Kimono as Art: The Landscapes of Itchiku Kubota

Kimono as Art (courtesy of Canton Museum of Art)

Great artists transport you. In the way that Monet can walk you through a watercolor, Itchiku Kubota’s unique designs at the Canton Museum of Art invite the visitor into his world– full of Japanese landscapes, prisoner-of-war experiences, innovative textile techniques and a reverence for nature and light.

But the door into Kubota’s universe is constructed from a very unique medium–oversized silk kimonos (Japan’s traditional full-length garment). Forty of them hang in the museum like magical, technicolor coats that if worn (perhaps by some eight-foot giant) might actually transport you to Kubota’s workshop at the bottom of Mt. Fuji. The exhibit has certainly changed the landscape at the Canton Museum of Art.  

“From the scale to the quality of the show, it’s absolutely the biggest thing the museum has ever done,” says Mary Byrne, museum marketing and development manager for the new exhibit Kimono as Art: The Landscapes of Itchiku Kubota. “It was in the U.S. in 1995 — it went to the Smithsonian–which was unusual because they really don’t have exhibits of living artists– and it hasn’t been here since.”

While at the Smithsonian, it sold more catalogs than any show in its history, probably because the experience is so unique. Notably, Kubota’s grand vision called “Symphony of Light,” depicting the universe in four seasons, is worthy of the price of admission ($10 for adults, $7 for students and seniors and school tours and kids under 12 are free). In one long room 30 kimonos (each seven-feet tall and five-feet wide) combine to create a tapestry of a mountain and lake scene (Mt. Fuji-inspired no doubt) changing from “Autumn” to “Winter.” The vision seamlessly surrounds the viewer in a circular setup (each kimono connecting), creating a cosmos reminiscent to Japanese woodblock printing that transforms from the warm orange and reds of fall to the chilly white snowscapes of winter.

The “Symphony of Light” is prefaced with ten individual kimonos that stand on their own and a fascinating history of the artist and his unique techniques. (Like his introduction to the art of kimono dyeing at 14, his three years in a Siberian POW camp, his fascination with the way light changes natural settings and his secret methods to tie-dyeing and inking amazing images onto textiles).

Just getting the exhibit to the museum was a multi-year negotiation with Kubota’s Japanese museum, spearheaded by the Canton Museum of Art, Arts in Stark and, specifically, the Timken Co., which engineers bearings and alloy steel and which spent about a million dollars to bring it to Canton. All and all, it’s an opportunity you don’t want to miss.

“It’s unlikely it will come back to America,” says Byrne, noting the exhibit ends April 26. “Just experiencing this continuous landscape– no one has ever done that before. It’s worth that for the visit alone. Then there are other things too. Come to Canton, get some food on Court Avenue, hit the Football Hall of Fame, and then come see this once in a lifetime experience.” –Keith Gribbins