Early Works

No matter how famous an artist may become in their later years, none of them are born with their skills complete. They all have to undergo a long period of trial and error before they achieve recognition and this formative period represents a very important part of any study of their lives.
Young people who wish to become artists find the early works of great masters easy to relate to and these often serve as an incentive. I loved painting as a child and I never tired of looking at early sketches or studies by such artists as Michelangelo, Rodin, Picasso or Matisse. I remember comparing the works they made when they were my age with my own sketches, this often leading to despondency and despair but occasionally convincing me that perhaps I had talent after all. One thing that these early works of the great masters share in common is a joy in creation that is evident every picture.
There is a famous sketch of a plaster cast that Picasso drew when he was thirteen, it is a marvelous work that appears to this day in all the textbooks on how to sketch from plaster models, demonstrating the early age from which his skill was apparent. No matter how his style was to change in the future, I forgive him for the sake of this one sketch from his youth.There is a marble relief of the Virgin Mary that Michelangelo was said to have sculpted when he was still in his early teens. I do not know what level of expression was achieved by other apprentice stone masons of the time, but it seems hard to believe that this work was created by one so young, and it is interesting to note that it demonstrates the characteristics that were to become the hallmark of his work for the rest of his life.
At Enjoji Temple in Nara Prefecture, there is a sitting statue of Buddha Mahavairocana that the sculptor, Kokei, allowed his son, Unkei, to make when he was still in his early twenties, this fact being testified to by a statement written within the statue itself. The small head and lean body demonstrate a clean break with the voluptuous styles of Kyoto's "In" or "En" schools, representing a revolution in the field and allowing us to sense the fresh enthusiasm Unkei felt for his subject.

To bring this discussion back into more familiar surroundings, the disappearance of the apprenticeship system meant that in the majority of cases an artist's first major work is likely to be the one they produce for their university graduation. It is not a class composition or a practice piece, but their first attempt at expressing themselves to the world, making it something to be proud of.
Several of my classmates from art school have distinguished themselves in a variety of fields and built a solid base for their careers and looking back at the works that they produced for their graduation, I realize that some of them already contained the seeds of their future success while others give me cause to smile. However, whether or not they relevant to the artist's later work, these early works obviously play an important role in providing an understanding of the artist's overall career. The same can be said of the works that they produce after graduation but which were not accepted for major exhibitions or which they created for private exhibition at rental galleries. These also offer an interesting insight into the course of their careers.
Maybe I should mention here that the sculpture that I produced for my own graduation was not in wood but stone. After graduation it was put on display in a sculpture park in at Nagatoro in Saitama Prefecture although I heard that it was later moved somewhere else. I have rather ambivalent feelings towards this work, sometimes I feel that I would like to see it again, at other times I do not.
At the beginning of this essay, I mentioned that Michelangelo's early work displayed most of the characteristics that were to stay with him for the rest of his career. This is what art historians refer to as the "first manifestation of individuality" which means to say that an artist displays the individualistic style that will stay with them for their entire career in their first work. Looking back at my graduation piece, I realize that this is true for me as well as for many of my friends from the same period.
Among the collectors who frequent the galleries of Ginza, there are those who specialize in purchasing the works of new artists who have yet to make a reputation for themselves. They say that this is not merely due to the fact that they are able to purchase the works relatively cheaply but also because they are able to derive pleasure from watching the artist develop over the long term. However, with collectors like this around, artists can never afford to produce second-rate work.
I first started to display my sculptures about twenty years ago and today art dealers occasionally bring me works that I made during that period to raise the money to pay the rent on the galleries where I exhibited, to ask me to authenticate and sign them. Faced with these works of my youth, I am often embarrassed by their ineptitude, but at the same time I realize that they display a freshness and power that I cannot create today. It can be a shocking experience, like suddenly being confronted by myself as I was in my twenties. Unlike paintings, sculptures are generally displayed without any kind of cover to protect them and over the years they tend to pick up a film of dust and numerous small scratches. These blemishes speak of the experiences the work has gone through since it left me and they make the work all the more precious to me when I see it again.
This is the time of year that art schools throughout the country are holding their graduation exhibitions so why not pay one a visit and see if you can discover the next great artist?

Translated by Gavin Frew