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Internship report with the Fine Art Collections

Institutional Analysis

The four hundred year old collections of the University of Edinburgh contain a wide variety of paintings, prints and artefacts of immense cultural and scientific

significance. The Fine Art Collections, one of ten disserve collections within the university holds 1400 works of art in its collections and is notable for its

emphasis on Dutch and Flemish art of the 17th and 18th centuries, Scottish portraits, and modern Scottish art. Collections are typically acquired through commission, purchase, gift and bequest.1 In terms of the history of museum

development, there was a transition from private collection to public museums in the 17th century.2 The collections of the University of Edinburgh arise from the

craze of private collections, while it belongs to the public as well. The works of the Fine Art collection can be seen on display throughout the University. Many of the most important portraits and busts are on view in the public spaces of Old

College and the Chancellor’s Building in Little France. The office of the staff of Fine Art Collection is located on the fifth floor of the main library.3 According to

the UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH MUSEUMS & GALLERIES COLLECTIONS POLICIES DOCUMENT 2010-2015, the mission of the Fine Art Collection

embodies four aspects: 1)benefiting the teaching, learning and research, 2)improving access into collections, 3)achieving excellence in stewardship and collection development, 4)extending the capacity of workforce and fundraising.4

The staff of Fine Art Collections comprises the curator, Dr John Scally and the officers of the Museum Support Team, managed by Jacky MacBeath, who has

overall responsibility for advertising, fundraising and policy writing in order to develop the collections in the University. Moreover, MacBeath is involved with

other projects at the moment, thus the Fine Art Collections is managed by Jill Forrest. The Fine Art Collection, as part of the University of Edinburgh is mainly funded by the national government budget for the University. However, the

budget for the Fine Art Collections is neither regular nor abundant. Additional income is funded through other sources. The Fine Art Collections belongs to the

Public catalogue Foundation, a charity which supports photograph art works.5 The Fine Art Collections also receives grants from the National Galleries of

1 ’’website of Fine Art Collections,’’ accessed 15 Mar, 2013,

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/collections/crc/mg/index.html

2 Edward Alexander, Museums in Motion (Nashville: American Association for State and Local

History Press, 1979), 8.

3’’Website of Fine Art Collections,’’ accessed 15 Mar, 2013.

4 “UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH MUSEUMS & GALLERIES COLLECTIONS POLICIES DOCUMENT

2010-2015,’’ accessed 15 Mar, 2013,

http://www.ed.ac.uk/polopoly_fs/1.72375!/fileManager/UofEd_UC_Policies_documents_10-15.pdf

5 Accessed 15 March, 2013, http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk

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Scotland, which offers support to train and fund to museums and galleries. Some of the Fine Art works are on loan to the National Galleries of Scotland.6 This

additional support enables the Fine Art Collections to save money and secure supplementary funding.

Currently, lack of funding remains a problem for the Fine Art Collections. The

Venon catalogue, for example can only provide 10 free memberships for the use

of the catalogue, while if it exceeds 10, the University has to pay for it. Owing to

the ongoing lack of lack of funding, only ten members of staff can use the

catalogue at any given time. Furthermore, the catalogue is only available on

specific staff computers when it has been installed. This is why the Fine Art

Collections intends to develop albums through Facebook page, which is, of

course, free of charge. Limited access to the Fine Art Collections is another

challenge of the Fine Art collections. The ‘Public space’ is only available to staff

and students. It is not in doubt available to the public. It appears that the Fine

Art collections attract little attention from students. According to Marie Malaro, a

good collection management policy covers a broad range of topics and the

access to collection objects is an important, if not a vital one.7 However the

special character of the University, quite unlike ‘normal’ museums and galleries

make the accessibility limited. Nevertheless, staffs in Fine Art Collections have

been attempting to encourage alternative forms of access, including electronic

means. The electronic availability of collections is now required as a crucial

aspect of collection management. In a university context, it provides an effective

and productive mean of supporting the ‘learning experience’ of students, but

also places a responsibility on collection managers to ensure that both staff and

students are familiar with electronic access, 8 whilst students are unfamiliar with

the Facebook page of Fine Art Collections. Thus, it is clearly significant to

promote the importance of sourcing of the collection on line.

The collections are rich in a number of fields and contribute to research in areas as diffuse as medical history, fine art, social and cultural history. John Burnett in the preface of the second series of the University Portraits pointed out that there

are few Universities in Britain with a large, diverse and distinguished a collection

6 Accessed 15 March, 2013, http://www.thepcf.org.uk/

7 Marie Malaro, “Collection management policies,” in Collection management, ed. Anne Fahy

(London: Routledge, 1995), 12.

