Japanese Art Research Paper

I believe that the Japanese shoguns and European patrons were very comparable in their own respective manner, and that their idea of "art" had the same connotation. European society at that time believed that everything they did revolved around God, or religion; as this was reflected in the arts. Similarly, Japans version of this religion was Zen Buddhism, in which their lives gyrated around this belief. Both cultures were obsessive about they're idealistic views, and expressed it through artistic talents. Although these two cultures believed in differing ideologies, their desire for what they did believe in influenced their art, and way of life; which makes them very much alike.

This paper is a formal analysis of the Marble grave stele with a family group relief sculpture. It is a pentelic marble style relief standing at 171.1cm tall carved by a master. It is from the Late Classical period of Greek, Attic which was completed around ca.360 B.C. . I chose to analyze this piece as apposed to the others because I’m mainly attracted to art and sculptures from the Greek era. The overall color used in this relief is ivory with a few cracks and pieces broken off. There is some discoloration which causes the color to come off as slightly light brown for most of the relief. The sculpture appears larger compared to the other sculptures in the art room. It represents a family which includes a man, his wife, and their

Alfred Stevens’ La Parisienne Japonaise is a painting of oil on canvas painted in 1872. This artwork I have chosen is a clear example of Japonisme from its time. The artist’s work of Japonisme blossomed after the Japanese-western trade agreement at the Paris’ World Fair of 1855. The influence of Japanese goods and art in the western world embarked a strong blend of culture in art. Prints, as well as other decorative materials, became exotic goods in the west.

Around the age of six years old, Hokusai began painting and even spent time as an apprentice wood-carver in his youth. He began the art of print making when he was eighteen. His most famous painting, The Great Wave, can be seen in museums all over the world even though Japan delayed it from catching on worldwide. Many believe that it was painted in the early 1800s, but Japan was not interacting culturally with other countries apart from trade with China and Korea. It wasn’t until 1859 when the Japanese were forced to open their ports that prints of The Wave spread across Europe. Originally, this piece wasn’t viewed as real art by Japanese politicians and art historians. Wood-block printing was used for commercial use and as a popular form of expression. The Japanese government wasn’t too thrilled “that such a seemingly lowbrow art form had come to define them” (15 Things). About five thousand to eight thousand prints were made but it is speculated that only a few hundreds of The Great Wave remain. The painting actually inspired music like Debussy’s La Mer.

Introduced by a mission from Korea in 552 C.E., Buddhism has long been a central theme in Japanese artwork. Since the king of Paekche, a kingdom in the South East of the Korean peninsula, first gave the Japanese emperor a bronze Buddha statue, the Buddhist art forms that were periodically introduced from China and Korea were tempered in the crucible of local custom and usage, to yield a rich tradition of religious art.

Japan at the turn of the century was clearly trying to westernize and change is isolated society into one more intellectually and scientifically involved with the rest of the world. When the Japanese open their ports to the western civilization food and merchandise were not the only things being traded. When ports were open the western way of living was integrated with the Japanese culture which gradually changed the way the

This was an influential import and made a huge impact on the Japanese community. There is a mixture of both drawn and photographed images within this chapter. Japanese artists mainly produced images that are printed or hand drawn, while western artists produced the photographed images. The chapter overall includes both a mixture of Japanese and western artists. The images within the chapter portray the viewpoint of the artist who was present at the time of the

Written language can change and can be forgotten but art will always stay constant, you can destroy people and their way of life but if art is preserved the way they lived their lives it will tell their story. Missing or stolen art has had a big impact on the world of art. There are many types of art that have been stolen; paintings, sculptures, jewelry, photography, and written artifacts. There are many questions on whether art is important to the preservation to a culture such as;

Visual opulence, creativity, inimitable vision, and a style that is highly influential are the many characteristics of an admired movement in art history, that being of the Post-Impressionism movement (1875-1892). This movement, which was a by-product of the Impressionism movement, is the bridging gap between the two movements known as Realism and Expressionism. Post-Impressionism takes on some of the stylistic characteristics of these movements; however, it does not contain the all too glossy visuals of Realism or the heavily fantastic visuals of Expressionism, rather it is the intermediary of these two poles. My paper will discuss why this link was absolutely essential to the history of art movements, and I will be specifically using the

