
Design2Marubeni Gallery
Original and unique works by designers, Japanese and Western-style painters, sculptors, lacquerware artists, and others especially selected from the collection are divided into two parts which are exhibited separately in the first and second periods of the exhibition.
As these designs are for making textiles, they are seldom shown to the public, therefore I hope that many people will take advantage of this occasion to appreciate the rarely seen works.
＊ Exhibition has ended.
2023 May 16 (Tues) - July 31 (Mon)
1st period: May 16 (Tues) - June 17 (Sat), 2nd period: July 3 (Mon) - July 31 (Mon)
Textile Designs and the Akane-kaiMarubeni Gallery
From Design to Textile
The term “Zuan” came to be used as the Japanese translation of the English word “design.”
During the Marubeni Shoten period which started in 1921, a study group for researching textile design called the Akane-kai was established within the company.
Akane-kai Artists and Designs1Marubeni Gallery
Akane-kai Artists and Designs
The textile designs produced by the Akane-kai artists have a characteristic of not being standardized in their size or material. The designs range from those of a level of perfection that exceeds the category of draft to those that look like rough sketches of scribbled notes. From this, it can be surmised that their production was left to the sole discretion and creative freedom of the artists.
Akane-kai Artists and Designs2Marubeni Gallery
Participating members consisted mainly of renowned artists who transcended the different fields of Japanese and Western-style painters, and designers, such as Takeuchi Seiho, Nishimura Goun, Tsuchida Bakusen, Fujishima Takeji, Ishii Hakutei, Mukai Kanzaburo, and Sugiura Hisui. In addition, the majority of artists were either active in Tokyo or Kyoto, and shared a commonality of mentor-apprentice relationship or had graduated from the same art schools.
Akane-kai Artists and Designs3Marubeni Gallery
The persons who arranged relations with the artists were Mizuki Heitaro and Fukunishi Hirosato, who were both in charge of design development in the Marubeni Shoten.
The former made a deep acquaintanceship with many artists through the alumni of Kyoto Higher School of Crafts, his alma mater, and the latter built a lot of relationships with prominent artists such as Takehisa Yumeji, Kaburaki Kiyokata, and Ito Shinsui through Satake Hiroyuki who was a business partner of Kishida Ryusei, the painting master of Fukunishi.
Akane-kai Artists and Designs4Marubeni Gallery
The textile designs collected by the Akane-kai in the early Showa era have not faded in their appeal and are still attractive today thanks to the ambitious creativity of the artists, and will continue to be sublimated into new textiles in the future.
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