The Looking Glass for Vamp Fairies By Kuniyoshi Kaneko

The notorious drawings by Kuniyoshi Kaneko (1936-2015), whose ancestors were brothel keepers in the Yoshiwara district, indeed have a similar grotesque vibe as the Night Procession of the Hundred Demons of his namesake. Yet his art also has a rich Western background that is amusing to recognize. The world of Kaneko's paintings is a dream-like place balancing between a nightmare and a fairytale, heavily inspired by the Freudian interpretation of Lewis Carroll's Alice and the aesthetics of Nabokov's Lolita. The peak of his artistic activity fell on the 1970s when huge debates on the age of consent happened among the French intellectuals.

Fig. 1. Kuniyoshi Kaneko with a cat (twitter.com)

Fig. 2. staticflickr.com

Fig. 3. staticflickr.com

Fig. 4. Pluviere (staticflickr.com)

Fig. 5. auctions.yahoo.co.jp

Fig. 6. Ariadne (auctions.yahoo.co.jp)

Fig. 7. Ariadne II on the cover of Fujimi Roman Bunko (amazon.com)

Fig. 8. Pinterest.com

Fig. 9. auctions.yahoo.co.jp

Fig. 10. auctions.yahoo.co.jp

Fig. 11. auctions.yahoo.co.jp

Fig. 12. mandarake.co.jp. Tennis play and the papillons in the paintings may refer to the works of Nabokov, since tennis and entomology were his hobbies.   

The Sunsets and the Mouse

According to the official website, Kuniyoshi Kaneko was born in 1936 on July 23rd as a healthy baby weighing 3950 grams. Only two years old, Kaneko drew sunsets with crayons, which amazed his mother. Such an early manifestation of the talent brings to mind the famous legend about a tiny mouse that sprung out of the feet of painter Sesshu (1420-1506); fortunately, unlike Sesshu-kid, little Kaneko didn't have to draw the life-like creatures in sand with a big toe as a brush and his tears as a paint; nobody tied Kaneko’s hands for the whole day to discourage him from painting instead of doing the monk apprentice's chores. Yet, Kaneko's adolescence was also connected with a religious institution as, in 1950, he started attending Sunday school at Ginza Church of Christ. But it was at the Warabi Daiichi National School where he received primary artistic training after enrolling there in 1943. The young pupil was especially good at drawing, crafts, and calligraphy.

Fig. 13. Marquise de Sade (auctions.yahoo.co.jp)

Fig.14 . Sade’s Juliette, 1972 (artsy.com)

Fig.15 . Sade’s Juliette (auctions.yahoo.co.jp)

Falling for Everything

In 1951, impressed by the dance performances of Sonia Alloa, Kaneko secretly attended ballet lessons. The following year, when the artist enrolled at the Seigakuin High School, became a movie era; the teenager was particularly mesmerized by An American in Paris and Roman Holiday. Two years later, passionate about everything beautiful, Kaneko discovered the fashion world and turned into an avid reader of Vogue and Harper's Bazaar, though his debut as a designer happened back in 1947 when he got a role in a school play. With these background interests, the twenty-year-old artist entered the Nihon University College of Art to study under Kabuki stage designer Motohiro Nagasaka. 

Fig.16 . auctions.yahoo.co.jp

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Click HERE for an article on one of Kaneko's greatest influences, the Polish-French artist Balthus

Sources: kuniyoshikaneko.com; fr.wikipedia.org; auctions.yahoo.co.jp; aucfan.com