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- Convenors:
-
Gunhild Borggreen
(University of Copenhagen)
Marcos Centeno Martin (Birkbeck, University of London. University of Valencia)
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- Section:
- Visual Arts
- Sessions:
- Thursday 26 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Accepted papers
Session 1 Thursday 26 August, 2021, -Paper short abstract
This paper investigates the artistic and commercial collaboration in the woodblock print series "Short Illustrated History of Great Japan". Considering its medium, the collective efforts of 1 artist, 5 publishers, 3 engravers, and 4 writers were vital for the publication of its 11 prints in 1879-80.
Paper long abstract
This paper investigates the artistic and commercial collaboration that was crucial to making the woodblock print series entitled "Short Illustrated History of Great Japan" (大日本史略図会; dai nihonshi ryaku zue). Drawing on the talents of Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (月岡芳年) (1839-1892), one of the most celebrated woodblock prints artists of the Meiji period (1868-1912), this series has been identified to comprise of ten triptychs published in 1879-1880 involving three different publishers.
As woodblock prints are today remembered by the name of their designer, we are left to believe that they are the product of a single, autonomous artist. In reality, however, these prints are the result of the contributions of the so-called "ukiyo-e quartet" - as identified by Tijs Volker in 1949 - which, besides the artist, constituted out of the publisher, the engraver and printer. The neglect of their contributions is paradoxical, as it was the most vital part of the woodblock print production. Important studies have recognized the contribution of other members of the "ukiyo-e quartet" and have brought to our attention that the prints were part of a much bigger network, a network in which its audience - its consumer - also played a decisive role in the fate of the produced print. Therefore, this paper builds upon these previous publications that shed light on the many aspects of collaboration employed by Japanese woodblock prints.
Although previous studies have identified this series to comprise of ten triptychs, preliminary results suggests that at least eleven triptychs were published, whereas the number of publishers amounts to five. Such errors result from a lack of discussion in the previous literature of this series in general and of the collective efforts behind it in particular. Considering the limited scope of this series and the contributions made from agents beyond the "ukiyo-e quartet", such as writers composing their explanatory texts, this paper investigates the complex mode of partnership that was crucial to making this series. Through this case study, it aims to disclose the dynamic process of production, collaboration, and reception in Meiji period print culture.
Paper short abstract
Hishida Shunsō's Buddhist paintings show a unique style. It can be regarded as a fusion of aspects of Western and Eastern painting. Shunsō developed his style through his friendship with the famous benefactor of art education in Japan, Okakura Tenshin, and his experiences in India and the West.
Paper long abstract
Hishida Shunsō 菱田春草 (1874-1911) was one of the first generations of the nihonga painters in the Meiji Era. This "new" style or genre was promoted as the rescue mission of traditional Japanese painting in the face of the rapid spread of Western painting styles and techniques.
Although the interest in Shunsō's art has been steadily growing in the past couple of decades in Japan, he is still rather unknown among Western researchers, especially his Buddhist paintings. In this presentation I am highlighting these Buddhist paintings, and through them I am examining how his style became a unique blend of Western and Eastern features. I am focusing on his relationship with one of the most famous thinkers, Okakura Tenshin, whose influence was quintessential in the forming of the nihonga style, and who was a friend and mentor to Shunsō. Also, I am exploring his journeys with his fellow nihonga painter, Yokoyama Taikan 横山大観 (), to India in 1903, and then to the US and Europe in 1904, and how these sojourns effected his later Buddhist paintings. In India they met some of the prominent Bengal school of painters, such as the founder of this school, Abanindranath Tagore (1871-1951), and the result of this encounter can be detected in Shunsō's Buddhist paintings, painted during and after his sojourn in India.
My examinations are limited to his Buddhist paintings, which he painted between 1896, his times at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts (Tōkyō Bijutsu Gakkō 東京美術学校) as a teacher, and 1911, when he died.
Paper short abstract
Sōseki's first publications are deeply affected by pictorial and textual relations. Not just the description of images, but also the illustrations from artists were important. Especially the motifs and sketches by Hashiguchi Goyō can be seen as an indicator for circulated images in the Meiji period.
Paper long abstract
The exhibition "Natsume Sōseki no bijutsu sekai 夏目漱石の美術世界. Natsume Soseki and Arts" (2013) brought attention to the deep connection of Natsume Sōseki's 夏目漱石 (1867-1916) works and visual culture. However, regardless of this relationship between literature and art, especially the book design and the illustrations that were included in the first published texts and editions have received only scant scholarly attention so far.
Furthermore, many magazine and newspaper instalments of Sōseki's novels were paired with opening or mid-illustrations, varying by the "Tōkyō Asahi Shimbun" and the Ōsaka version. As well, the book publications were purposefully designed and partly illustrated, showing hence a network of artists Sōseki collaborated with. Considering Sōseki's own interest in art, underlined by the fact that he himself designed his own novel "Kokoro" こゝろ (Heart, 1914), the work process with illustrators was communicative and discursive.
In my paper I will trace Sōseki's relationship with artists, particularly with Hashiguchi Goyō 橋口五葉 (1881-1921), thereby showing a collaboration that initially resulted in mosaic-like illustrations but later shifted to elaborate book cover designs, paralleled by a change in the texts. With this in mind, the anthology "Yōkyoshū" 漾虚集 (Drifting in Emptiness, 1906) is a work par excellence for textual, visual, and material culture studies. The book contains seven short stories and is illustrated by Goyō and Nakamura Fusetsu 中村不折 (1866-1943) using different styles for each text. This results in visual expressions that reflect the plot and themes of Sōseki's text on the one hand, and mostly the western art of the late 19th and early 20th century on the other. By referring to well-known contemporaneous books and art magazines like "The Studio" I will trace pictorial motifs and patterns, arguing that circulated material was locally adapted likewise to address a Japanese readership. Finally, I suggest that this collaboration of author and artists aimed to create an object with a shared idea of Aesthetics as well as the concept of 'Gesamtkunstwerk'.