japonisme

17 July 2007

an element always interesting to consider, but never wholly knowable, is intent. even the person who believes they know their own intent may not. so how to speak of the international flow and flux of art and ideas.

to what extent, and i'm sure it was some, was the west's fascination with japan and all things japanese a search for (the illusion of) the simpler life. the industrial revolution had made cities louder and dirtier; how attractive then the 'peaceful'

(unencumbered by the last two century's innovations) images of that eastern nation, or even the coasts and countrysides of their own.


even the japanese, meiji period on out, designed to that desire in the west, so here we have japanese art from that period, plus several, again, of the pictorialist photographers who, along with their leader stieglitz, were busy making a new branch of art.

how much of this all was 'conscious,' the grasp and re-creation of a more bucolic reality than ever may have existed? and to whom?

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3 Comments:

Blogger harlequinpan said...

Oh!These are so beautiful!!

i am very surprised by Hiroshi Yoshida's woodblock print that he called 淡水 (Tamsui),this print describes Taiwan's Tamsui town (昭和16年,Showa 16 also is the year in 1941, Taiwan was still under Japanese occupation), the lovely harbor town. it was my mother's childhood growth place.Thank you very much!For me,it's a great gift !!

18 July, 2007 07:37  
Blogger harlequinpan said...

i forgot to tell you. i have posted "Shihsanhang Museum of Archeology"(rooftop) today,it just on the other side of the Tamsui river.It's really a coincidence.

18 July, 2007 09:01  
Blogger lotusgreen said...

that's an amazing coincidence! and thanks for these really interesting additions of information--so now we are even, because these are a gift to me.

18 July, 2007 18:53  

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