Samurai swords and armour, woodcuts by renowned Japanese printmakers and an animated manga (comic book-style drawings) made for Louis Vuitton, the French fashion and bags company, all feature in the Land of the Samurai exhibition running at Aberdeen Art Gallery until August 18.
It shows what a strong influence Japan has had on artists in the West since the end of the 19th century.
Woodcuts by the world famous artist Hokusai hang alongside pictures by Toulouse-Lautrec, Pierre Bonnard and other Post-Impressionists whose work was fundamentally changed by their exposure to Japanese arts.
Jennifer Melville, the gallery’s curator, says: “To show how Japanese culture continues to fascinate and inspire, the exhibition also features contemporary art and objects, including the animated film commissioned from Murakami Takashi by Louis Vuitton to be shown in its shop windows worldwide.”
Aberdeen continues to have strong links with Japan, which began in the 19th century. The industrialist Thomas Glover, who was born in Fraserburgh and brought up in Aberdeen, moved to Nagasaki in the 1860s and became a co-founder of the Japan Brewery as well as the company that eventually be- came the Mitsubishi Corporation.
Glover, who was known as “the Scottish Samurai”, died in 1911 and his house in Nagasaki was turned into a museum, which these days attracts more than two million visitors a year. Now his Aberdeen home has been refurbished and is also open to the public.
The Glover House museum is the venue for various events taking place during the Land of the Sam-urai exhibition, including drop-in afternoon workshops for families on July 28 and August 4, when visitors can make daruma good luck charms and origami objects.
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