Style Imitating Art: “Breton Woman” by Kanae Yamamoto

About Style Imitating Art…

Style Imitating Art comes from Salazar, Terri, and Shelbee. You can think of it as fashion meets art museum! Style Imitating Art challenges people to find inspiration in different art works, create looks based upon that art work, and share them with the curator for that piece. Every other Monday one of the three selects an inspiration piece of art and posts the image on their blog. They then invite others to interpret that art work through their style. The following Monday, they share their outfits. The curator shares submissions the following Wednesday on her blog. Salazar chose this week’s art work. If you’d like, you can read why she chose it here. You can see a few of my looks here, here, here, and here!

Inspiration art work…

About the artist…

Kanae Yamamoto was born on October 24, 1882 in Tenma-dōri and is considered by most to be the father of Sōsaku-hanga (creative prints). His ancestors were samurai, but this system ended with the Boshin War. When his father was orphaned, he was taken in by Ryōsai Yamamoto, a specialist in Chinese medicine. Ichirō, Kanae’s father, would continue in this tradition of Chinese medicine. In the 1860s, the Meiji government decided to grant medical licenses only to those who practiced medicine in the Western way. This began a long period of financial instability for the family as Ichirō traveled to Tokyo in order to study this type of medicine.

A little more…

Ichirō did odd jobs for the household where he lived and had to dig up bodies for dissection as he continued his Western medicine studies. When Kanae was five, he and his mother joined his father in a tenement section of the San’ya area of Tokyo. His mother did some sewing to support the family as well as five of her siblings. Due to this financial strain, Kanae left primary school after only four years of schooling and became an apprentice under Sakurai Torakichi, a wood engraver. At this time, engraving was used more as a form of communication than art. During his apprenticeship, Kanae learned letterpress printing and photoengraving. Following his apprenticeship, he enrolled at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts where he hoped to become a painter. Although his father had now completed his medical degree and set up shop, the family was still unable to help with costs of schooling. Kanae paid for it by picking up printing jobs.

Even more…

The important thing to remember is the type of wood engraving/block printing Kanae was producing was commercial. This was not considered a type of art at all. In July, 1904, Kanae and a group of friends visited Chōshi where they stayed near a river. While there, Kanae made a sketch of a fisherman. When he returned to his home, he created a wood block engraving and then a print. This caught the eye of one of his instructors, Ishii Hakutei, who had it published in Myōjō, a literary magazine. The work was celebrated as a “painterly spontaneous self-expression.” This led to the artistic movement known as Sōsaku-hanga or creative prints, definitely a break from the wood engraving as commercial work idea.

Still more…

On April 2, 1906, Kanae graduated from the Tokyo School of Fine Arts. Kanae would move to Paris, stay for a bit in Brittany where he was quite productive, and travel to London. During his time in Europe, Kanae found himself at odds with the Impressionist movement sweeping the times. His art was based on realism, and the works of van Gogh, Manet and Monet were offensive to him. When World War I broke out, Kanae returned to Japan via Russia. During his time there, he was introduced to the ideas of children’s free painting and farmers’ art. Japanese children produced art by recreating what they were shown. Kanae believed they should be painting from nature (hmmm…sounds a bit like Impressionism to me) and not just copying what had already been done.

A skosh more…

Kanae eventually returned to Japan and founded several magazines and associations. One of the things I was surprised to discover was his involvement with cray-pas which are an oily pastel. Kanae, along with his brothers-in-law, Rinzō Satake and Shōkō Sasaki, developed these over three years and marketed them through the Sakura Color Products Corporation. These are the same pastels I used when I was teaching to create numerous bulletin boards! In 1942, Kanae suffered a stroke but continued to paint. On October 8, 1946, he passed. You can read so much more here.

About the art work…

The art work is currently owned by the Honolulu Museum of Art and is also called “Woman of Brittany.” It was gifted by James Michener, the author of Tales of the South Pacific (which was adapted for the musical, “South Pacific”) to the museum in 1991. It measures 15 1/16 × 11 5/8 in. (38.2 × 29.5 cm), matted to 25 × 19 in. (63.5 × 48.3 cm). As expected, it is a woodblock print on paper.

