Japanese ArtEarly & Modern

Chapter 8

Early Pottery• Jomon Period • “Cord markings” • Technique used to

decorate their earthenware vessels

• Incised lines, coils of clay

• Storage, cooking, bone burial

Patronage & Artistic Life• Japanese artists worked on commission, some for

the royal court, others in the service of religion.• Masters ran workshops with assistants – family-run

businesses with the oldest son inheriting the trade.• The master created the composition, by brushing

in key outlines, and the assistants worked in the colors and details.

• Painting is highly esteemed in Japan• Aristocrats learned to paint and became

distinguished/very good in the art form.

Zen Buddhism

• School of Buddhism – in East Asian societies- imported from China

• Reject worldliness, the collection of goods on their own sake, and physical embellishment.

• Meditation is the key to enlightenment• Zen teaches through intuition and

introspections, rather than books and scripture.

Characteristics of Japanese Architecture• Zen philosophy of simplicity…..• Single story, made of wood, harmonize with the

natural environment.• Wood is light; widely spaced intervals to support

the roof; opening the interior to the outdoors.• Floors raised above ground – allowing air to

circulate under the building.• Eaves were long to generate shady interiors,

steeply pitched to allow rain to run off easily.

Characteristics of Japanese Architecture

• Zen garden – stones and plants.• Serve as a spiritual place of contemplation and

rejuvenation.

Phoenix Hall

Phoenix Hall, Byodoin, Uji, Japan, Heian period, 1053.

Phoenix Hall• 2 bronze birds, in the shape of

a phoenix – symbol of the protection of the Buddha; roof itself suggests the wings of the phoenix.

• Used a kondo (space for Buddhist teachings)

• Airiness, lightness, raised off the ground.

• Combination of art works: architecture, sculpture, painting, landscape, reflection in water – key element.

• Chinese influence- tile roofs and stone base.

Characteristics of Japanese Painting/Printmaking

• Ukiyo-e “pictures of the floating world” …. “floating” is meant in the Buddhist sense of the passing or transient nature of life;

• Therefore….. ukiyo-e works depict scenes of everyday – life (genre paintings 17-19th centuries) or pleasure: festivals, theatre, domestic life, geishas, brothels etc.

• Represented in woodblock prints, scrolls and painted screens.

The Burning of Sanjo Palace• Late 13th century –

hand-scroll • Diagonals sense of

movement/action• Active brushstrokes• Narrative - reads

from right to left as unfolded

• Depersonalized figures

Detail of The Burning of the Sanjo Palace, Kamakura period, thirteenth century. Handscroll, ink and colors on paper, 1’ 4 1/4” high; complete scroll, 22’ 10” long. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (Fenollosa-Weld Collection).

Modern Japan

20th Century

• World War II• Widespread devastation, loss of life and more

specifically the atomic bombing of HIROSHIMA and Nagasaki in 1945.

Folk Pottery-- Hamada Shoji, 1962

• Functional objects made of natural materials.

Katisushika Hokusai

• The Great Wave off Kanagawa (wood block)

• Against a background with a low horizon line typical of Western painting, Hokusai placed a threatening wave in the foreground.

The Great Wave - Hokusai• 1826-1833 • First time landscape • Part of a series of prints

called Thirty-six Views of Mount Fuji

• Personification of nature as it seems intent on drowning the figures in the boats.

• Mount Fuji, sacred mountain to the Japanese – seems to be one of the waves.

• Design contrasts water and sky with large areas of negative space.

Japanese Painting/Printmaking

• Ukiyo-e - became popular millions of prints were sold to the middle class, usually put between 1658-1858 (17th - 19th century) dominated genre paintings.

• Won popular affection in Europe and in the Americas as an example of innovative Japanese art.

Eight Views- The Evening BellWood-block print, 11 ¼” x 8 ½”ca 1765

ARTIST: Suzuki Harunobu

Japanese Sculpture• Abstract forms seen in

the haniwa figures to realistic sculptures of Buddhist priests.

• Earthenware, not painted• Geometric, simple shapes • Found in tomb sites• Many shapes, sizes,

animals, people etc. • Off center-eyes unequal

arms• Tomb guardians? Spirit

guardians?

Haniwa (cylindrical) warrior figure, from Gunma Prefecture, Japan, late Kofun period, fifth to mid-sixth century. Low-fired clay, 4’ 1 1/4” high. Aikawa Archaeological Museum, Aikawa.

Shaka Triad• Tori Busshi• Shaka, Japanese name for

Shakyamuni, the historical Buddha

• Frontal, long face and hands; wide nose; heavy jaw;

• Influence of Chinese art – elongated style – Tori was Chinese.

• Heads, hands, legs in high relief

• Attendant bodhisattvas• Originally placed in the

center of the kondoTORI BUSSHI, Shaka triad, Horyuji kondo, Nara, Japan, Asuka period, 623. Bronze, 5’ 9 1/2” high.

Detail of the priest Shunjobo Chogen, Todaiji, Nara, Japan, Kamakura period, early thirteenth century. Painted cypress wood, 2’ 8 3/8” high.

Kamakura PeriodFinely painted detailsSigns of agingPersonal attributes – beadsNaturalism

Do Now!

• Of the various art forms, which display the distinctive aesthetic ideals and preferences of the Japanese culture?