TOMIYAMA TAEKO

Oil on canvas

32 1/2 x 42 1/2" (FRAMED)

2008

Wandering Minstrels and Puppeteers is part of the series, Hiruko and the Puppeteers (2008), and is one of the largest and most ambitious of the artist's career sustaining her longstanding focus on transnational history, warfare, and Japan's brutal colonization of its Asian neighbors. This work represents the curtain call for the sea wanderers and travelers. Among the cast of characters are Malaysian and Indonesian puppets, Polynesian masks, a Western minstrel, Otafuku (a Japanese goddess known for her round face, rosy cheeks, and a cheerful smile, symbolizing happiness and prosperity), and the literary figure Ah Q from Lu Xuns 1921 novella. Lu Xun (1881-1936), a pioneering Chinese writer, used vernacular Chinese in his works to expose the struggles and injustices faced by common people amid modernization and Western imperialism. Tomiyama calls these characters troubadours (tabi-geinin), evoking medieval wandering performers who carried culture and religion with them, freely mingling and sharing ideas across borders. Tomiyama even includes herself in the painting (bottom right), identifying as a fellow traveler and puppeteer performing her art around the globe.

Following traditional Japanese naming conventions, last name is provided first.

2008

TAEKO, Tomiyama

b. Japan, 1921-2021

Gift of Sakata Natsume in memory of her mother Tomiyama Taeko

2025.001.003