"What characterizes Japanese art is its obsession with lines," says Sumie Jones.
The Indiana University professor of Japanese and comparative literature is the lead-off lecturer for the College Women's Association of Japan's annual lecture series, which will be held Feb. 26-27 and March 6-7, on this year's theme of "Line in Japanese Art." Six leading figures from the arts and academia will address the theme from varying standpoints; Jones's keynote lecture Feb. 26 will provide "An Overview of Line and Its Use in Japanese Arts."
Few arts are more dependent on line than calligraphy, and the second lecture, "The Aristocratic Beauty of Line in Kana," will be given the morning of Feb. 27 by leading calligrapher and Gotoh Museum chief curator Akira Nagoya.