8 Josephine Webb, “Collection Management to support learning,” in Collection management in

academic libraries, ed. Clare Jenkins and Mary Morley (Brookfield: Gower, c1999), 108-11.

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of portraits as Edinburgh.9 Amongst the works of the Fine Art Collections, the most outstanding are the five Raeburns and the portrait of William Robertson is

signed and dated 1792, reputed to be the only known signature of Raeburn. At the same time, the portrait of Robinson in 1798 is described by Armstrong as

one of the finest work of Raeburn’s portrait.10 Besides portraits by artists as eminent as Sir Henry Raeburn and Allen Ramsay, the Fine Art Collections also includes a humble of distinguished people including David Hume, George Watson

who was the president of Royal Scottish Academy at the time when Raeburn was at the height of his fame. With its rich resources for the study and research of

Scottish social and cultural history, the Fine Art Collections contains several outstanding art works.

9 Burnett,John & Howarth, David & letcher, Sheila. The University Portraits Second Series

(Edinburgh: The Edinburgh University Press, 1986), 01.

10 Rice, Talbot & McIntyre, Peter. The University Portraits (Edinburgh: The Edinburgh University

Press, 1957), 1-15.

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I) Facebook project

During my internship, I have been mainly involved in two specific projects: 1)

the management of a Facebook page for the Fine Art Collections, 2) research

into three Japanese Kabuki prints. In the following, each of my projects, what I

have leant and my contribution to the Fine Art Collections will be introduced. At

the same time, the related historical scholarship, particularly what I learn from

the course of 18th Century Cultures will be addressed. In the First place, Jill

Forest is building an account for Fine Art Collections on Facebook, and basically

my task is to support her to build this account. She uploads the photo of art

works on the albums of the Facebook, and leaves a number under each photo.

In my hand, I have a file which is a catalogue of all the art works in Fine Art

Collections. According to the number, which Jill Forrest left under each photo, I

find the name of the artist, and the name of the work from the file and add them

onto Facebook. In addition, ‘copyright of the University of Edinburgh’ will be

pasted under each photo. The purpose to build the Facebook account is to

improve access to the Fine Art Collections, and benefit to the teaching, learning

and research, which are two main missions of the Fine Art Collection as well.

Most departments in our university have had their own Facebook Account, and

the academics from a particular department might potentially be interested in

some portrait, which are helpful to their research.

As the collections are abundant, there are several albums on the Facebook

account. There is an album of 18th century portraits, which is serviceable to

understand the historiography which is picked up from the 18th Century Course.

For example, fashion was important for the 18th century man and wearing wigs

is a symbol of fashion. Among the portraits of the 18th century, wigs were worn

by almost all the gentlemen. The wigs varied in colours, shapes and materials,

and a well-made wig is the representation of high social status as well. 11

Moreover, the University also hold the portraits of a number of significant people,

such as David Hume, Henry Raeburn and Joseph Black, which is helpful to

visually recognize these luminaners of the Scottish enlightenment, encountered

in our course. In addition, after the seminars given by Dr Viccy Coltman, I find

myself re-evaluating matters of technique when I work with this project. For

instance, a portrait can be scrutinized through clothes, decorations, background,

gestures, gaze, and also dimension and signature of artist.

11 Marcia Pointon, Hanging the Head (London, Yale University Press, 1993), 107-41.

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II) Kabuki Prints

Jill Forest discovered the Kabuki prints during an audit of the Talbot Rice storage

areas by in the summer of 2012. As there was no existing university record, my

task has been to carry out research into the three prints to produce a detailed

catalogue entry. They are examples of woodblock prints, a medium which was

originally introduced to Japan from China, a mean of printing books and

illustrations. By the end of 17th century, album and large single sheet prints

began to appear. Prints were black and white initially or hand coloured, but by

the late 1760s, colour printing became popular.12 These prints of the University

should be full colour single sheets, because both the designers and the actor in

the print lived after 1760s. Moreover, although the designers are different, the

actor of Nakmura Utaemon III appears in all three prints. He was born in 1778

and just appeared on stage at the age of seven. Whenever Utaemon appeared

on tour, fighting was likely to breakout between his fans and those of jealous

rival actor. He is also a painter, playwright, and poet. After his death in 1838, a

booklet of sketches and poems, as well as a number of memorial prints were

published in his honour.13 In one print, there are two figures, but it is the same

person and both are Utaemon III. This type of drama increased to be attractive

as ‘quick change play’ and required one actor to assume several different roles.14

