Tranquillity, Reduction and Monochrome in Arts of Japan

This presentation of painting, woodblock prints, ceramics and lacquer art from the collection of the Museum für Asiatische Kunst endeavours to capture this distinctive seasonal and sentimental mood. Yet the sparse use of colour, understated design and use of lesser-known or even mundane motifs should not be mistaken for aesthetic austerity. On the contrary: the subdued hues of these artworks invite the viewer to enter a realm of peace and contemplation where they can draw upon this concentrated energy.

Monochrome ink paintings of landscapes, figures from Zen Buddhism, and the full moon as a symbol of enlightenment are all evocative of a life lived in harmony with the natural world, and of restraint, concentration and meditation as paths that lead to clarity and equanimity. Ceramic bowls decorated with motifs of grasses or sugar cane made by ceramist Hamada Shōji (1894–1978) exemplify a kind of design that is centred around natural forms and proportions.

Privately published woodblock prints (surimono) featuring inscriptions of poetry, which were traditionally made and offered as gifts at the New Year, one of the most important holidays in Japan, evoke the passage into a new year. With the exception of two sheets, the works featured in this exhibition captivate the viewer with their use of reduced, and in some cases abstract or geometric forms. Meanwhile, the prints depicting snakes and melons represent the zodiac sign for 2025, which, according to the lunar calendar, begins on 29 January.

In the gallery space, which is typically used to showcase large-format folding screens, stand as a reminder of historical tragedies a memento mori made of concrete and what at first glance appears to be a series of beautiful landscape photographs by the artist Reijiro Wada, who was born in Hiroshima in 1977 and now lives and works in Berlin.

The images depict sites of historical tragedy, such as his home town, on which an atomic bomb was dropped in 1945, or the lake at the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp, into which the ashes of murdered prisoners were dumped. A seascape by Leiko Ikemura, an artist from Mie Prefecture, reveals itself upon closer inspection to depict the scene of a naval battle, and in the photographs by Muga Miyahara, who was born in Tokyo in 1971, a bomb and fighter aircrafts can be seen in a tokonoma niche that would otherwise be reserved for the quiet contemplation of art.

Rendered in the neo-traditional Nihonga (literally: pictures of Japan) style, the paintings by renowned Japanese artists like Yokoyama Taikan and Kaburagi Kiyokata that primarily depict national Japanese motifs may at first glance appear merely visually beautiful. They were first shown in Berlin in 1931 in an exhibition titled Japanese Painting of Today and subsequently gifted to the museum. In the same year, the Japanese military provoked an incident in Manchuria that would herald the onset of tensions on the mainland, ultimately culminating in the Pacific War, which formed part of the Second World War.

This aspect of simultaneity serves as a point of reference for the exhibition Mio Okido: Remembered Images, Imagined (Hi)Stories – Japan, East Asia and I, which can be viewed in an adjacent exhibition space until 3 February 2025.

- free of charge

- Museum of Asian Art, 3rd floor

- Exhibitions at the Humboldt Forum in Berlin: Wednesday to Monday from 10.30 am–6.30 pm. Tuesday is a regular closing day.Evening events usually start at 7 pm, information on all events under programme.

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