Imura Art Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by Nippon-ga artist Taro Yamamoto to commemorate Doji Shigeyama’s succession to the name Sennojo SHIGEYAMA, and showcase a new Kyogen costume.
Since 1999 Taro Yamamoto has advocated for “Nippon-Ga”, a traditional but innovative style fusing contemporary customs with Japanese classical literature and classical performing arts as its base, and has taken part in numerous art exhibitions worldwide. In 2015, in commemoration of the 400th anniversary of Rimpa, his joint exhibition with Sekka Kamisaka, active in the Meiji, Taisho, and Showa, eras, attracted great acclaim. In addition to his many exhibitions in Japan, he has exhibited in locations such as Sydney, Minneapolis, Hawai’i, and Munich, where his work is met with high praise. In recent years he has been energetically expanding the range of his activities, creating collaborative works with companies, and carrying out projects rooted in regional areas all over Japan.
Continuing his exchanges with the Okura School Kyogen performer Doji Shigeyama, Yamamoto has created the costume for Shigeyama to wear for “HANAGO,” his auspicious first Kyogen performance on succeeding to the name Sennojo Shigeyama III. Yamamoto’s designs for the costume are on display in this exhibition, together with the actual costume that resulted.
Doji Shigeyama is an Okura School Kyogen performer based in Kyoto. As he attended an international school, he is proficient in English and is a bilingual K yogen performer.
While following the traditional path of Kyogen, he is also breaking new ground in that world by performing bilingual Kyogen at home and abroad, presenting his own new Kyogen, and writing scripts and directing in other genres. In December,2018, he announced that he would succeed to the name Sennojo, to become Sennojo Shigeyama III. He is commemorating taking this name by presenting his first performance of “HANAGO”, a virtuoso play that is especially important for Kyogen performers. The Shigeyama family has a long-held practice of requesting a painter representative of the era to draw the design for the “HANAGO” costume. What Taro Yamamoto has created will be the “Heisei HANAGO Costume.”
It has been three years since Taro Yamamoto’s most recent solo exhibition in Kyoto in 2015, and five years since his last solo exhibition at Imura Art Gallery in 2013. Furthermore, 2019 marks a milestone for Yamamoto as it is the twentieth anniversary of his “Nippon Ga” declaration.
The Shigeyama family has always sought to incorporate in performance the sensibility of each era, attempting new ventures, while at the same time taking responsibility for the traditional art of Kyogen. Within the Shigeyama family, the most innovative performer is Sennojo (Doji). Nippon-ga artist Taro Yamamoto plays a similar role by bringing the powerful essence of modern dynamism to traditional Japanese painting. These two artists seem to have been predestined to come together in this era. Please enjoy the merging of old and new, and that moment when innovation is brought to tradition.

イムラアートギャラリーはニッポン画家・山本太郎による個展「太郎冠者と太郎画家 茂山千之丞襲名披露記念｜装束披露」を開催いたします。

山本太郎は1999年より、日本の古典文学や古典芸能をベースに現代風俗を融合させた伝統的でありな がらも革新に満ちた「ニッポン画」を提唱し、これまで国内外で数多くの美術展に参加してきました2015 年琳派400年記念の際には、明治・大正・昭和にかけて活躍した神坂雪佳との2人展を開催し大きな反響 を呼びました。また国内のみならずシドニー、ミネアポリス、ハワイ、ミュンヘンなどでも作品を発表し海 外でも高い評価を得ています。近年では企業とのコラボレーション作品の制作を行う一方で日本各地の 地域に根差したプロジェクトを行うなど精力的に活躍の幅を広げています。

本展では山本太郎が兼ねてより交流のある大蔵流狂言師、茂山童司氏の三世茂山千之丞(せんのじょう) の襲名披露演目「花子（はなご）」を記念して、山本太郎が制作し、茂山氏が舞台で着用する装束と図案 約10点をお披露目いたします。 茂山童司氏は、京都を本拠にする大蔵流狂言師。インターナショナルスクールに通っていたこともあり、 英語が堪能なバイリンガル狂言師です。従来の狂言を踏襲しつつ国内外でのバイリンガル狂言公演や 多数の自身による新作狂言の発表、他ジャンルの舞台の脚本や演出も行うなど様々な分野で狂言界の 新境地を切り開いています。2018年12月には三世茂山千之丞(せんのじょう)を襲名することを発表し襲 名披露公演では狂言師にとって重要な演目となる「花子」を披く(ひらく...初めて公に演目を演じる事)こ ととなりました。茂山家では古来より「花子」の為に時代を代表する画家に装束の作画を依頼する習わし があり、山本太郎が制作するのは《平成版花子装束》となります。

山本太郎が京都で個展を行うのは2015年以来3年ぶり、イムラアートギャラリーで個展を行うのは2013 年以来5年ぶりです。そして2019年は山本にとって「ニッポン画」宣言から20周年という節目の年でもあります。

狂言という伝統芸能を背負いながら常にその時代ごとの感覚を取り入れて新しい試みを行ってきた茂 山家。その茂山家の中でも最も革新的な表現を行う千之丞氏（童司氏）。そして日本画に古典絵画に現代 のエスプリの効いたエッセンスを加えたニッポン画家・山本太郎。両者はこの時代に出会うべくして出会 いました。新旧の融合、そして伝統が革新されるその瞬間をぜひお楽しみください。

※茂山千之丞氏の東京公演の為、会期中に装束が展示されていない期間がございます。ご了承くださいませ。