1001 kimonos at Sakura Festival

Sakura Festival is opening tomorrow… no, today!

I am so impressed with the hall, the organization and the organizing committee is great, I can talk about it a lot, but the photos will express my emotions much better, so I will be brief: from three exhibitions we had held, this one is a hundred percent the best in all aspects of museum business.

Here is the link to the amazing project by Sokolniki Museum and Educational complex (the organizers of the Sakura Festival, but on that subject we will speak later on), the Contemporary Museum of Calligraphy: http://www.calligraphy-expo.com/

Let us now focus on the photos.

“Ready! Steady! Go!” Our collection is waiting for a transport. The collection has a 1st anniversary on April 15th. What a big collection gathered in one year!

I want to especially thank the organizers for transporting our collection by car! We used to transport it by taxi earlier This is the FIRST TIME we have received such a warm welcome! We are so grateful!

I found out about the festival on Thursday, April 9th, and immediately emailed the organizers. They phoned me on April 10th although I hadn’t left my number. We organized the exposition and signed papers on April 12th. But there was no free showcases left for kimonos. Anyway, there was none of them on April 11th too! They were arranged on April 13th.

This flash-like call for action is fascinating! Do you know the old-movie plot when the main hero has its house built in one day with collective help? So, I found myself in exactly this kind of film. My showcases were built all in one day.

“This is the place for our garden-town!” (meaning, our kimonos)

While the showcases are being installed, there is some spare time to stroll down and look at the other pads, covered with ikebana-like beds

Or with bonsai.

This is the time to get our showcases installed! It is already happening!
To be completely honest, we planned to exhibit the dolls in the State Tretyakov Gallery, but we did not for lack of showcases. We demonstrate this collection of china dolls for the first time. We are grateful to MVK for solving the technical aspect of the exposition.

The kimonos are getting installed (“on the way!”)
Furisode kimonos, which two fitters are carrying, are incredibly wonderful!

“A couple of Pavilions” for modern Uchikake kimonos…

… in the process

… and here is the result. Let me introduce you, the first photo publication of such beauty.

Tomesode kimonos, which our collection began with, are in the foreground. Furisode kimonos ornamented with cranes and sakura, are in the background. Lyubashka will wear them when she gets older.

Placing the famous Uchikake kimonos, unofficially called a Hard-working Girl. This time we are not going to put it on hundreds of guests, it will be left in the showcase.

(Yes, this is not a man's business to wear a kimono, which weights 3.5 kilos!)

This photo proves that the windows are crystal clear.

Well, I want to especially mention the cleaning aspect at the exhibition. I have never seen before the floor being cleaned up during the installation. Plenty of times!
My boxes for kimonos transportation had been almost thrown out. ALMOST! The next cleaner politely asked me if she could clear them away. Windows, stanchions and panels were cleaned an uncountable amount of times. I have never seen a table in the restaurant be cleaned up the way the floor has been cleaned in this hall!

I have almost everything installed.
The Autumn Stream: Susohiki geisha kimono is in the foreground. A couple of Pavilions for Uchikake kimonos. Sakura and A Ship of Treasures Tomesode kimonos are placed in the background and turned up to demonstrate the painting.

The doll stands should have been changed in a while…

… meanwhile I am passing by the ikebana-like beds.

I have to admit, the ikebana looks stunning, with the fitters in the background. This is not a joke! I am serious! This magical beauty would not be seen to anyone without these people in red overalls.

I am heading to the ground floor where pillars are illuminated in blue and walls are decorated with calligraphy masterpieces.

Look, that wall in the background seems to be covered with curls of elegant handwriting! Let’s come closer and find out what it is so beautifully written with…

Wow, the idea is brilliant!

Despite the late hour the fitters are installing something on the ground floor too! What is it, I wonder? They are mounting a photo report highlighting this pavilion’s installation.

Here is my advice to you: click on the photo and you will see snippets of the exposition. The pavilion, an amazing exhibition pavilion, was built faster than an assembly kit. The facade was bare in the morning (not decorated at all!), but by the evening it has already bathed with lights!

Here, I have finally got the right planks and have placed the dolls on it. But they seem to not look okay: it is simply not possible to see a doll from every angle.

The empress doll has finally got her crown on, so now you can define its age! It was made in the 30s, not later!

Now I am waiting for the final glassing to be done and meanwhile, roaming the exhibition again…
It is 10 o’clock in the evening, and there is nobody else in the building except the chief executive doing the evening rounds and giving the last orders (we will come back to this later).
The exhibits: some of them are resting in peace, getting ready to rock tomorrow’s exhibition, when other ikebana are just smartening up.

There are neck-pieces ornamented with Japanese prints on both the ground and the first floors.

Origami. Go

A scroll of something I do not know. Another wall and bamboo again.

The dolls are finally placed under the showcases! It is time to go home!

So, I am on my way home. The time is around 11 pm. The gardener ran into me at the stairs. His working day is not finished yet… and I have no idea when it began!

And over there, on the left, something is getting installed into the showcases of our kimonos. They must be arranging lights.

I will explain. Since I signed onto the festival at the last moment, the organizers honestly warned me about the impossibility to arrange lights in my kimono-decorated showcases. There is just no possible way to do it. Well, I can get over it.
But, there is a special reason behind me mentioning the evening round of the chief executive. I did not pay attention to what orders he was giving, none of my business. But as you may see, when I was leaving they began to install lights into my showcases.
A dialogue between the fitters:
— Vasiliy Andreevich, are you going to go home tonight?
— No!
A bit of joke is undoubtedly present.

Last note: during the whole day there was music playing in the hall. Japanese or relaxing European sounds.
To get installed with music!!!
7 hours of hassling… i.e. 7 hours of something that could be called a hassle but it was just an off-gauge situation. Partially, thanks to the music and to the rest, thanks to all the rest!

Here is an exclusive report right from the yet unopened exhibition!

Barkova Aleksandra Leonidovna

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