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- Convenors:
-
Filip Suchomel
(Technical University in Liberec, Faculty of Textiles, Design Dept.)
Mirjam Denes (Museum of Fine Arts - Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts)
Ioan Paul Colta (Arad Museum, Romania)
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- Format:
- Panel
- Section:
- Visual Arts
- Location:
- Auditorium 4 Jaap Kruithof
- Sessions:
- Friday 18 August, -
Time zone: Europe/Brussels
Short Abstract:
This panel looks at the history of collecting Japanese art in East-Central Europe through various aspects of "peripheries" from the late 19th century until recent times.It focuses on the process of circulation of knowledge as one of the catalysts of innovation with a special emphasis on Japanese art
Long Abstract:
One of the most characteristic innovation catalysts of the 19th century was undoubtedly the circulation of knowledge between centres and peripheries, which facilitated the rapid development of technology and the acceleration of the Second Industrial Revolution. One of the key accelerators of this process is the extensive collecting of works of art and crafts from distant countries and their rapid accessibility to the general public. This process, however, did not only take place in the largest centres of development but also extended to remote peripheral areas such as those of Central and Eastern Europe. Japan, although geographically very distant from the development centres, was an important player at this stage as it was not only a major donor but also an acceptor in this process.
East-Central Europe was as eager to learn about the Far-East as Western Powers. However, since this geographical region (formerly known as Austro-Hungarian Monarchy) could not have colonial aspirations towards East-Asia, but instead, it had to focus on its own industrial and economic development, learning from the example of the East was even more important than learning about the East. Institutions displaying Japanese art, be they public or private, thus became incubators for the development of art, crafts and industry, and - in an indirect way - boosters of economy in the East-Central European region.
This panel looks at the history of collecting Japanese art in East-Central Europe through various aspects of "peripheries" from the late 19th century until recent times. We will discuss how the collecting of Japanese photography in the late nineteenth century decentralized Bohemia contributed to the circulation of knowledge that provoking local interest in Japanese culture. We will discover, how information on the provenance of a lesser-known Hungarian collection from interwar Hungary can enrich our understanding of the aesthetic and economic dialogue between Japan and the West in the Meiji era, and we will reveal how a postwar Romanian collection of Japanese art can deepen our knowledge of the changing print business in Japan at the end of the Meiji era.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 18 August, 2023, -Mirjam Denes (Museum of Fine Arts - Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts)
Paper short abstract:
The collection of Dr Ottó Fettick is quite unique as it unites Western masterpieces of Japonisme as well as important works of Japanese applied arts created in the same era. In this presentation will recontextualize this dormant Hungarian collection through its surviving provenance data.
Paper long abstract:
The collection of the Hungarian bacteriologist professor, Dr Ottó Fettick (1875-1954) conveys the special aesthetic mindset of people who lived at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. His collection of decorative arts, which counts approximately 5,000 items is quite unique from the viewpoint of collecting Japanese art since it includes a considerable number of Western masterpieces of Japonisme, as well as ca. 200 fine pieces of Japanese applied arts (kōgei) mostly from the Meiji and Taisho eras. Those two groups of objects were put on the Western art market during the same historical period and were arguably united under the same roof on purpose. Today, his Western objects are preserved at the Museum of Applied Arts, and his Japanese artworks are held at the Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, in Budapest.
The curious case of Dr Fettick is that, unlike most of the famous collectors of Japanese art, he never visited Japan, he purchased all his marvellous artworks in Europe, and he did not leave behind any information on the background of his acquisitions apart from a few breadcrumbs: a few hints on previous owners from Budapest, Vienna, Munich, London and Paris, as well as on exhibitions and auction houses where he made his purchases. So far, Dr Fettick’s collecting activity has been pushed to the periphery of the research on the history of collecting Japanese art in Hungary due to its modest size, even though through its provenance information it is tightly woven into the international scene of Japonisme.