The play is shown in the Kabuki theatre, which is a traditional Japanese form of

theatre which combines songs, acting and dancing. At the beginning of the 17th

century, Kabuki was only played by female, and prostitutes as excellent actors

also appeared on stage. On several occasions, the government officials also

attended the prostitute performance. Consequently, in 1629, the government

banned the female performer on stage, after which, the role of female in the

play is acted by male actors.15 All of the three prints were issued in the same

place Osaka according to both the bibliography of the actor and designer (in the

appendix). In summary, these three prints are the single-sheet colour woodblock

prints of Kabuki actors in Osaka in the start of 19th century.

My analysis was based both on the physical examination of the prints and also

the same prints in other catalogue books. The designer of the prints, the name

of the actor, and his play in the play are generally shown in the prints (see the

12Roger Keyes & Keiko Mizushima, The theatrical world of Osaka Prints (Tokyo: Philadelphia

Museum of Art, 1973)

13 Keyes & Mizushima, 34-5.

14 Samuel Leiter, A kabuki reader: history and performance (London : M.E. Sharpe, 2002), 8-12.

15 Accessed 15 Mar, 2013, https://sites.google.com/site/utnarukami/kabuki-theatre-3/a-brief-

history-of-kabuki

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appendix). The three prints of the University and with caption, sorted out

through weeks are in the following pages. Hundreds of prints were produced at

the same time, the same print is possible to be reserved elsewhere. Moreover as

the kabuki prints were produced whenever a play was on stage, it is highly

unlikely that they were reprinted. More information on the designers is on the

attachment. Furthermore, the Kabuki prints were a product of Japanese

urbanization and entertainment. ‘Ukiyo-e’ or ‘floating world’, originally a

Buddhist word, means the entertainment and culture of the urban people. There

are three components: wood block print, Kabuki theatre and Yoshiwara (the

pleasure quarter of Edo).16 The preserved Kabuki prints are crucial to understand

the social and cultural history in 18th and 19th Japan.

16

Frank Whitford, Japanese Prints and Western Painters ( London, Cassell& Collier Macmillan

Publishers, 1977), 28.

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Ashihiro, The kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon III in the two roles of Heron

Maiden (Sagi-hime; top) and Sutasuta Boshu in the play Matakai naju ni bake 莫

恠踊化姿, performed at the Kado theatre, Osaka, in the third month, 1817. Series

title: From the Twelve Months Nakamura Utaemon Dance Pieces (Junigatsu no uchi Nakamura Utaemon shosagoto 十二月ノ内中村歌右エ門所作事).

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Hokuei, The kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon III in the role of Denkaibo in the

play Yomiuri chongare bushi 読売ちょんがれ節, performed at the Kado theatre,

Osaka in the ninth month, 1835.

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Hokushu, The kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon III as Osono, in the play Hikosan

Gongen chikai no sukedathi 彦山権現誓助剣 , performed at the Kado theatre,

Osaka, in the third month, 1825.

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In the 17th and 18th century, Japanese as well as Chinese luxury goods were

exported to Europe. In 1858, Japan signed treaties with Russia, Britain, France

and the United States, and more ports were open to foreigners. The commercial

connections with the west became more extensive and a number of Japanese

prints were exported abroad. These Japanese prints had a huge influence on

Europe paintings, particularly stimulated its transition from realism to

impressionism.17 In the second half of 19th century, European were crazy of

Japonism, the goods with design of Japanese characters, among witch, the

woodblock prints exerted the most powerful fascination. Maxine Berg argues that

the imported Asian goods in the 18th century impacted the industrialization, life

style and design history in Britain Enormously.18 In the 18th century, Japanese

fans, furniture, birds and flowers on cloth, and lacquer impacted the design

history in Europe,19 although Chinoiserie and Rococo are two dominant design

styles in the 18th century. However at the end of 18th century, Chinoiserie began

to decline and it was not until the second half of 19th century, the Asian craze

was re-introduced by the Japanese woodblock prints.20 This time, it influenced

the European painting style. Both the Chinese luxury in 18th century and the

Japanese prints in the second half of 19th century are essential to research into

design, consumption and fine art history in Europe.

This was my first experience of independent research, it was a valuable

experience. It was invaluable to consult experts in their field. It was fortunate to

know Dr Rosina Buckland, who is the senior curator, responsible for the

Japanese collections in the National Museum of Scotland. Furthermore, I also

acquire the skill of paper conservation. These three prints belong to the genre of

colour prints, while it has been badly faded, but a well preserved example can be

seen on the Appendix. The peripheral parts of the prints have been damaged by

worms and potentially because the paper board on the reverse is not anti-acid.

