Uemura Tsugutoshi

     I've been looking at a lot of Japanese magazines lately, including ones for fashion subcultures and the like. I was looking at some Gothic and Lolita Bible scans the other day and saw this crazy image I had to trace down. It was a stretched cathedral, pulled to cover as much of the canvas as possible. I eventually recognized it as the Sagrada Família in Barcelona, but the artist and piece names were both in Japanese. 

サグラダ・ファミリア（聖家族教会 or Sagrada Família）by Uemura Tsugutoshi from the Miyazaki Digital Museum site  

    I translated them and found the artist, Uemure Tsugutoshi, but on the English internet, I could only find his more abstract works. They're weird and beautiful and complex, but not what I was looking for. The piece I had seen (and the piece above) reminded me of Paulo Uccello's weird perspective but even more absurd, playing with perspective mathematically instead of trying to just understand like Uccello. It really reminded me of all that great weird Renaissance stuff I hadn't seen since my beginning art history classes. 

サンタドレア教会（マントヴァ）サンタドレアキョウカイ（マントヴァ） depicting the Basilica of Sant'Andrea by Uemura Tsugutoshi from the Miyazaki Digital Museum site

    Often, when you need to research an underrated artist (or unpopular like when I had to do research on Conrad Kiessel), you first have to find any strands of existence, before you even attempt to find good English sources. I had so many tabs of artist profiles that told me nothing but the name that brought me there. Looking up the Kanji for his name brought me closer and closer until I found the Miyazaki Digital Museum. They had a number of his works and I was able to get a clearer image of the influences and thoughts behind the work. 

    I learned the pieces were done in tempura and from the 80s. The choice of tempura reflects the period the basilicas all come from, except the Sagrada Família of course, which was also done in watercolor and ink. Uemura paints in a style that is washed out like it's the brightest day of the year. Most Renaissance painting gives me this feeling as well, especially Michaelangelo's paintings. 

Michaelangelo's Last Judgement

    Sadly, none of them are the basilicas I saw for the short time I was in Florence, but still iconic images anyways. The Siena Cathedral piece is my favorite. I love the way it plays with you like any illusion, but on a more intricate level. That intricacy keeps your eye moving, trying to understand this structure and how it can stand all on the same ground. I also just love Renaissance architecture, before architecture became a baroque science where no one could be right. 

シエナの大聖堂 (Suenna Basilica) by Uemura Tsugutoshi from the Miyazaki Digital Museum site

    I don't have much more to say, but I have so much more I want to show. There is a painted Sagrada Família as well, and that one is especially bizarre because it is subtler than the other buildings. The cathedral is much more compact, without roof space for the perspective shift. Instead, the streets were made incompatible. I find the colors too muted though, there are no contrasting terracotta roofs like an Italian basilica.

    

もう一つの聖家族教会(2) by Uemura Tsugutoshi from the Miyazaki Digital Museum site

    That's it for my internet treasure hunt. It was very interesting, the Miyazaki collection is vast and will be a source I return to when looking for Japanese material culture. Hope you enjoyed it!

Bye!! 🍟🏰