In this presentation, we will discover Dr Fettick’s Japanese art collection through their provenance data. We will look into the patterns of object types based on their history related to earlier owners and discuss the circumstances of their way to Europe (export art, collectables, travel memorabilia, etc.). Since almost half of Dr Fettick’s collection lost its provenance information, we will provide some possible answers to the question of what can be done in similar cases of museum collections.
Ioan Paul Colta (Arad Museum, Romania)
Paper short abstract:
The present paper aims to offer an insight into the fruitful collaboration between the artist Mizuno Toshikata (1866-1908) and one of the most instrumental publishing houses, from the late Meiji era, in the production of kuchi-e nishiki-e prints.
Paper long abstract:
At a time when in Japan the modern reprographic techniques were gradually replacing the traditional ones, colour woodblock prints were granted new life as frontispiece illustrations for works of modern fiction. These types of sophisticated, delicately carved hand-printed prints were bound into books and magazines as luxurious supplements. Their stunning quality reflects the publishers' desire to achieve a unique artefact. Despite their high cost of production, they employed the most skilled and experienced carvers and printers of that time.
Mizuno Toshikata was one of the important names in the design of kuchi-e woodblock prints. The reputation he enjoyed as the successor of his master Tsukioka Yoshitoshi (1839-1892) have facilitated his close collaboration with one of the most prominent publishing houses, Hakubunkan. In collaboration with them the artist conceived the frontispieces that accompanied the writings of emerging authors of that time, such as Kawakami Bizan (1869-1908), Kōda Rohan (1867-1947), Emi Suiin (1869-1934), Uchida Roan (1868-1929) and Kyōka Izumi (1873-1939). Toshikata designed for Hakubunkan kuchi-e prints from about 1892 to up until his death. Most of them were created between the years 1895 and 1905 – a so-called golden era for these types of prints.
Even though the present research apparently explores a peripheral subject in the history of Japanese art its importance is nonetheless a major one. It offers a great opportunity to explore the internal mechanisms that triggered the collaborations between the publishers and the artists in the late Meiji era.
Among the numerous collections of Japanese nishiki-e prints it’s rare to find ones dedicated to kuchi-e. The research commenced with the kuchi-e collection of Adrian Ciceu (1939-2017), currently based in Romania. Afterwards it was extended to include some of the most important private collections of this genre such as Tomoo Asahi Collection (Japan) and Raymond Milewski Collection (USA).
Filip Suchomel (Technical University in Liberec, Faculty of Textiles, Design Dept.)
Paper short abstract:
The early photographs from Japan are among the important cultural heritage,which contributed to the transfer of knowledge between East and West.Their collections were created not only in the cultural centres,but also,due to specific historical circumstances,on the periphery of Central Eastern Europe
Paper long abstract:
Photography is one of the most important inventions of the 19th century. Only fifteen years after the creation of the first daguerreotypes, the first attempts at their recreation were made in Japan. At the same time, European and American photographers made their way there and set up their own photographic studios and the first Japanese soon learned photography from them. This transfer of knowledge gave rise to a new generation of domestic photographers that was very familiar with the technological possibilities of photography and the contemporary technological methods but also brought new inspiration into their photographic work which followed up on the domestic art tradition. And now it was photography itself that contributed to the transfer of knowledge about Japanese life and culture as it soon became an essential source of information about Japan and a contemporary record of historical events.
As elsewhere in the world, large collections of photographic material began to appear in Central Europe in the last quarter of the 19th century, imported from Japan by those who were able to visit the country. However, as knowledge of Japan improved step by step, these sets of photographs fell into oblivion and became mere archival material of the time, without any wider interest to specialists. It was only 20 years ago that the situation changed and experts began to discover the significance of these forgotten collections.
This paper will try to present what kind of people in Central Europe at the end of the 19th century gathered the first largest collections of Japanese photography of the time and how they conceived their collections. Were their motivations for collecting photographs the same as those of collectors in Western Europe or were they different? How did the collections contribute to the knowledge of Japan at that time and was this knowledge mediated by photography based on reality? This presentation will also present the extent of Japanese photographic collections in Central Europe, including their relevance to the world's cultural heritage today.