The prints would be taken off from the paper board and then to reframe them

into the anti-acid frames. A plastic film also needs to be applied on the surface

of the prints to prevent oxygenation. According to Elizabeth Kwasnik, the

protection, security and conservation are essential responsibilities for staff at

museums. Staff should, for example, check the natural environment of

17 Whitford, 13-6.

18 Maxine Berg, “In Pursuit of Luxury: Global History and British Consumer Goods in the Eighteenth

Century,” past and present, 182, (2004): 94.

19 Wichmann, Siegfried, Japonisme the Japanese influence on Western art since 1858 (London:

Thames and Hudson, 1981), 8-11.

20Hyatt, Mayor “Chinoiserie,” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 36, (1941):111-114.

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temperature and humility regularly and also be vigilant to insects and pest.21

This had been an extremely helpful insight into paper conservation techniques.

21 Elizabeth Kwasnik, “Foreign Ethnographic Collections Research Programme,” in Collection

management, ed. Anne Fahy (London: Routledge, 1995), 262-4.

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Bibliography:

Alexander, Edward. Museums in Motion. Nashville: American Association for

State and Local History Press, 1979.

Berg, Maxine. “In Pursuit of Luxury: Global History and British Consumer Goods

in the Eighteenth Century.” past and present, 182, (2004): 85-142.

Burnett, John, & David, Howarth & Sheila, letcher. The University Portraits

Second Series. Edinburgh: The Edinburgh University Press, 1986.

Keyes, Roger & Mizushima, Keiko. The theatrical world of Osaka Prints. Tokyo:

Philadelphia Museum of Art, 197.

Kwasnik, Elizabeth “Foreign Ethnographic Collections Research Programme.” in

Collection management, edicted by Anne Fahy London: Routledge, 1995.

Leiter, Samuel. A kabuki reader: history and performance. London: M.E. Sharpe,

2002.

Mayor, Hyatt “Chinoiserie.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, 36,

(1941):111-114.

Malaro, Marie. “Collection management policies.” in Collection management,

edicted by Anne Fahy. London: Routledge, 1995.

Pointon, Marcia. Hanging the Head. London, Yale University Press, 1993.

Roberts, Laurance. A Dictionary of Japanese Artists Painting, Sculpture, Eraics,

Prints, Lacquer. New York: Weatherhill 1990.

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Siegfried, Wichmann. Japonisme the Japanese influence on Western art since

1858. London: Thames and Hudson, 1981.

Talbot, Rice & Peter, McIntyre. The University Portraits. Edinburgh: The

Edinburgh University Press, 1957.

Webb, Josephine. “Collection Management to support learning.” in Collection

management in academic libraries, edicted by Clare Jenkins and Mary Morley.

Brookfield: Gower, 1999.

Whitford, Frank. Japanese Prints and Western Painters. London, Cassell& Collier

Macmillan Publishers, 1977.

“website of Fine Art Collections,’’ accessed 15 Mar, 2013,

http://www.lib.ed.ac.uk/resources/collections/crc/mg/index.html

“website of Museum and Galleries scotland’ national museum of Accessed 15

March, 2013, http://www.museumsgalleriesscotland.org.uk

“website of public catalogue Funding” Accessed 15 March, 2013,

http://www.thepcf.org.uk/

“Brief History of Kabuki.” Accessed 15 Mar, 2013,

https://sites.google.com/site/utnarukami/kabuki-theatre-3/a-brief-history-of-

kabuki

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Appendix one: bibliography of designers

(Quoted from Roberts, Laurance. A Dictionary of Japanese Artists Painting,

Sculpture, Eraics, Prints, Lacquer. New York: Weatherhill, 1990)

Hokuei (early 19th century). Studio name: Tokoen. Go: Hokuei. Biog.: Ukiyo-e

printmaker. Lived in Edo. Style close to that of Hokusai, whose pupil he was.

