Here are my top 5 reasons why you should see this wonderful exhibition:
1. It's stunning.
Forget everything else, and just look at these images. Disconnect your brain, your knowledge, just let your eyes feast on the pictures. Or if you prefer seeing with your fingers, there's a whole section of the display in the foyer area where you can feel samples of the embroidery. The only problem is restraining yourself from reaching out to the pieces in the main display!
One of my favourite pieces shows cranes and wisteria. The striking colour contrasts mean it's gorgeous from across a room, while the detail means it's wonderful from an inch away. All around the room you can hear people playing the "Which of these would you most want to take home" game. Everyone seems to have a different favourite.
2. It's specific.
The Ashmolean can be a bit daunting because it contains such a range of times, media, cultures, peoples, and styles. Forget about trying to cram all that culture into your brain - this exhibition focuses on one medium (silk embroidery) practised in one country (Japan) in one era (the Meiji) which spanned 44 years (1868 - 1912).
3. It's impressive.
My god, is it impressive. Even if you're not much of a one for embroidery this is still extraordinary. It's an exhibition which gets complete strangers talking to each other, united in flabbergastion. It's an exhibition where they've borrowed the family-friendly hand lenses (available in a box by the door) so you can settle the argument once and for all that it really isn't painted, it's stitched.
The resulting pictures are a mix of the stylised (dragons & clouds, borrrowed from Chinese mythology) and the ultra-realistic (hawks on snow-covered branches, sea waves). In fact there are a lot of birds in this exhibition, possibly because Japanese bird symbolism is rich and varied, or possibly because they're pretty. But somehow the creatures remain wild and raw. These are not disney-fied, twee anthropomorphisms, they're killers with wilderness in their eyes.
4. The history is interesting too.
I'm not a particular historiphile, but I love learning snippety facts in a way that doesn't feel like history. These textiles are a fascinating window onto a period where Japonisme was all the rage and where Japan was selling itself to the West.
All of the techniques on display were long-established in Japan, but for more prosaic uses: yuzen cut-velvet dyeing and embroidery stitches sitting exactly parallel (a sort of satin or long-and-short stitch) were employed in making Kimono or other practical textiles; the long, tall wall-hanging shape was borrowed from art scrolls; the shiny pictures are based on lacquer-work. What is unusual is bringing all these together to create art textiles designed to appeal to the Western market.
There were hundreds and hundreds of these textiles produced, and transported all over the world. They're easy to ship, since they're lightweight and fold up. The problem is that they didn't survive. Light, cats, folding, moths, and smoke from cigarettes and coal fires have rendered these hangings rare. Again, an example in the foyer shows typical damage. It's sad, but also interesting here, as it does allow you to see the construction of the padded underlayers.
The other fascinating thing about this art form is that the Japanese did not have a tradition of oil painting, which is important because of the shininess of these pictures. Ink painting is matt, so where the west might have used oils to depict the sea in the moonlight, in Japan the equivalent is probably silk painting or lacquerwork. So from the artists' point of view this art form, whatever its reasons for development, gave a different opportunity for expression. The portrait of the lady reading is the most stunning in this regard - different stitch directions in different areas mean as you move past the painting from side to side it seems to move too. The photographs (right) just can't show the shine of the silk.
5. It's now or never.
Yes, I know people are always selling exhibitions on the "last chance to see X before it leave the country" ticket, but nearly all of these textiles have been gathered together (and bought) by the Kiyomizu-Sannenzaka Museum in Kyoto. The Ashmolean is the only place they'll be exhibited before going to their new home. So it's not the last chance to see them, but you'd have to travel!
And one for luck, in case you're not already convinced...
6. It'll make you want to have a go.
There's something about the excellence on show that makes you feel simultaneously inadequate and itching to pick up a needle and thread. The Ashmolean are clearly expecting this, as shown by the very desirable How To books on sale in the exhibition shop, and the Big Stitch Day they're holding on 1st December. The Embroiderers Guild will be there running free workshops for adults and children. Half the tickets are available on the day, half are bookable in advance by email or phone.