My interpretation…

My interpretations often are quite literal, but, this time, I decided to go with colors and build an outfit I’d actually wear. I bought this Old Navy dress in the boysenberry color, a print, and this black. I have another dress in the berry (or is that “Viva Magenta”) and didn’t really care for the print once I had it. But, the black is a tabula rasa! I can do so much with this. The colors I notice most in this art work are the blue and black. So, I added an old blue linen cardigan from J Jill. They haven’t done these for a few years. I wish they would. They’re very versatile! The dress is actually smocked at the waistline, but it disappears in the solid black. I pulled out a chain belt and created that waistline. I don’t usually buy square necklines as I don’t think they do much for me, but I like this look.

The Lewk!

I really thought the blue sweater matched these sandals better, but they’re close enough, right? I don’t know what I’m going to do when these Jambu sandals bite the dust! I can count on them for comfort as well as going with so many of my summer clothes! I then added this multi-strand necklace from Stella & Dot. It’s close to ten years old. The earrings are Kendra Scott. I thought I’d bought the earrings to go with the necklace. Then, I realized they were not even the same maker!

Wrap it up, Marsha!

When I saw this challenge, I thought it would be an easy one to complete. I even commented that to Shelbee and Terri. I also thought, “Hmmm, this is going to be easy which means I’m going to have a hard time.” This time, I was wrong. It was a fairly easy challenge, and I didn’t have a hard time. I remember making art prints when I was in college. We used styrofoam trays to carve our prints. I loved it and thought it would be a fun hobby. But, as with lots of hobbies, what does one do with the creations? So, can we talk? What do you think of this print? Does it create feelings of remorse, thoughtfulness, or ambiguity? Is there an art form you have dabbled in, but, like me, wonder what you’ll do with what you create? Please leave a comment or two, and we can talk! I promise to respond as quickly as possible.

10 on the 10th reminder…

Don’t forget this month’s edition of 10 on the 10th! It’s next week already! “Can” implies ability and “may” is asking for permission (always a teacher). I thought it would be fun to make all of May’s questions “Can” questions. Now, these questions could easily be answered, “Yes” or “No.” But, where’s the fun in that? Please elaborate on your answers. I hope you’ll play along!

Affiliate links and such:

Just a reminder that Marsha in the Middle may use an affiliate link. Those links are usually italicized. If you click or make a purchase from an italicized link I provide, I may receive a small commission at no cost to you. Thank you for your support. As of right now, I also have an affiliate code for Kantha Bae! Use MarshaintheMiddle in the promo code box for $5 off any order (excluding Bestie restocks)! I have also become a Halftee Partner. Use the code, MARSHA2098, for 20% off any purchase. I am now an affiliate with Clara Sunwoo. You can use my code, MARSHA10, for 10% off your entire order. In case you didn’t know, bloggers must disclose the use of affiliate links. That’s why I include this in each post. I am now so very happy to tell you I am an April Cornell Brand Ambassador for another season. You can use my code, MARSHA10, for 10% off any order over $75.

Thank you!

I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading, commenting, subscribing or emailing! It truly means so much to me! If you’d like to follow me on Instagram, you can find me here.

Where you can find me:

Linking up with Nancy’s Fashion Style, My Bijou LIfe, Fine-Whatever, Is This Mutton, Shelbee on the Edge, Chez Mireile, The Grey Brunette, and Away from the Blue as well as Deb’s World. I also link up with This Blonde’s Shopping Bag, Doused in Pink, I do deClaire, Mummabstylish, and Style Splash. Please check out these wonderful ladies and their blogs! I also am a co-host for Ageless Style on the third Thursday of the month and Songful Style on the last Monday of the month. I co-host Traffic Jam Weekend with Michelle every Thursday. I also host Final Fridays on the last Friday of the month as well as 10 on the 10th on the 10th of the month! I do hope you’ll check out all of these blogs and link parties!

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