For the Non-western portion of this class I wanted to focus on the Japanese renaissance of the Edo period. Japanese culture is unique and often times startling in this day and age, and I feel it has a sort of alien appeal to it. Artwork from the early cultural periods of their development is so interesting, as well as their cultural roots and practices. I personally feel that Japan would have evolved into a beautiful technological renaissance, with many of their cultural roots still intact, if Commodore Perry had not invaded in the 1850’s and forced Japan to open their ports to Western trade and democracy. That is why I would like to choose to focus on Edo period art, or more specifically, Ukiyo-e style, also known as Woodblock Prints.
A little bit of historical background: The Edo period is a period of cultural expansion and emergent middle classes, under the harsh and strict rule of descendants of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was instrumental in the overthrow of the previous dynasty and responsible for the introduction of the Edo period or otherwise known as the Tokugawa Dynasty, named after him. Tokugawa seized power and installed a new system known as the Shogunate, with himself as the first Shogun. Tokugawa encouraged foreign trade, but was suspicious of outsiders, so he seized direct control of all outgoing and incoming trade through Japan’s ports. This alienation was impressed harder upon the country after the initial Christian forays into the country, and Tokugawa decreed that Christianity must be forsworn.
After the transition to seclusion, the shogunate wanted to pacify the public by disarming the Samurai and imposing the Confucian ideals of social order. The rigid class system imposed by this order created cultural hubs where merchants, artisans, and ex-samurai interacted and promoted the emergence of the middle class. Because of this strict rule the system worked very efficiently. Urban centers were built and maintained, the social elite were well educated, agriculture was productive, and the nation was unified with a financial system and well maintained road infrastructure.
Because contact was cut off from the outside world, traditions of the past were revived and refined in their art forms. Many traditional forms of art were parodied and manipulated into the art I am planning to share with you. The city of Edo, now known as Tokyo, went through a charismatic revival after a devastating fire in 1657, and ‘witty, irreverent expression’ came to characterize urban Edo artwork, giving rise to Kabuki theatre and the distinctive art form of Wood-block printing, or Ukiyo-e.
Ukiyo-e is a two-part form of art, requiring a skilled painter and an equally skilled wood-carver. The image is first designed on paper by the artist, and is transferred to a thin, partially transparent paper, which is laid over usually cherry wood, and the carver carefully cuts and chisels into the wood to re-create the image in negative, to be dyed and then printed onto the paper.
This first image is the work of Katsushika Hokusai. Hokusai was influenced by Chinese painters and created beautifully detailed works that were not always woodprints. Hokusai was born in 1760 and his career began in 1779 after his father sent him to be the apprentice of a man who did wood-prints to copy books, and create artwork often enjoyed by the social upper class. He was discovered there by his first teacher, Katsukawa Shunsho. Hokusai’s first 1779 works were a series of kabuki actors. He created much beautiful ukiyo-e artwork, but after 1793 when Shunsho died, he altered the course of his artwork and began exploring western European influences.
This painting by Katsushika Hokusai is titled “Amida Falls on the Kiso Highway”, painted circa 1833.
This is another painting by Hokusai, titled “Mount Fuji reflects in Lake Kawaguchi”. This painting is a part of Hokusai’s collection titled “36 views of Mount Fuji”, a series of works done from 1826 to 1833 and were published together in a book. The works were so popular, 10 more were added on, and later Hokusai included these images in another book, “100 views of Mount Fuji”.
HERE is a link to a gallery containing the 36 views of Mount Fuji.
Finally here is one of Hokusai’s most easily recognizable works, The Great Wave off Kanagawa, which is the first in his 36 views, created 1829-1833.
This is the end of my presentation, however I am going to include a few more pictures for posterity’s sake. Some of these pictures will not be by Hokusai, and if so I will include the artist and the date created. The country of origin is obviously Japan.
Kitagawa Utamaro, Akashi of the Tamaya, c. 1794-95
Suzuki Harunobu, Crow and Heron, c. 1769
Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, c. 1840-42
Sources:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e0/Kakinomoto_no_hitomaro.jpg
http://www.clker.com/cliparts/4/b/5/7/12608936441192028836za1zfc.png
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/22078?search_no=5&index=16
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokusai
http://ukiyo-e.org/artist/katsukawa-shunsho
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/edop/hd_edop.htm
http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ukiy/hd_ukiy.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_C._Perry
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edo_period
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tokugawa_Ieyasu
http://indulgy.net/L1/pC/eF/d1dcd8c7f359f942a1382963d518a3dd.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/36_Views_of_Mount_Fuji_(Hokusai)
http://www.man-pai.com/Grandes_series/Hokusai_Fuji36/hokusai_36_vistas_monte_fuji_e.htm
http://www.man-pai.com/images/FHH142_c.jpg
http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/citi/images/standard/WebLarge/WebImg_000185/98944_2050473.jpg
The Electronic Revolution 