Note: Since many of the references use only the name Hokuei, it is possible to

confuse this artist with Shunkosai Hokuei(preceding Century), since he used the

same Kanji for his Go. (Roberts: 48)

Hokushu (fl. C. 1808-32). Go: Hokushu (from 1818), Sekkatei, shokosai(1811),

Shunko (until 1818), Shunkosai. Biog.: Ukiyo-e printmaker. Owner os a paper

stored in Osaka; said to have been a pupil of Hokusai;known to have studied

under Shokosai Hambei. All his prints associated with Osaka; in his tome the

leading Osaka designer of actor prints, especially of the okubi-e format, setting

the style for such prints. Boldly drawn in a somewhat tight, formal style; good

colorist, of great technical skill. Also illustrated many books, the earliest of which,

History of the Fourty-seven Ronin, was published in Edo in 1808. (Roberts: 49)

Ashihiro (fl.c.1820). N.: Harukawa Asgihiro. Biog.: Ukiyo-e printmaker. Worked

in Osaka. Pupil of Asayama Asgikuni. Specialized in Kabuki subjects. (Roberts: 6)

Active era of designers (Quoted from the appendix of Whitford, Frank.

Japanese Prints and Western Painters. London, Cassell& Collier Macmillan

Publishers, 1977.)

Hokuei (active 1824-1837)

HoKushu(active 1810-1832)

Ashrino (active 1816 - 1824)

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Appendix two : same prints in other galleries and captions

Hokuei, The kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon III in the role of Denkaibo in the play Yomiuri chongare bushi 読売ちょんがれ節, performed at the Kado theatre,

Osaka in the ninth month, 1835.

(Available at:

http://metro.tokyo.opac.jp/tml/tpic/imagedata/toritsu/ukiyoe/KA/KA4647-

X039.jpg

The inscription at top left of the print is a poem, signed Baigyoku 梅玉, which

reads 'Kise wata ni iroha yuzurite kiku no sono' 着せ綿にいろは譲りて菊の園. The

red design beneath seems to be the poet's seal (印).

The red underneath the designers name is the seal of Hokuei.

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Hokushu, The kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon III as Osono, in the play Hikosan

Gongen chikai no suketathi 彦山権現誓助剣, performed at the Kado theatre, Osaka,

in the third month, 1825. Reference image from Tsubouchi Memorial Theatre Museum, Waseda University,

Tokyo

一世一代 means the last time the actor acted in the stage.

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Ashihiro, The kabuki actor Nakamura Utaemon III in the two roles of Heron Maiden (Sagi-hime; top) and Sutasuta Boshu in the play Matakai naju ni bake 莫

恠踊化姿, performed at the Kado theatre, Osaka, in the third month, 1817. Series

title: From the Twelve Months Nakamura Utaemon Dance Pieces (Junigatsu no uchi Nakamura Utaemon shosagoto 十二月ノ内中村歌右エ門所作事).

The same print is from Victorian & Albert Museum

http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O421599/woodblock-print/

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Compared with other two prints, this one contains a series title on the right,

which is a strategy used by publishers to sell more prints. Many prints were not

part of series and it didn't relate to their popularity. The flower roundels on the

top right are probably indicators of the series.

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Appendix Three: general display on a Japanese prints and technique of

woodblock prints is available at:

http://www.japaneseprints.ru/reference_materials/articles/stamps/index.php?la

ng=ja

役者：Name of the actor

绘师：The artist who designs this painting

雕师：The person who curve this painting on the wood block

版元：Name of the publisher

改印: Legitimation of publishing

Technique of woodblock prints: The following is a link on Youtube about how the color woodblock prints are made. It is much clearer than the description of language.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dliF74ojOho

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Appendix Four: relevant website

1. More information on the actor Nakamura Utaemon III.

http://www.kabuki21.com/tamasuke1.php (Almost all the information, including

his names, his career, comments, his plays, and selected prints of him)

2. A website to trace the play in the Kabuki prints

http://www.kabuki21.com/pieces.php

3. A website to introduce the history of Kabuki play, including a bibliography of

Kabuki.

https://sites.google.com/site/utnarukami/additional-resources-2/bibliography-

additional-links

4. A website of the Kabuki prints in British National Museum

http://www.britishmuseum.org/explore/online_tours/japan/kabuki_theatre_of_j

apan/shunk%c3%b4sai_hokush%c3%bb-1.aspx

5. A catalogue of woodblock prints in Japanese

http://www.japaneseprints.ru/reference_materials/articles/stamps/index.php?la

ng=ja

6. Catalogue of Kabuki prints of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts

http://www.japaneseprints.ru/reference/genres/actors/index.php?lang=en

7. Facebook Account of Fine Art Collections

http://www.facebook.com/UniversityOfEdinburghFineArtCollection

8. Catalogue of Fine Art Collections on BBC

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/

9. My word press page

http://eighteenthcenturyculture888.wordpress.com/