Edoardo Chiossone

Saigo Takamori, by Chiossone

By Chihiro Ishii

Edoardo Chiossone was a painter from Italy. He was also a woodblock artist. His name is not famous in Japan. However his works are popular even though over 100 years have passed since he died.

The Meiji Emperor, by Chiossone

These are Chiossone’s famous works. He drew Meiji Emperor’s and Saigo Takamori’s portraits. Although Chiossone had never met Saigo Takamori and there were no pictures of Saigo, he drew his portrait with the advice from Tokuno Ryosuke, Saigo’s compatriot.

Also, Chiossone helped manufacture of paper money in Japan as one of the hired foreigners. Japan established the way to make paper money themselves.

Edoardo Chiossone

In 1833, Chiossone was born in Genoa, Italy. His family were printers and bookbinders. He entered an art academy in Liguria when he was 14 years old. He learned about sculpture of copperplate print. After his graduation, he became a professor in this art academy. He was strongly interested in manufacture of paper money, so he got a job in Italian National Bank, and later, he transferred to Dondorf-Naumann Company.

Dondorf-Naumann Company was a large company of printing in Germany. In Japan, they had no mass production method of making paper money in this period. Therefore, Japanese government ordered Dondorf-Naumann Company to make Japanese new paper money. Dondorf-Naumann Company printed Meiji-Tsuho and sent it to Japan.

Meiji-Tsuho banknote made by
Dondorf-Naumann company

However, it was not easy for Japan to order much paper money to foreign countries. In this period, the main way of transportation was shipping. The shipping charges were expensive. Also there were a lot of dangers on the way, for example, sinking or pirates. Japan had several difficulties ordering paper money from Germany. To avoid these problems, Japanese government decided to hire foreign experts and establish the technical methods to make paper money themselves.

In 1875, Chiossone came to Japan as a hired foreigner. Okuma Shigenobu invited him. Chiossone introduced several kinds of methods, ways of drawing, and printing. Also, he drew new Japanese paper money design. Japan succeeded in the mass production of paper money. In addition, Chiossone’s work was detailed, so it was impossible to make counterfeit bills.

Chiossone painted not only Japanese paper money, but some portraits. According to above-mentioned explanation, Chiossone drew the portraits of famous people like Meiji Emperor, Saigo Takamori and Kimura Masujiro. He also drew more than 500 national bonds, stamps and securities. A lot of Japanese young people were taught many kinds of artistic techniques by Chiossone.

In 1891, he retired his job in Japan and received 3000 yen as his retirement money. He didn’t go back to his mother country. In his later years, he bought and collected a lot of Japanese art objects. He was interested in Japanese arts. In 1898, Chiossone died in Kouji-machi, Tokyo. After his death, his house was made into a museum.

The techniques which Chiossone introduced to Japan proved to be useful. Even though over 100 years has passed since he died, these artistic techniques help making contemporary bills. Chiossone contributed to Japanese development greatly.

He was one of Oyatoi-Gaikokujin, hired foreigners. In my opinion, Chiossone was also one of the most familiar foreigners to Japan. The reason why he has died in Japan, didn’t go back to his mother country. Also he loved and collected Japanese arts. Therefore, he contributed Japanese great development. He was one of the heroes in this period.

Reference List

Donatella Failla/January 11^th, 2013/Connecting Europe and Meiji Japan : Edoardo Chiossone and Japanese Art/International House of Japan http://www.i-house.or.jp/eng/programs/japanihj20130111/

Hired Foreigners in Meiji period http://www.photo-make.jp/hm_2/ma_21.html

Georges Ferdinand Bigot

Georges Ferdinand Bigot

By Hatsumi Yoshino

His background

Have you ever heard the name Georges Bigot, or seen his art works? He was famous as an artist and a cartoonist. He was born in 1860 in France. His mother graduated from a famous artist school and he lived around arts so he was interested in arts and paintings. After graduating from art school, he met a French artist known to be a Japanese art enthusiast and he learned about Japanese arts or Japan from him so he became interested in them. In 1882, he came to Japan and he worked at Japanese military as a foreigner employee. After that, he taught French at Nakae Chomin’s school and he contacted Chomin’s apprentices, so he learned of campaign for democratic rights. Because of this experience, he began painting critical cartoons. In 1887, he published “TOBAE” to criticize Japanese government for foreigners living in Japan. In 1893, before coming back France, he moved to Inage, Chiba and in same year he followed Japanese military to record Sino- Japanese war. In 1889, he came back France.

