site.btaJapanese Engravings Go on Display in Veliko Tarnovo, Open Days of Japanese Culture

The Open Days of Japanese Culture in the north central city of Veliko Tarnovo kicked off on Wednesday with an exhibition of emblematic Ukiyo-e engravings at the Boris Denev Art Gallery. On display are works by popular artists such as Katsushika Hokusai, Utagawa (Ando) Hiroshige, Suzuki Harunobu and Kitagawa Utamaro, among others. The engravings are part of the National Art Gallery’s collection.

"This is a very beautiful and multifaceted exhibition," National Art Gallery Director Yara Bubnova told BTA. In her words, the masters of Japanese engravings have influenced European art of the last century when these pieces of art were distributed by merchants in Europe. The exhibition presents the faces of popular Kabuki theatre actors, beautiful women, the lives of common people, and Japanese landscapes. Bubnova described Japanese engraving as a timeless art that had become a part of pop culture, and pointed out that Hokusai's "The Great Wave" engraving, known to many as an emblem of surfers around the world, was a testament to that.

The earliest engravings in the National Art Gallery's collection belonged to a Russian officer and collector who left his collection in Bulgaria after the end of the Russo-Turkish War, which is why parts of it are owned by other museums and galleries in the country. The rest of the collection was compiled through purchases in the 1980s when the gallery's foreign art collection was created, Bubnova recalled.

The curator of the exhibition is Japanese studies specialist Zlatka Dimitrova. She has researched the origins of the engravings and determined the dates, themes and plots. Dimitrova has also meticulously translated the captions, which are an important addition to the images. Her work is to be catalogued.

"We are proud that after a three-year break we can present part of our cultural programme again in Veliko Tarnovo, a city with a rich history and a wonderful place to learn about centuries-old traditions such as the Bulgarian and Japanese ones," the Cultural Attache of Japan in Bulgaria, Kento Muraki, said and thanked the Veliko Tarnovo Municipality, the Boris Denev Art Gallery and the Japanese-Bulgarian Friendship Association based in the city for their cooperation.

At the opening of the exhibition, the Municipality Deputy Mayor, Neyko Genchev, said that Japanese engravings were a mass art created for commercial purposes back in the day, but thanks to artists’ great skill today, they have become a global cultural phenomenon and a standard for a masterpiece.

The Open Days of Japanese Culture will carry on with screenings of two Japanese cartoons by renowned filmmaker Makoto Shinkai created in 2007. They will take place on the University of Veliko Tarnovo’s Fifth Campus on November 23 and 24.

The exhibition will be on display until December 17.