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Lot Essay
At the Tokyo Taisho Exhibition (Tokyo Taisho hakurankai) in 1914, the artist who made this cabinet received the Silver Medal for a bamboo “Monk’s Backpack” (Oi) and three baskets. The Japanese government sponsored the artist’s submission of an “Oi-form Cabinet” (Oigatakikyoku 笈形器局) for the accoutrements of sencha brewed-tea practice that earned Hosai II an honorable mention in the 1925 Paris Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratives et Industriels Modernes.
Iizuka Hosai II was the eldest son of the bamboo maker Iizuka Hosai I (Hoo; 1851–1916) of Tochigi Prefecture. In 1910, Hosai II left the countryside for Tokyo, where he regularly participated in exhibitions, helping pave the way for successive generations, including his younger brother, the renowned Rokansai (1890–1958), and Hosai II’s nephew, “Living National Treasure” Iizuka Shokansai (1919–2004), to be recognized as artists in bamboo, not as industrial artisans. Rokansai and Hosai II were instrumental in the founding of the Wood and Bamboo Craft Society (Nihon Kogei Bijutsu Kai) to promote the acceptance of bamboo artists in the national exhibitions restricted to painters and sculptors.
Though trained in the classical style of “Chinese things” (karamono), Hosai II moved in a more individual direction by producing objects more specific to Japan, such as the inventive backpack cabinet here. Also evident is his mastery of plaiting, especially the herringbone pattern created by the technique of twill plaiting in which strips of material cross in opposite directions.
Iizuka Hosai II was the eldest son of the bamboo maker Iizuka Hosai I (Hoo; 1851–1916) of Tochigi Prefecture. In 1910, Hosai II left the countryside for Tokyo, where he regularly participated in exhibitions, helping pave the way for successive generations, including his younger brother, the renowned Rokansai (1890–1958), and Hosai II’s nephew, “Living National Treasure” Iizuka Shokansai (1919–2004), to be recognized as artists in bamboo, not as industrial artisans. Rokansai and Hosai II were instrumental in the founding of the Wood and Bamboo Craft Society (Nihon Kogei Bijutsu Kai) to promote the acceptance of bamboo artists in the national exhibitions restricted to painters and sculptors.
Though trained in the classical style of “Chinese things” (karamono), Hosai II moved in a more individual direction by producing objects more specific to Japan, such as the inventive backpack cabinet here. Also evident is his mastery of plaiting, especially the herringbone pattern created by the technique of twill plaiting in which strips of material cross in opposite directions.