Three elements influenced his life. First is his mother and his friend, second is Nakae Chomin and third is Sino-Japanese war. I suggested that the first influence was his mother and his friend. His mother graduated from a famous art school so he was interested in arts. When he was 8 years old, he drew states of the Paris commune. His art style of painting real life also came from this experience. In addition he met his friend who liked Japanese arts. At first when he met his friend, he was taught Japanese ukie, not critical cartoon. However he could know Japanese art, he wanted to go to Japan.

Next is Nakae Chomin. Bigot taught French in Chomin’s school. Its school was attended by students who achieved the campaign for democratic rights. So Bigot could know Japan’s politics and he began to paint critical cartoons. At that time Japanese government wanted to change a treaty between Japan and other countries. However Bigot disagreed with this opinion, and thought it was too early to change them. So he criticized Japanese government with his cartoons.

Last influence is Sino-Japanese war. Bigot followed Japanese military to record this war. He painted hospitals of the battlefield or soldiers who did trivial works. In Russo –Japan war, he was asked to paint its war.

My influence

Indiscriminate imitation

I saw Bigot's pictures when I was a junior high school student and a high school student in history classes. At first I was surprised that a foreigner painted these pictures. Because I think they could not directly criticize Japan but he painted them like a cheating. However they were true viewpoints which foreigner had. My favorite picture is “Indiscriminate imitation”. This picture shows Japanese couple wearing dress and they think this dress suits them, but two monkeys are reflected in the mirror. According to this picture, Japanese is equal to monkey and they did not really westernize. They just imitated western country. I think Bigot looked at Japan critically. Some other foreigners also expressed criticisms in their books or pictures. Bigot’s picture was easy to understand, because people who did not know English could not understand books in English, but pictures did not have letters so they could understand artist’s feelings easily.

Explaining our discussion

I would like to explain our group discussion. My first discussion question was “If you lived in that time, and you saw Bigot’s picture, what would you have felt?’ Second is “Bigot was not famous in France but he was famous in Japan, so do you think he was happy or unhappy?” Last question is “what are differences between Edoardo Chiossone [an Italian portrait artist described in other posts on this blog - Ed] and Bigot?”

First discussion question was “If you lived in that time, and you saw Bigot’s picture, what would you have felt?’ A group member said if I could understand that the pictures looked down on Japan, I would have gotten angry. Other members said they would have got angry or sad.

Second question was “Bigot was not famous in France but he was famous in Japan, so do you think he was happy or unhappy?” A member said he might have been happy because he was interested in Japan and loved Japan. In addition I explained that he got award for his picture which he painted in Inage, so after hearing this fact, members said he was so happy because he painted his favorite view in Japan, so he was happy.

Last question is “what are differences between Chiossone and Bigot?” My group member introduced Chiossone who was Italian painter and he painted Japanese good points or contributed to Japanese government. They were opposite, so what are differences? A member mentioned Bigot just joked and he did not really criticize Japan. Because he loved Japan and he wanted to introduce real Japan to foreign countries.

Thanks to this presentation, I could know details of Bigot and I want to research him more. Many foreigners who I do not know contributed to Japan. Present Japan is made by not only Japanese but also foreigners.

