JULY 15, 2002

LACMA PRESENTS MORE THAN 600 YEARS OF RARE SILK ROBES, CARVED MASKS, AND LACQURED MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS FROM JAPAN'S NOH AND KYOGEN THEATER

LACMA is only American venue for 
Miracles and Mischief: Noh and Kyogen Theater in Japan
November 10, 2002, through February 2, 2003

LOS ANGELES—The first major and comprehensive exhibition in the United States of art from Japan's noh and Kyogen theater opens at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) on November 10, 2002, and remains on view through February 2, 2003 (Closed for rotation of artworks Dec. 16 and 17). Miracles and Mischief: Noh and Kyogen Theater in Japan features carved wooden masks, woven and embellished costumes, lacquered musical instruments, and painted screens and handscrolls, many of which have never been exhibited outside of Japan. LACMA will be the only North American venue.

Known for more than 600 years as Japan's most influential forms of theater, noh and Kyogen evolved out of street entertainment, seasonal agricultural festivals, and religious rituals. Dating from the 14th through the 20thcenturies, the art objects in the exhibition are gathered from the most important museum, shrine, temple, theater, and daimyo family collections in Japan, many of which have been designated as Important Cultural Properties by the Japanese government. This exhibition also gives LACMA an opportunity to share several extraordinary noh objects from its own collections as well as important objects from other American collections.

Noh and Kyogen Drama

Noh drama is a performance art devoted in large part to the inner lives of ghosts. Miracles and mysteries surround the origins of noh, with uncanny tales of the supernatural powers of distant ancestors, romantic claims of aristocratic lineage, martial tragedy, and hints of espionage. Noh productions generally consist of four main characters, a chorus of eight voices, and an instrumental ensemble of three or four musicians.

Magnificent noh costumes, worn in combination with carefully chosen masks, envelop the actor and transform his body into an often voluminous, abstracted sculptural form concealing all individual physical features except for the hands and part of the face and neck. The costume's fabric, cut, drape, color and design motifs function as visual indicators of the character's sex, age, social status, and emotional state. The colorful stiff brocades, airy gauze-weave fabrics, or soft, shiny silks decorated with multicolored embroidery and metallic leaf, utilized to construct noh costumes worn on a noh stage today are some of the most sophisticated woven and embellished textiles of Japan.

Noh costumes came to be made from luxurious textiles as a result of a long tradition in Japan of presenting cloth and clothing as tribute. An unusual custom that had audience members spontaneously tossing garments onto the stage to actors out of admiration or as a reward for an excellent performance began as early as the late Heian period of the 12th century. One 15th century historical document records that over the course of three days, enthusiastic audience members of all social classes stripped layers of their own clothing off, bestowing over two hundred pieces of clothing to actors performing along the banks of the Tadasu River in Kyoto. In this way a variety of clothing styles, from simple hemp garments to elegant silk robes, fell into the hands of performers.

Carved wooden masks worn on the noh stage evolved from earlier forms of Japanese masks—prehistoric shell, clay or cloth masks that were probably created for magical, spiritual purposes—to masks made of wood for ceremonial dance and religious rituals. In the oldest noh masks an unfinished simplicity and strength project a primitive folk energy. The mature form of noh masks developed out of this older form, transcending aristocratic refinement and incorporating both dramatic and dance aspects, embodying a delicate harmony of the realistic and the abstract. Animated by the actor's subtle, stylized, and highly controlled movements, masks and costumes help transport the audience to an illusionary world that transcends time and space.

Kyogen, a form of comic drama shares its origins with noh in the various entertainments of the 11th and 12th centuries, and has been performed since the fourteenth century with the noh on a noh stage. While much of noh is about transcendence of the ordinary, Kyogen theater deals with everyday life. The masks, costumes, props and even the very bodies of actors that are treated so reverently in the noh become instead the objects of irreverent play: young maidens get into neck-pulling contests with warriors, horses buck their masters to the ground, crabs pinch the ears of unsuspecting priests, and monkeys dance and chatter.

In contrast with the masked noh drama, where music and dance form the basis of the performance, Kyogen is primarily a theater of speech and mime. Masks are not frequently worn; another reason why Kyogen is considered a "realistic" theater form. When masks are used, they are as likely to function as stage props than as costumes and are rendered realistically in order to remind the Kyogen audience of people they might actually know.

