Tag - japanese-art

 
 

JAPANESE ART

Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 12, 2020
Japan's postwar aesthetics: compelling if not confusing
The NMAO attempts the difficult task of discerning the 'underlying presence of Japanese aesthetics in postwar art.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 3, 2020
The battle of ukiyo-e: Hokusai vs. his pupils
Refusing to be bound by tradition or convention, Hokusai bent rules and sought inspiration from all corners — but how did such audacity influence his own students and followers?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 8, 2020
'Dumb Type': When actions speak the loudest
Dumb Type's thought-provoking performances and installations explore the influence of technology on humankind.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jan 2, 2020
Art from the silver lining of life's dark clouds
Threatening the precarious peace of everyday life are unforeseen incidents, disease and emotional turbulence. Such are the narrative threads running through 'Song to Life, Struggles of the Soul' at Wacoal Studyhall Kyoto.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art / 2019 in Review
Dec 17, 2019
Creative expression stifled by 'safety concerns' in Japan
As the taboo-busting comic Joan Rivers used to say after pressing her audience's buttons, 'Can we talk?' On the evidence of this year's Aichi Triennale, if it's about World War II atrocities, the answer seems to be 'no.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Dec 4, 2019
Nakamura Hochu: The Osakan Rinpa pioneer
The Rinpa school of painting's initial phase was formed by the superlative talents of Honami Koetsu (1558-1637) and Tawaraya Sotatsu (c. 1570-c. 1630) in late 16th-century Kyoto. The aesthetics resonated with the grand and powerful ornamental inclinations of the Momoyama Period (1573-1603) — gold leaf screens, bold palettes, and abundant bird, animal and flower motifs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 27, 2019
Ryonosuke Shimomura: An eclectic rule breaker
At school, Ryonosuke Shimomura conceived art techniques that led one teacher to think he was color blind. Yet his unusual approach led him to become a principal of the Pan Real Art Association — Japan's influential avant-garde Japanese-style painting groups.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 20, 2019
Yukinori Yanagi: Resurrecting Akitsushima
For Yukinori Yanagi, whose work from the late '80s and '90s featured ants burrowing through national flags made of sand, nature is not synonymous with an anthropomorphically friendly 'harmony' or 'balance'; it's disruption, chaos, decay and metastasis.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Nov 18, 2019
Japan's Showa flash flood of photography
The National Gallery of Canada showcases Showa Era (1926-89) photographers, whose documentation and interpretation of politics, culture, social issues and even the quotidian changed the face of modern photography in Japan.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 29, 2019
The scrolls that keep immortal poets truly alive
The Kyoto National Museum brings together the largest number of fragments of the 13th-century scrolls 'Satake Version, Thirty-Six Immortal Poets,' since it was cut up into pieces and dispersed among the wealthy in 1919.
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Oct 27, 2019
Rare views of Mount Fuji: Japan's last sentō artists
A dying craft, sentu014d (public bathhouse) painting now has just three artisans continuing the art form. Can interest in Japanese culture, sparked by the 2020 Olympics, help renew an appreciation for the stunning murals?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Oct 15, 2019
So much to say — so many ways to show it
Same-sex relationships, American bases in Okinawa, globalization, the Olympics, the atomic bomb, national identity, the exploitation of natural resources — 'Image Narratives: Literature in Japanese Contemporary Art' at The National Art Center, Tokyo, does not lack for hot button topics.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 24, 2019
Art at a science museum: When worlds collide
The premise of 'Illuminating Landscapes: The Integration of Art and Science,' as designer Taku Satoh puts it, is to explore 'art and science together, not separated, as is too common in today's world.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Sep 10, 2019
Fashion is a game with a dress code to crack
Fashion can be identified as a game: The rules are not clear, but there are conducts to be observed, codes to be broken, winners, losers and, finally, stylistic exhaustion.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 19, 2019
Bontaro Dokuyama: The art of expression
After the Great East Japan Earthquake, Fukushima native Bontaro Dokuyama began to focus on becoming an artist, explaining that he didn't see much expression from his home area: 'If the audience enjoys having their thoughts provoked, that is enjoyable for me as an artist.'
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Aug 13, 2019
Genta Ishizuka: Beneath and on the surface
Contemporary urushi lacquerware artist Genta Ishizuka — winner of the 2019 Kyoto's Best Young Artist Award and Loewe Foundation Craft Prize — re-imagines the decorative beauty of traditional lacquer in unusual and sculptural pieces.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 23, 2019
The art of play: Japan's history of fun
'Styles of Play: The History of Merrymaking in Art' at the Suntory Museum of Art delves into various amusements,with over 100 exhibits, ranging from the Muromachi Period (1392-1573) to the Edo Period (1603-1868).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 16, 2019
Yokoyama Kazan: The Edo Period influencer
The Edo Period painter Yokoyama Kazan's imaginative works depicting Kyoto, inspired not only artists but also intellectuals and writers, including the novelist Natsume Soseki.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 9, 2019
How folk craft found its place in the art world
'Japanese Tableware' highlights the passion with which Soetsu Yanagi — one of the founding fathers of the Japanese folk crafts movement — appreciated artisanal works into his own life, displaying the actual tableware that his family used when they gathered for meals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 2, 2019
Sachiko Kazama: Objections on paper
Sachiko Kazama's epic black-and-white compositions scratch at the history of Japanese fascism, refusing to let it hide behind prevarication and bad text books.

Longform

When trying to trace your lineage in Japan, the "koseki" is the most important form of document you'll encounter.
Climbing the branches of a Japanese family tree