Kimono As Art

The San Diego Museum of Art Illustration Showing The Continuity Of Itchiku Kobota's Panoramic Design

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Intricate Detail of Mt Fugi Embellishment On Kimono

The San Diego Museum Of Art is currently exhibiting the art of Itchiku Kubota through the courtesy of The Timken Foundation. Itchiku chose to use silk kimonos as the canvas of his art. Two separate exhibits were used to include the vast number of kimonos. One exhibit was in The Timken Museum with the main exhibit in The Museum of Art both at Balboa Park. In the main exhibit hall of the Museum Of Art, twenty-seven kimonos were hung side by side filling the room. The panoramic display began on the left wall with a summer scene of Mt Fugi. The Kimonos progressed until finally ending with a kimono titled "Silver" which was a total snow scene. The detail of one kimono lined up with the correct angle and color of the next moving into the next scene. The intricate stitches used to texture the fabric, the dyes used to enhance or create detail while controlling and containing color, the strokes he painted to develop his design kept one enveloped studying his artistic mind. Notice the details in the mountain and the hills. This is an exhibit I wish everyone could see as it was beyond ease in describing.

I tried an silk dying class once. Notice, once. Silk absorbs dye and it runs until the dye can spread no more. How Itchiku controlled his dyes with resist was a fete in itself. Just a magnificent exhibit!

If you google http://www.itchikukubota.com/ you can read the interesting biography of this artist and see many more photos of the actual exhibit. These photos are from a publication.