I came face to face with another of my katazome idols yesterday. There is an exhibition on at the Kyoto National Museum of Modern Art (京都国立近代美術館）at the moment, showing works by Toshijiro and his older brother Chusei, who was a painter. I admit I walked pretty quickly through th Chusei half of the exhibition to get to the Toshijiro half.
WOW~ if his kimono and kataezome (dyed pictures on washi paper) look cool in books, they are even more beautiful in real life. He has a really clever way of using two patterns side by side, especially in his kimono.
detail of the kimono below
I also admire the way he depicts people and objects in a simplified form but still gives you enough visual information to know exactly what it is. For example in this next piece showing Kiyomizu temple in Kyoto, the three women in the foreground in kimono.
This last piece was surprisingly unlike his others. It shows a bustling Kyoto street at nightime. The colours are so spectacular you can just imagine what the festive feel of the street was like, all that neon and those well dressed people.
After seeing the exhbition you'd see why he was made a "National Treasure"
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