References

Bigot’s Wikipedia

http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A7%E3%83%AB%E3%82%B8%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BB%E3%83%93%E3%82%B4%E3%83%BC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georges_Ferdinand_Bigot

Edoardo Chiossone

Chiossone's famous portrait of Saigo Takamori

By Yuka Nakajima

One of the famous portraits which everyone knows in Japan is Saigo Takamori’s one. When we were elementary students, we had to look at him in our history textbooks many times. However, I guess there are few people who know who drew this portrait. Now, I will introduce a man who drew Saigo’s portrait. His name is Edoardo Chiossone. He was born in Italy, and was an artist. His family was running a business of printing and plate making. So, from 14 to 22 years old, he learned copperplate engraving at an art school. Then he won the special prize and become a professor. Besides these, he won the silver prize in international exposition in Paris in 1867. After that he was interested in making paper money and got a job in a bank in Germany in 1868. At that time, this company was producing the government bills called Meiji Tsuho and he also had to do with manufacturing.

In 1875, he was invited by Okuma Shigenobu and came to Japan. Then, Okuma showed the exceptional pay for Chiossone and gave him the chance to make use of his engraving skill. Why he was invited? That’s because it was a problem for Meiji government to produce elaborate paper bills that could not be forged. If Japan continude asking the foreign company, it would have been very expensive and not safe, so Meiji government sought the person who could introduce the techniques to aim for nationalization.

I said a short while ago that Saigo Takamori’s portrait was drawn by Chiossone. However, Chiossone had never seen him and did not have his picture, so how did he draw his portrait? He got an advice from Tokuno Ryosuke he is nepotism of Saigo. And he made the image based on the model of Saigo Jyudo, Takamori’s young brother, and Oyama Iwane, Saigo brother’s cousin. And his most famous portrait is Meiji Emperor’s one.

In my opinion, Chiossone really liked his field of learning. And he contributed many things to Japan. It is not just historical event, also facts we directly touch. For instance, as I have said before, it means we learnt Japanese history in elementary school. Then, we recognized “Saigo Takamori” with that portrait that everyone knows. I am wondering about that because though the portrait was drawn a long time ago, we who are living now use it and learn history. It is interesting to connect past and present.

However, this portrait is not real. It means it is not based on Saigo himself. So, I heard an interesting fact. As you know, the statue of Saigo is in Ueno. It is based on his portrait, so this statue is also not Saigo’s real appearance. One day, his wife visited to Ueno, but she said “this is not my husband”. Is it interesting, isn’t it? In other words, we will never recognize the real Saigo’s appearance thanks to Chiossone. However, Chiossone is one of the person who gave us source of learning and significance. Now, I feel glad that he came to Japan.

Edoardo Chiossone

By Haruka Sato

Edoardo Chiossone

First, I will introduce background of Edoardo Chiossone. He was born in Italy as a son of printer in 1833. He started to learn copper-plate engraving at Academic Ligustica aged 15, graduated the institution aged 22 and then he got special prize at competition, so he became a printing instructor from 1857. He started to work at Italian national bank in 1867. 1 year later, he was sent to Dondorf-Nauman company where made Japanese banknotes in Germany. In 1875 he was invited to and arrived in Japan as a leader at Japanese National Print Bureau. He died in 1898 in Tokyo.

He made portraits of Meiji emperor and Saigo Takamori. He made over 500 products which are banknotes, postage stamps, portraits and so on in Japan.

Secondly I would like to summarize discussion. One group member mentioned that Chiossone had high potential skills for painting and making postage stamps because he was a son of printing family. That means his youth influenced his work. When he was young, he could learn many printing skills and was able to experience printing technology at his home because of son as a printing. I agree with the idea. Another said his youth was not so important for him because he just only learned printing. I was not able to understand the idea little bit, however that was very important opinion because before I heard the opinion, I only thought his youth influenced to his work, so this opinion let me notice there is another side’s opinion. When I led the discussion, it felt hard for me because sometimes my group members did not answer my question because my questions were unclear. I know that was my fault of this discussion however I wanted a little help from group members if they was not able to understand the meaning of my questions. I had to think of more specific and clearer answers and lead the discussion.

Finally, in my opinion, Edoardo was an important person for Japan because he was one of the pioneers of printing, especially postage stamps and banknotes. If he had not brought the skills to Japan at that time, we might not be able to send letters today. He was also popular as a collector of Japanese arts, so he loved Japan. I concerned he had close Japanese feelings. He could understand Japanese feeling and culture because he was collector of Japanese arts. That is why he was able to succeed in Japan. He had talent to make and lead Japanese national printing Bureau.

