Tag - japanese-art

 
 

JAPANESE ART

Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2014
'Modern Japanese Painting: Masterpieces by Yokoyama Taikan and Others'
This year is the 100th anniversary of the resurrection of the Japan Art Institute, or Nihon Bijutsuin, an artistic nongovernmental organization that had dissolved in 1913 after the death of its founder Tenshin Okakura.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 28, 2014
'Iwasaki Collection: From Confucius to Ukiyo-e'
To commemorate its 90th anniversary, Toyo Bunko, Japan's largest Asian studies library, is exhibiting in its museum the Iwasaki Collection, originally collated by founder Hisaya Iwasaki (1865-1955), Mitsubishi's third president.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2014
When it came to horror, ukiyo-e artists kept their wits about them
This exhibition showcases more than 250 Japanese woodblock prints of the Edo Period (1603-1868), depicting ghosts, goblins and other supernatural beings. The lurid subject matter, a graphic illustration of the shadowy spirit underworld, is as delightful as it is ghoulish.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2014
Combinations that break the surface like a lotus flower
At exhibitions, ancient ceramics tend not to be the draw card that contemporary photography can be. With this in mind, The Museum of Oriental Ceramics, Osaka, has combined the two together.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 10, 2014
'Hokusai and Riviere: Thirty-six Views Compared and the Hokusai Manga'
To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of French ukiyo-e artist Henri Riviere (1888-1902), the Sagawa Art Museum is showcasing the printmaker's famous "Thirty-six Views of the Eiffel Tower" alongside its inspiration, Katsushika Hokusai's "Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 3, 2014
'Welcome to Edo! Children Depicted in Ukiyo-e Prints'
Though the most famous of ukiyo-e prints and paintings often feature women, actors and scenery, children were also a common subject. In fact, in Japan, images of children, usually depicted in everyday activities, were some of the top-sellers of the 17th to 19th centuries.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2014
Kids' stuff that adults need to see
Perhaps in the wake of this attack on seriousness, many artists have since taken refuge in childishness, whimsy or playfulness, though these values have been carefully rationed in 'Go-Betweens: The World Seen through Children,' with the emphasis being more on showing childhood as a state of vulnerability and transformation.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2014
The evolution of Seiki Kuroda
In all too-common sophomoric slight to artists is: 'A child could have done that.' Seiki Kuroda (1866-1924), the most significant Western-style painter in Japan's early modern history, however, shows that even some young adults can not accomplish what takes years to hone.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2014
'Specters, Ghosts and Sorcerers in Ukiyo-e'
Ghouls, monsters, specters, ghosts — all manner of the supernatural have long fascinated and frightened in all cultures, but the Japanese have historically enjoyed a particularly entertaining, and pictorial, relationship with the eerie and uncanny.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 25, 2014
'Looking East: Western Artists and the Allure of Japan from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston'
After Japan finally opened up to foreign trade during the mid- to late 1800s, many of the West's well-known 20th-century art movements were, perhaps surprisingly, strongly influenced by Japanese art. Japonism became a part of Impressionism, Aestheticism and Art Nouveau, with Japanese aesthetics, themes...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 18, 2014
The Uemuras were not quite like mother, like son
Shoko Uemura (1902-2001) was born to Shoen Uemura, the most revered and financially successful female painter of the early modern period, who arguably did more to popularize the bijinga genre (pictures of beautiful women) than any other. Artistically, however, his mother is said to have taught him nothing.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 18, 2014
'Guess What? Hardcore Contemporary Art's Truly a World Treasure'
Contemporary artworks are rarely described as "world treasures," but here The National Museum of Modern Art, Tokyo has come up with its own definition of the phrase. These are works that are literally "treasures" in terms of their high market value, but also because of their ability to convey universal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 11, 2014
Imagination runs wild in Japanese contemporary art
"Nostalgia and Fantasy: Imagination and its Origins in Contemporary Art" is a ragtag grouping of nine individual artists and one unit, each of whom focus on extremely different things. It is difficult to say, in fact, where "nostalgia" and "fantasy" come into play in some instances. With only minimal...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 11, 2014
Nature prevails at the Hakone Open Air Museum
The Hakone Open Air Museum, located on the slopes of Mount Hakone in Fuji Hakone Izu National Park, is built in a beautiful natural setting of over 70,000 sq. meters. It is perfect for a day trip from the city or an extended weekend excursion, and its expansive grounds showcase more than 100 monumental...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014
Tokihiro Sato: A breath of fresh photography
Using a penlight at night and a mirror during the day, the photographs in Tokihiro Sato's 'Photo-Respiration' series show trails or spots of light in darkened landscapes, of which probably the most audacious are scenes of central Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014
How Japan crafted its modernization
When Japan ended its isolation in the mid-to-late-19th-century, it had lots of disadvantages compared to the other major powers. But one distinct advantage that its isolation had preserved was its craft industries and the skills of its craftsmen.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014
'Essays in Idleness: Enjoying Classical Literature Through Art'
The collection of essays "Tsurezuregusa (Essays in Idleness)" written by Yoshida Kenko in 1330-31 is considered as one of the three greatest zuihitsu (collection of writings) in Japan, along with "Makura no Soshi (The Pillow book)" by Sei Shonagon and Kamo no Chomei's "Hojoki (An Account of My Hut)."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014
'Hirayama Ikuo: Message to the Next Generations'
Ikuo Hirayama (1930-2009), who experienced the World War II atomic bombing of Japan, based his artistic values on his strong Buddhist faith and his search for peace. He traveled along the Silk Road to research the history of Japanese art and worked on many bold and grand paintings with Buddhist themes,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 4, 2014
'Yasuyoshi Sugiura: A Natural History of Ceramics — Making Nature'
While attending college, Yasuyoshi Sugiura was moved by the words of his teacher, who told him, "ceramics are stones." This inspired the artist to explore the potential of clay as a medium, creating works such as the "Stones of Ceramics" series" that, as the title suggests, presented small, realistic...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 28, 2014
The 'Great Wave' that reached the West
Ukiyo-e prints could be found in Europe from at least 1795 at the Cabinet des Estampes at the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris. It was not until the 1850s, however, when trade between Japan and Europe began to flourish, that the craze for things Japanese began to crescendo.

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