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- Convenors:
-
Andrew Gerstle
(SOAS University of London)
Nobuo Nakatani (Kansai University)
Akiko Yano (British Museum)
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- Stream:
- Visual Arts
- Location:
- Torre B, Piso 5, Auditório 3
- Sessions:
- Saturday 2 September, -
Time zone: Europe/Lisbon
Short Abstract:
The panel will focus on art/literature (yûgei) salon networks, primarily in Kyoto/Osaka, and their function of supporting artistic activity, both of those aspiring to be 'professional' and those who were content or preferred to remain 'amateur'.
Long Abstract:
The panel is based on a research project primarily focused on the British Museum collection of paintings, books, actor prints and surimono prints (with images and poems), which date from the 18th/19th century. Some of the works are by famous artists, but many are by 'amateurs' or little known painters.
We know that artistic salons (poetry, painting, music) were an essential and officially (by the authorities) accepted means for socializing (including women) among all classes. These salons were led by 'professional' artists/poets and wealthier patrons, but included a wide range of individuals from various walks of life. The convention was that these salon spaces were egalitarian and usually participants took pennames/art names when joining in activities.
These salons were evident throughout Japan, but particularly active and widespread in the kamigata region. One aim is to show the important but relatively ignored significance of Osaka art.
The presentations will focus on how these salon networks supported artistic activity, both of aspiring professionals and of those who were content to remain amateur. The salons, which were widely popular and the key way individuals socialized outside their work or neighbourhood, enabled artists/poets to make a living through teaching and selling paintings or publishing books. An aim of the project is to create an exhibition at the British Museum built on this research in order to create an interesting context and to show how important the arts were for socializing and for life-long cultural education at the time. This convention of artistic salons continued into the 20th century and exists even today in 'social club' culture in Japan based on hobby pursuits.
There is work being done in Japan and elsewhere on intellectual and artistic networks in this period but our panel will focus on the material products these salons supported, particularly works held in the British Museum. Prof Nobuo Nakatani of Kansai Univ will focus on Osaka art and its relation to continental East Asia. Dr Akiko Yano of the British Museum will focus on painting circles and Andrew Gerstle of SOAS on kabuki and the production of prints, books and surimono.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Saturday 2 September, 2017, -Paper short abstract:
Kabuki actors, as 'riverbed beggars', were officially beneath the class system. This paper will focus on how poetry circles were a crucial venue for promoting and supporting actors as literati figures, and how these circles encouraged individuals to create actor prints and surimono.
Paper long abstract:
Kabuki actors, as 'riverbed beggars', were officially beneath the class system. Actors, at least in their youth, were also often expected to be prostitutes, and throughout their careers were considered sex idols on the stage for both men and women. Further, they were the only recognizable individuals depicted in shunga erotic art. In contrast to this view of them as erotic bodies, many actors achieved acclaim as sophisticated literati. How was this achieved, and conversely what impact did such actors have on society and the production of art?
Kyoto and Osaka did not have the same commercial base for actor print production as in Edo, where visual representation of kabuki was mainstream from the early 18th century. Kamigata had well developed fan clubs (hiiki-ren) which supported the actors, and we also see from the late 18th - early 19th century a flourishing of actor prints/books and surimono celebrating actors.
A key foundation for all these activities was the network of poetry (haikai, kyôka) and art circles, which allowed the intermingling of individuals from different status groups (mibun), through the use of alternate identities as 'poets', 'artists' by the taking of pennames/art names (haimyô, gô). Eiko Ikegami in Bonds of Civility (2005) has written about the role of salons from a social science perspective, showing how extensive such networks were throughout Japan. My paper will present concrete examples of how such a system could work to enable kabuki actors to mingle with literati and to promote them as sophisticated individuals, and conversely how these circles encouraged individuals to create actor images.
This paper, building on research published in Kabuki Heroes on the Osaka Stage 1780-1830 (2005), will analyse how poetry circles were a crucial venue for promoting and supporting actors both on stage and as literati figures, and how these circles encouraged members of these salons to create actor prints and surimono. Two actors, Arashi Kichisaburô II (Rikan, 1769-1821) and Nakamura Utaemon III (Shikan, 1778-1838) will be the focus of my presentation.
Paper short abstract:
In the 1880s Okakura Tenshin formulated a history of 'Japanese' art that almost completely left out any outstanding Osaka works, many of which were consciously within an 'East Asian' art tradition. My paper will focus on Kimura Kenkado and his network of artists to reevaluate this tradition.
Paper long abstract:
The lectures conducted by Okakura Kakuzo (Tenshin) over three years starting in 1890 at the Tokyo Fine Arts School covered most of the history of Japanese art and were influential in formulating Japanese art history. In the context of the time period, we can understand his selections. There were many outstanding works of art, however, which were never evaluated by Okakura. Considering early modern and modern works, notably, almost none of the paintings from "Osaka Painting Schools (Osaka Gadan)" were evaluated by Okakura.
The framework for evaluations of Japanese art history in the Edo period established by Okakura became mainstream in the research of Tokyo-based scholars since that time, and it is safe to say that research on Osaka Painting Schools was stagnant, at least until the "Osaka Painting Schools in the Edo period" exhibition was held at the Osaka Municipal Museum of Art in 1981. This could be seen to show a new aspect in the modernization of Japanese society.
The history of art evaluation that began with Okakura will no doubt be dramatically revised through future research. I will argue that the reevaluation of Osaka Painting Schools that is likely to take place from now will inevitably be framed within the concept of East Asian art history, and will break down the limited framework of "Japanese art history".
In my paper I will make a case to show that Kimura Kenkado (1736-1802) and other Osaka Painting Schools artists of the Edo period will take an important place not only in a new Japanese art history, but in a new East Asian art history as well.
Paper short abstract:
Participation in various arts was popular in the late Edo period. Cultural networks contributed to the flourish of art production. Focusing on late 18th to early 19th century Kyoto/Osaka, I will examine the role of art in society and how it encouraged 'amateur' and 'professional' artists.
Paper long abstract:
It is an intriguing phenomenon that quite a few individuals in the Kyoto/Osaka area in the late Edo period, who are known today as 'painters', actually had a main vocation other than being an artist. In many cases especially in Osaka they were relatively wealthy merchants. What did it mean for commoners at the time of domestic peace and under a rigid class system imposed by the Tokugawa government to take up art not so much as a profession but as a socialising tool and lifelong pursuit? Painting was not an isolated art but closely related with other genres of art including literary, musical, theatrical and scholarly activities. Participating in art therefore meant to be part of a vast cultural and social network.
In the Japanese collections at the British Museum is a substantial number of Maruyama-Shijo and Osaka school paintings, surimono prints and illustrated books, which reflect not only the major masters' creativity but also that of minor figures. Collating information of individuals and groups who produced these works will contribute to understanding a complex and sophisticated system of participation in and access to art in the immediate geographical area and beyond. To examine its extent will shed light on the role of art in society in early modern Japan.