As I mentioned when I asked group members two questions, at first my group members did not answer them. That showed my questions were not clear to answer and not specific. When I led actually the discussion I really noticed the position of leader is difficult and hard. I had to prepare for the presentation and discussion. If I researched Edoardo Chiossone before presentation and discussion, I might come up with specific ideas. On the other hand, I thought that I could do my best to my power point. Through this project I learned the difficulty of leading members in case of discussion. I had many faults in this project, so I learned many things from these faults and I will try to be good leader next time.

<Reference>

Edoardo Chiossone Wikipedia. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edoardo_Chiossone

Edoardo Chiossone http://www.photo-make.jp/hm_2/ma_21.html

Meiji gingu Q and A http://www.meijijingu.or.jp/qa/gosai/10.html

Edoardo Chiossone

Edoardo Chiossone

By Ayako

Edoardo Chiossone was a famous engraver. He had a strong relationship with Japan because of his talent of art. Edoardo was born in Italy in 1833. His father was an artist so he was born in an artist’s lineage. He came to Japan as an “Oyatoi” foreigner [Editor's note: foreign government advisors in Meiji era Japan were known as oyatoi-gaikokujin, or “hired foreigners”] and made paper money, stamps, and portraits. He loved Japanese arts and culture. He was a big and essential person for Japanese paper money history.

Japan’s paper money was made by a German company. However, Japan thought that if they continued to receive money requests from that company forever, it would cost a lot, so they decided to invite a person who can make paper money and teach how to do so. Edoardo came to Japan and made the paper money from his sculptor knowledge. He also taught Japanese people how to do it. When he was a child, he went to an art school and studied copper-plate engraving. He took some prizes for his art. After he graduated school, he worked at the copy company in England.

Edoardo worked as an Oyatoi foreigner for 16 years. His life in Japan was better paid than other Oyatoi foreigner. His salary was higher than others at that time and he used that money for his hobby. He liked to collect arts so he bought 3,269 Ukiyo-e [woodblock prints], 1529 copper-ware, and 1442 Tsubasa [part of a katana sword]. After he finished his term, he still stayed in Japan. He liked Japanese art and history. The most surprised thing is that he finished his life in Japan and his grave is in Tokyo Japan.

His most famous achievement was making Japanese paper money. He was the person who brought the Japanese paper money to Japan. He also made stamps and portraits. He designed the first stamp in Japan. The famous Saigou Takamori’s portrait [often called the last true samurai, Saigou was instrumental in overthrowing the Tokugawa shogunate and forming the new Meiji government, but was killed shortly after when he led the Satsuma Rebellion against the new government] was made by Edoardo. He had never met with Saigou Takamori, so he saw his brother and cousin and made the portraits. However, Saigou’s wife said the portrait is not similar to his face. Chiossone's art was famous in Japan, and he made more than 500 things for Japan through this term.

In conclusion, before I searched about him, I didn’t know that Japan’s paper money was made by foreigner. His job was very important for Japan so I can understand that he had the highest salary of Oyatoi foreigners. I was also surprised about Saigou Takamori’s portrait. We learned from the text book and the history book that Saigou’s face was like the portrait, but in fact it’s not his real face and it’s made from Edoardo’s guess. I think he really loved Japan and Japanese culture. If he hadn’t liked Japan, I think he would have gone back to his country after his term was finished. Moreover, from his arts collection, I can learn that he liked arts from the bottom of his heart. He used a huge amount of money to collect the arts. This is not an easy thing when people live in a foreign country. After I learned about him, he became my favorite person in the genre of visitors to Japan.


References

No name. Asemue Asia-Europe Museum Network. Retrieved on 23/01/2014
http://asemus.museum/museum/museo-darte-orientale-edoardo-chiossone/

No name. International House Of Japan. Retrieved on 23/01/2014
http://www.i-house.or.jp/eng/programs/japanihj20130111/