画廊主的小插曲 vol.11 | 有意义的青春

SHUNPUDO GALLERY was founded in 1916, making it a 109-year-old establishment. My grandfather, Nakajiro Yokoi, was born in Okayama in 1875 and moved to Tokyo with the aim of becoming a lawyer, but he developed hearing problems and was forced to give up the dream and pursue his favorite career in painting and calligraphy.

He became what we call a calligraphy and art dealer (the term art dealer only came into use after WWⅡ), but this world of calligraphy and art was full of cool, well-mannered people who often got into trouble with colleagues and customers, and sometimes got into trouble with the police.

My mother told me that at such times, my grandfather would come to the rescue, dressed in a haoribakama, getting on a rickshaw and setting off to deliver art, demonstrating the true worth of a former lawyer.

My second father, Yokoi Tsutomu, was a very popular Kabuki actor at the age of 18, but in order to take on the stage name Onoe So-and-so, he had to be a direct descendant of the family, and apparently he ran away, saying he couldn't stay in such a stupid place.

He literally experienced the words of Fukuzawa Yukichi, "The family clique is the enemy of one's parents."

My mother told me this story, and it made sense to me that this was the origin of my father, who danced Japanese dance (and even tap danced), loved kouta, and was skilled in both drawing and writing.

However, there was not really a career that suited my father's temperament, so naturally I took over the family business of calligraphy and painting. However, I suddenly changed careers from being an actor, and since my grandfather was involved in the painting business, similar to what we would now call an auction, I decided to hold an exchange meeting, which was an auction for fellow art dealers.

At that time, private exchange meetings were competed for supremacy by MARUEIDO's Maruei-kai, MATSUME ART GALLERY's Senzoku-kai, and SHUNPUDO GALLERY's Chuo-kai, but in order to compete with the private meetings that monopolized the market, Ginza galleries took the lead in launching mutual meetings with membership systems, and the Japanese Art Dealers Mutual Association and the Western Painting Research Association were born, ushering in an energetic era of rivalry. Currently, the only private meeting is Natsume Susumu's Senzoku-kai, and he is active as a private meeting owner with full responsibility.

While helping out at the Central Union run by my father, I gained a wide range of experience in fierce bidding and competing with other companies, but it was something I learned during a conversation with my father that really opened my eyes.

My father had once said that working with the exchange meetings was his calling, and it was then that I first learned that there is such a thing as a calling, and that there is a world of difference in the level of resolve you need to have in life. From that moment on, my relationship with him was not just that of a father, but that of a life mentor.

In 1960, my father set up a store in Kyobashi and the gallery's designer, the renowned head clerk Mr.Ichikawa Shosuke, held numerous solo exhibitions and introduced new artists to the world.

Incidentally, we were very fortunate to inherit this Kyobashi store through the good offices of Yoshida Seinosuke's grandfather from MITOKO SHOKAI CO., LTD.

We moved from Kyobashi to Nihonbashi in 1988, and to be honest it was a really scary time.

The store was lined with esteemed members such as IKEUCHI FINE ART CO.,LTD., who played a tough game with collectors from all over the world (I was touched when Ikeuchi Katsuya congratulated me and Yoshida Seinosuke of MITOKO SHOKAI CO., LTD by saying that we were important people to the industry), SETSUGATODO, and KOCHU-KYO, and next door MITOCHU-KOEKI's owner Nakajima Yoichi gave us some cloth and I was dumbfounded when he said it was a gift and it must have been something expensive and historic, but I have no idea where it is now.

Iwao Setsu, the owner of SETSUGATODO, was a classmate of mine so I relied on him, but he was actually a formidable man.

He had said that appreciation was superior to creation, so his obsession with beauty was extraordinary; a certain critic once said it was like smoking opium in a den of evil, and he was spot on.

Mr. Setsu appears on the second floor of my gallery every week to check how many works have been replaced, so I was in a tense mood from the moment we met.

One day, I was holding an exhibition of drawings by a certain oil painter on the second floor of the gallery, and Mr.Setsu appeared and purchased one piece. A few days later, he contacted me and said, "Mr. Yokoi, please come to my gallery. I'm looking at the work you gave me right now, and I'm hanging it next to the ones I have."

This oil painter is a genius who paved the way for realistic painting, and sparked a 30-year boom in realistic painting, with many invitations to European art dealers and large-scale solo exhibitions.

Even though they are drawings, they are extremely detailed and realistic, so I was confident that they would be evaluated in the same way as original paintings.

There were indeed two of his works displayed in his gallery, but I'm sure he said, "Hey, Mr. Yokoi, this isn't right, you won't take it."

The other piece was actually a sketch by Henri Matisse.

Hmm, I surprised that he's comparing him to one of the great artists of the 20th century.

I returned the money in silence, but I had mixed feelings, for even though he was an expert at discerning the authenticity of beauty, I sensed a certain formidable  fear in this giant, who had no mercy on me.

Looking back on it in later years, I realised that I must have received special training.

 

Living in Nihonbashi area, I met many artists and customers and reflected on how we got through the turbulent Showa era, being scolded and encouraged at the same time.

This place is the hometown where we spent our youth as art dealers, and so we feel a sense of nostalgia for it.

We have written the history of SHUNPUDO GALLERY, but we would also encourage everyone to take a stroll around the Kyobashi and Nihonbashi areas.

We look forward to seeing you.

 

【Akira YOKOI／SHUNPUDO GALLERY】

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春風洞画廊　Shunpudo Gallery

10:00 - 18:00
〒103-0027  東京都中央区日本橋3-8-10 
3-8-10 Nihonbashi, Tokyo 103-0027
TEL：+81-(0)3-3281-5252（代）
WEB：https://shunpudo.co.jp/
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"Gallerist's small episodes'' features contributions from unique shopkeepers who set up shops in this artistic town. If you have any interest in art, the town, or anything else, please come visit the owner's shop and listen to what he has to say.