Sharaku Japanese Art @ Lalit Kala Academy

The Exhibition: Sharaku is a Japanese Art form in existence from 1794. The exhibition housed Sharuku paintings of the type of polychrome woodblock print, acrylic on cotton, offset print, silk screen posters, and figures made of wood, paper, and pigment.

The polychrome bust portrait prints, employ a relatively small number of different colours, and their compositions, made up solely of the four elements of face, hands, in some pose, chest, and a black mica background, and are actually quite simple. But once seen, these bust portraits are engraved on the memory, they have some indescribable, uncanny power.

Apart from the beautiful paintings, there was a drawing activity to engage the visitors of the exhibition. Sketch pens, pencils, and thick white sheets were kept for drawing. I drew the caricature of a young lady and dropped it in the big rectangular box were all the other drawings were placed. These drawings of visitors will travel the world along with the exhibition!!!!

To view the video of paintings, click on the small triangle shaped black button.



About Sharaku: Toshushai Sharaku was obviously a genius ukiyo-e artist born in Edo.Sharaku churned out around 140 paintings in a period of ten months – from May 1794 to Feb 1795. And then he disappeared. People in Japan guess that Sharaku would have been some other famous artist who drew under the disguised name of Sharaku.

Irony is that Japan never recognized or identified Sharaku. In 1910, a German scholar Julius Kruth published Sharaku's art and created a “Sharaku Boom” in the West. It was only then Japan woke up to the talent of its very own artist Sharaku. Yet another example to show that false boundaries are a strict no-no for human bonding or any other human endeavor. Now, Japan has released postal stamps based on Sharaku art...