Dutch winter landscapes based on Hendrick Avercamp by Japanese artist
Lee Jay Walker
Modern Tokyo Times
The contemporary Japanese artist Sawako Utsumi adores Dutch art. This concerns the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries because this period was a Golden Age concerning the number of esteemed Dutch artists with unique styles (all inspired by Dutch and Flemish Renaissance paintings). Therefore, Utsumi is inspired and pays homage in her distinctive style to Hendrick Avercamp (1585-1634), Esaias van de Velde (1587-1630), and Aert van der Neer (1603-1677) in several art pieces.
This article is based on Utsumi’s homage to Avercamp. The National Museum says, “Hendrick Barentsz. Avercamp was a non-verbal (and probably deaf) artist known as ‘the Mute of Kampen’ (de stom van Campen). He specialized in painting winter scenes. His paintings must have appealed to Dutch patriots as representing the landscape and life of the newly formed Republic of the United Provinces of the Netherlands.”
Utsumi adores many aspects of European and Japanese art. For example, the gracefulness of rinpa art to the northern English artist L.S. Lowry. Landscapes and religious themes occur time after time – irrespective of Buddhism, Christianity, or Shintoism.
The National Gallery of Art says, “In Amsterdam, Avercamp came under the influence of the Flemish painters of mannerist landscapes who were then living in the city, notably Gillis van Coninxloo III (Flemish, 1544 – 1607) and David Vinckboons (Dutch, 1576 – c. 1632). Based on stylistic evidence, it is probable that one or both of these painters was Avercamp’s teacher, but no documentation of his apprenticeship exists.”
Utsumi (original by Avercamp above) provides her own individual color scheme and thought patterns in her two art pieces that pay homage to Avercamp. For example, in one art piece, she reduces the number of people to nine. This denotes the mathematical angle and infinity. Therefore, for Utsumi, the work of Avercamp – and others including Esaias van de Velde and Aert van der Neer – represents the “past,” “present,” and “future.”
Utsumi provides her northern Japanese artistic mindset and fuses this with the rich cultural traits of Dutch art. Therefore, a nice fusion of ideas emerges through the prism of her art.
https://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/artists/hendrick-avercamp
https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.129.html
https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/sawako-utsumi/shop – Sawako Utsumi (you can buy many products from art to cups too so much more)
http://sawakoart.com – Sawako Utsumi and her website
ABOVE IS A NEW BOOK BASED ON THE ART OF SAWAKO UTSUMI
Book Review: Sawako Utsumi and her Kindred Spirit
European and Japanese Art: Buddhism, Christianity, Landscapes, Rinpa, Shintoism, Ukiyo-e, and Dutch Masters
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