Image: Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum, Tokyo
Mitsubishi Ichigokan Museum was interviewed for ‘A Tokyo Art Guide of Works to See Once in a Lifetime,’ and the resulting article has been published. The article identifies Nahoko Sugiyama as the museum’s chief curator and a specialist in Félix Vallotton.
In its discussion of Vallotton’s ‘Intimités’ series, the article presents a set of scenes involving relationships between men and women, with two people understood to be members of the French bourgeoisie engaging in social maneuvering inside domestic interiors.
One of the works, ‘Money (Intimités V),’ is dominated by an area painted almost entirely black; a male silhouette appears connected to that darkness, while the woman beside him looks away so that the two do not meet one another’s gaze.
The series was presented in 1898 as a story composed of black and white. The article also distinguishes Vallotton’s process from the division of labor traditionally associated with Japanese ukiyo-e, explaining that he drew the designs and carved the woodblocks himself rather than separating the work among a designer, carver and printer.
The museum holds the additional print made as evidence that the ‘Intimités’ blocks were destroyed; although ‘Intimités’ is described as a 10-print series, this final work brings the complete set to 11 prints.