The history of Kyogen costume parallels the development of the relationship between noh and Kyogen.  In earlier times the comic actor, like the noh actor, typically dressed in street cloths rather than formal costumes. Kyogen costumes did not emerge until early in the Edo period (1615–1868), and even then was probably very much like everyday wear of the period. In the 17th century Kyogen actors formed schools, recorded their texts, and formalized their acting technique. This transition of Kyogen theater as a whole was accompanied by the development of distinctive costume forms, textiles, and patterns. Kyogen costumes are primarily made of plain-weave hemp fabric and decorated with paste-resist dyeing techniques. The charm of Kyogen costume ultimately lies in the kataginu vest with its typically large and whimsical motifs of turnips, rabbits, insects, and other common objects and animals.

The Exhibition

Miracles and Mischief: Noh and Kyogen Theater in Japan showcases more than 100 exquisite and fascinating costumes that represent the variety of forms used in noh and Kyogen repertories. Costumes are classified according to tailoring, weave structure, design patterns, and use. Three main groups differentiated by tailoring and use are: osode—outer garments with broad sleeves with large wrist openings; kosode—kimono-style robes with narrower sleeves and small wrist openings; and hakama—pleated or bifurcated skirts. The light-sensitivity of the art objects requires that they will be presented in two installations, with the second presentation going on view December 19 (the galleries will be closed to the public December 16, 17, and 18 for the rotation). Each installation presents a full overview of the development of noh and Kyogen. 

Miracles and Mischief will highlight outstanding examples of Kosode including the 16th-century Kariginu with Herons and Reeds of silk satin with embroidery and gold leaf belonging to Neo Kasuga Shrine; designated an Important Cultural Property by the Japanese government. Suō with Pine, Bamboo Curtains, Plum Blossoms, Poem Cards, Roundels, and Seashore Landscape Picture Cards is marvelous Kyogen Kosode costume on loan from the Hayashibara Museum of Art.

Kosode-style noh robes are categorized according to decorative technique. Those made from lusterous textiles, like satin, are worn as undergarments or combined to form outfits. These include the surihaku decorated with stenciled patterns of metallic leaf such as the Surihaku with Picture Cards and Grapevines from the Tokyo National Museum and the noshime, a plainweave silk of solid color bands like Noshime with Horizontal Bands belonging to the Itsukushima Shrine.

Kosode-style robes with woven pictorial weft patterning (karaori, atsuita, and atsuita-karaori) are distinguished from each other by ground-weave structure, design, and use. LACMA's recently acquired Karaori with Snow-Laden Camellias and Genji Clouds, an exquisite 18th-century robe made of red silk twill weave with silk and gold leaf paper supplementary weft patterning, will be on display for the first time since its acquisition. 

Important 17th-18th-century folding screen paintings, handscrolls, and albums depict memorable scenes from noh performances and catch the essence of the plays and costumes. 17th-century genre paintings showing artisans at work will be accompanied by weaving materials and tools used in the making of the sumptuous textiles.

Miracles and Mischief includes over 30 masks dating from the 14th through 19th centuries. The masks represent those worn for male and female roles, including the Jo (Old man) Mask (Nanbokucho period, 1369), an Important Cultural Property on loan from Nagataki Hakusan Shrine, and the Omi-onna Mask (Momoyama period, mid-to-late 16th century) from the Tokyo National Museum. Mask-making tools will also be on display. All 30 masks will remain on view during the entire exhibition.

Miracles and Mischief concludes with a treatise on the religio-aesthetic character of noh by the important fifteenth-century actor, playwright, and dramaturge Konparu Zenchiku; flutes, drums and songbooks; and a selection of costume ensembles that will give viewers a sense of what certain characters from specific plays wore, along with props. 

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LACMA's permanent collection includes approximately 100,000 works spanning the history of art from ancient times to the present, making it the premier encyclopedic visual arts museum in the western United States.  The museum uses its collection and resources to provide a variety of educational, aesthetic, intellectual and cultural experiences for its visitors.  In addition, LACMA offers an ever-changing series of outstanding special exhibitions of the work of the world's leading artists, as well as lectures, classes, family activities, film programs and musical events.

Miracles and Mischief: Noh and Kyogen Theater in Japan was curated by Sharon Sadako Takeda, Senior Curator and Department Head, Costume and Textiles, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, in collaboration with Monica Bethe, Professor, Otani University, Kyoto. A fully illustrated catalogue accompanies the exhibition, with essays written by Sharon Takeda, Monica Bethe, and six other leading Japanese and American scholars in the fields of literature, sculpture, and art history.

Miracles and Mischief: Noh and Kyogen Theater in Japan was organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan. It is supported in part by awards from the museum's Costume Council, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The Blakemore Foundation.

Transportation assistance is provided by All Nippon Airways.

In-kind support is provided by K-MOZART 105.1, the official classical radio station of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the Radisson Wilshire Plaza Hotel.