Tohaku Hasegawa in My Style - 自分好みの長谷川等伯とは

今週限りの特別展を見に国立博物館に行った。午前中は2時間待ちだったとのことだが、午後3時に上野に着いた僕は1時間並んで中に入れた。今なぜ長谷川等伯にこれほどの人が集まるのか、僕には判らない。自分の場合は、京都に行った折、大徳寺での等伯展を見る時間がなくて、その時次回にでもと思っただけのきっかけだった。でも等伯に向き合おうと何か共有する意識が深層にあるんじゃないかと、それを探り当てたいとも思う。会場では絵を見るより人の頭を見ている感じで落ち着かなかったが、それでもこれこそが長谷川等伯なんじゃないかというヒントが少し得られて、その収穫を抱えて会場を足早に出た。


ひとつはグラフィックデザイン感覚の等伯。花模様を規則的に画面いっぱいに並べたり、箔を碁盤の目状に並べたりした上に絵を描くのだが、それらのベースが見事に構成要素となって見え隠れする。
次にスタイルの多様性。中国風水墨画を描いたと思えば、シュールとしか言いようのない柳を描く。筆致は精細ではなくむしろ荒く強い。そしてさりげない白の使い方が素晴らしく、またぼかしの技がうまい。彼は時折500年近く前の絵師ではなく、現代の画家のように見える。
そんなことを考えながら見ていった中で、僕自身が最も感銘を受けたのは「萩芒図屏風」だったと思う。彼の多様さの中で、これが等伯らしい一番の代表作と言えるのかどうか判らないが、まさに今日の作品として通用する絵だ。


I went to the National Museum in Ueno for the special exhibition of Hasegawa Tohaku that was to end in a few days. The line of waiting was said 2 hours in the morning, but when I arrived at three o’clock, I had to wait only for an hour. I have no idea why so many people are attracted with him now. In my case, it was merely because I didn’t have time to see his exhibition in Daitokuji Temple in Kyoto as time was running out when I traveled there, and I thought I would try it next time. The museum was not so comfortable as I was watching people’s heads more than the paintings, but still I thought I managed to capture some implications of Tohaku, and I left the place quickly with this harvest in hand.

One of Tohaku’s features is the sense of graphic designing. There were some paintings where symbolically identical flowers are placed in a regular order in the entire space or the square foils cover the surface in the same manner regularly, and such a basis was definitely one of composing elements that looked almost transparent.
Another remarkable feature was his very wide diversity. He draws nicely in the traditional style of Chinese monochrome drawing, and the next thing is willow trees that look nothing but surreal. His touches of paintbrush are not exactly precise but roughly strong. His way of placing unconspicuous white color is just marvelous, and his fading gradation is impressive. Often, he appears as a modern artist rather than a painter who lived nearly 500 years ago.
Those were the thoughts that ran in my mind, and the work that impressed me the most was the Pair Screens of Bushclover and Japanese Pampas Grass. I am not sure if this expresses the characteristic features of Tohaku the most, but this can simply be considered a painting of today as we live.