The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art covers the various aspects of Japonisme and how it connects with Tissot’s painting Japanese Vase. According to the Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum, the term Japonisme was devised by Philippe Burty who was an influential art critic from France. Burty describes Japonisme as the “study of the art and genius of Japan” (120). Europe was introduced of this new type of art was during the 1850’s, but France welcomed and immersed themselves in the art of Japonisme more than any of the other European countries. Tissot was one of the many French artists who embraced the new art and infused the techniques within his traditional European realism style.

In 1850-1935, Japan has become an industrial power and replaced its traditional, feudal government with a regime in which ministers appointed by the emperor combined with parliament. The interwar years were not a time of crisis for Japan, however. During the 1920s, new cultural developments, an expanding economy and a brief commitment to liberal democracy produced important currents as well. In the 1930s, Japan turned to a more adventurous foreign policy in response to economic challenge and political change. Japan participated in the global economy by changing its government to benefit the economy, the emergence of open trade and still continuing to depend heavily on imports of raw materials.

The art of South and East Asia provided new forms for traditional ideas. Japan is one of a multiplicity of countries where the ideas of artists were rooted in the artistic traditions of previous eras or of other countries. These artists would then place their own spin on the art, in regards to both subject and style. Tradition and innovation are complementary qualities of the arts of South and East Asia, as the artists of South and East Asia both inspired other artists and took inspiration from other artists.

Even though Hokusai was a traditional Japanese artist, he had been absorbing painting skills from the west and The Great Wave off Kanagawa also used perspective in a way that "any Japanese viewer would have found thoroughly western." (Screech, 2012, p105). Not long after the work was created, in 1853, the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry and his black ships forced Japan to open to the world. Ships stemmed on from harbors, carrying goods with printed ukiyo-e on the wrappers which soon arouse the interests of the western world. Critics especially praised Hokusai as among the greatest masters of all time. As Screech (2012, p105) stated, "Hokusai seemed to show, at just the right time, that Japan was not just a borrowing nation but an originating one too." Impressionist artists were also inspired by his stylish work to develop an entirely new way of representing and even seeing the

This Paper will be an analysis of the development of Japanese landscape painting, analyzing the historical context behind these paintings and what led to the changes in style. Both of these paintings are representative of their specific culture during this rapidly changing time and these changes will be discussed in relation to the artwork. I am going to be discussing Japanese landscape painting, the outside influences shaping Japanese landscape painting but also focusing on the internal elements of Japanese culture shaping the style of artworks. The changing techniques and styles as well as the changing political climate will all be looked at.

Many times scholars have attempted to put a finger on the exact definition of modernity in Europe. Almost all of these attempts have proven useful for Europe, however, these definitions are difficult to transfer to The East. In regards to art, the search for a definition of modernity has been much more successfully, but, again, fails to apply to The East. Many, including Alfred Barr, the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York has called Japanese prints “archaic, primitive, or exotic traditions.” While there was clearly an immense amount of exchange of ideas from east to west in terms of art and philosophy, Europe remained in the forefront in the minds of art historians. As Yorozu Tetsugorō’s piece Landscape Through The Trees (figure 1) shows, Japanese art can indeed be modern. Yorozu’s unique position as an easterner in the world of modern art allows him to cherry-pick the most modern aspects of Western styles to make his piece the pinnacle of modernism. This modernism is predicated on two key concepts: Yorozu learned oil painting in Japan, unlike those before him, and he had access to examples of contemporaneous pieces via different art publications. This paper seeks to locate the Western modern art styles which lead to the production of Landscape Through The Trees. The piece is the pinnacle of modernism because of Yorozu’s position as a non-western artist which allows him to synthesize Japanese prints, futurism, and cubism into a single piece.