I always admit I’m
never too old to learn. This week I learned about National/International Monkey
Day, which fell on the 14th of December. The commemorative day has
only been around since 2000, dreamt up by two Michigan State University art
students who subsequently promoted it in their artwork. Since then it has been
internationally “celebrated,” the major emphasis being on preservation of
primates and their natural habitats. There is monkeyday.com
that promotes the holiday and all sorts of primate news, and interestingly, a
group named Primates Incorporated that guarantees the welfare of monkeys who
leave research labs, private ownership, and the entertainment industry!
This monkey business
leads to yet another interesting art historical character, a guy known as the
“Professor of Toys”: Shimizu Seifu (1851–1913) (you can see more of his work in my recent Noble Carp post). Shimizu’s work probably falls on the “Nihon-ga” side of
the late 1800s battle in Japan between Western style (“yo-ga”) and Nihon-ga
(Japanese style) art. Nihon-ga artists were trying to preserve traditional
Japanese art forms and subject matter in the onslaught of Western influences
that flooded Japan after it was forced open to Western trade by the US in the
1850s.
![]() |
Shimizu Seifu (1851–1913, Japan), Monkey toys, from the series of volumes A Child’s Friends, 1891–1923. Color woodcut on paper, 8" x 5 1/2" (20.3 x 14 cm). © Brooklyn Museum. (BMA-3638) |
One of the interesting aspects of the Nihon-ga/yo-ga
dichotomy in late 1800s Japanese art is that it provided a springboard for a
lukewarm revival of the admiration for woodblock prints. The Ukiyo-e style
really flagged in popularity during the 1880s and 1890s. Artists around the
turn of the century did a semi-revival of the art form and it was the impetus
for a revival of not only woodblock printing but also of traditional subjects
such as theater prints, beautiful women prints, and prints chronicling
traditional Japanese folk arts, such as toys.
Shimizu founded the “Hobbyhorse Club” in 1880 or 1887, which
was dedicated to aficionados of traditional Japanese toys. He was a wealthy
businessman, artist, calligrapher, and the leading collector of folk art toys
during his lifetime. He studied painting and printmaking under Hiroshige III
(Sadaime Hiroshige Utagawa, 1842/1843–1894), a pupil of the great landscape
master Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858). His large personal collection of folk
toys was the inspiration for his publication of the series of ten volumes of
woodblock prints, documenting his collection. The Child’s Friend (Unai no tomo) was one of the most comprehensive
publications of an ethnographic nature in the history of Japanese art. I think
that these prints of monkey toys represent the Japanese macaque, sometimes
called the “snow monkey,” with its distinctive red face.
![]() |
Shimizu Seifu (1851–1913,
Japan), Monkey and ox toys, from the
series of volumes A Child’s Friends, 1891–1923.
Color woodcut on paper, 8" x 5 9/16" (20.3 x 14.3 cm). © Brooklyn
Museum. (BMA-3725)
|
In 1906 Shimizu organized the first exhibition ever of
traditional Japanese toys, many of them hand- made from common materials, and
many from his personal collection. He published the first six volumes of Unai no tomo, and the remaining four
were published by the painter Nishizawa Tekiho (1889–1965).
Correlations to Davis
Programs: Explorations in Art Grade 5: 4.22, 4.Connections; Explorations in
Art Grade 6: 1.12; A Community Connection: 8.2; A Global Pursuit: 7.5;
Experience Printmaking: 4; The Visual Experience: 3.5, 9.4, 13.5; Discovering
Art History: 4.4
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