Reflect upon Japanese art and its interaction with the West. Japan was both influenced by the West and in turn influenced
Western artists and aesthetics during the 19th and 20th century. Each of the questions requires you to review the information presented in the lecture pdf
files posted to CANVAS and reflect upon these interactions.
Use only the posted lectures for reflecting on the questions. If you wish to use another source, email me for permission. The lectures have been updated and
enhanced to give you more contextual information to base your reflections on. Basically, everything that was covered in the class lectures is there, but more
textual information and comparative images have been provided in the posted lectures.
Answer any background information questions from the posted lectures in your own words and also make sure that the reflection portion of the question is
entirely in your own words.
Reflective Question #1 – Ukiyo-e vs Shin Hanga
Background Questions
1.) What are the formal artistic characteristics of an Ukiyo-e nishiki-e print as in lecture 18 slide 24? Don’t just list – define and explain.
2.) What are the formal artistic characteristics of a Shin Hanga print as in slides 36 and 39? Don’t just list – define and explain.
Reflective Question #1
Using the Japanese woodblock prints in lectures 18 and 20, which do you prefer – Ukiyo-e style prints or Shin Hanga prints? Why do you feel that way? Are
there any specific elements that you find appealing? Do you think that one style is better than the other?
Reflective Question #2: Nihon-ga
In Lecture 19 we looked at Western Style Painting, Yoga and its promotion by the Japanese government and art universities as the true art that everyone
needed to study and discouraged the study of the “old fashioned” traditional arts.
Background Question
1.) What was the principal conflict in art education in Meiji Japan and which type of art was favored by the government?
2.) Why is Kutsugen by Yokoyama Taikan considered to be a comment on this conflict about the arts and who does the lead character symbolizes? What is the classical story behind Kutsugen and why is this appropriate as a symbol for these conflicts.
3.) What is Morotai in Nihonga painting? What does it mean and how was it used as a term with regards to Nihon-ga painting?
Reflective Question #2
Using the answers to the questions above, what are your personal thoughts about Nihon-ga and Yoga? Is one better than the other? Why do you think the
conflict occurred and from your viewpoint was it necessary? (The answer is your thoughts on this conflict in the teaching of Japanese art. Everyone will be
submitting a different answer. I just ask you to think about it and write a paragraph in your own words giving your thoughts)
Reflective Question #3: Interpreting a Japanese Painting
Using Slides 66 – 82 of Lecture 20 and the discussion of Nihon-ga in Lecture 19:
1.) Explain briefly why it is a Nihon-ga painting. Be sure to define terms.
2.) Explain the cultural symbolism present in this painting in detail. Be sure to explain and define all terms/symbols referred to.
3.) Reflecting on the symbolism presented in this painting that you have just defined above, how to you personally read and interpret the meaning that the
artist was trying to communicate. Do you personally like this painting? Is it a successful work of art?
reflective question #4
We discussed Abstract Calligraphy as a movement within late 19th and early 20th Japan. Look at Lectures 19 and 20. In Lecture 19 refer to slides 6 – 16 for
the work of Yamaoka Tesshu. In Lecture 20 refer to slides 120 – 121 At the work of Morita Shiryu and Sokya Ueda and Western artists influenced by Asian
calligraphy.
Background questions:
1.) What was the attitude towards calligraphy amount the general population of Japan, not the artistic elites, prior to WWII? Explain briefly.
2.) After WWII, was calligraphy an important part of the pre-college curriculum in Japanese schools? Explain briefly.
3.) What was the Bokujinkai and how did they implement their plan to make calligraphy respected as an important art form again? Explain briefly.
Reflective question:
1.) Looking at the work of the Japanese calligraphers Morita Shiryu, Sokyu Ueda, and Hasagawa Saburo, in the context of the work of Yamaoka Tesshu,
especially slides 9 – 11 in lecture 19, do you feel that they have mare a radical departure from artistic calligraphy as practiced at the turn of the century In
Japan.
2.) Looking at the work of the Western Artists Gérard Schneider, Franz Kline, and Mark Tobey in Lecture 20, before and after the Bokujinkai exhibition at
MOMA, New York in 1954, reflect on the influence of Japanese calligraphy on Western artists. Did the Japanese calligraphy exhibition have any effect on the
direction of Western abstract art? Did Western Abstract art have any effect on Japanese Calligraphers? Is “Abstract Calligraphy” derived from Abstract
Expressionism or is it something else. Explain briefly the reasons for your thoughts on each of the above
