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| the quality of tea ceremony implements being simple, rustic, irregular, and previously used. |
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| images of the floating world; ephemeral, transient, temporary, entertainment |
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| the entertainment district of Edo, specifically for entertaining the large population of men; kabuki theater, restuarants, sumo wrestling, courtesans; transitory |
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| multi-color prints, mimicking brocade, textiles |
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FROG
Sengai Gibon
Edo Period 1615-1868
-Sengai was another well-known Zen artist.
-He uses a lot of humor in his work.
-Supremely simple, sweeping lines that echo in the calligraphy.
-Communication through simplicity.
-“If a human can become a Buddha through practicing Zazen...”
-Then so can a frog.
-Humans can try too hard, or not hard enough.
-Zazen may not be the key to enlightenment.
-The frog looks like he’s meditating, and he’s happy.
-Commentary about passive meditation.
-Somewhat reprimanding.
-Humor with underlying seriousness. |
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GARDEN AT DAITOKUJI
Muromachi 1392–1573
-Zen gardens are like living, breathing paintings.
-They are composed and maintained.
-Some elements are replaced over time, but they support the design of the garden.
-The aesthetic is maintained over time.
-The garden is maintained, and yet always in flux – dichotomy.
-Dry rock garden.
-Only the caretaker walks through garden.
-This is the most common type of Zen garden.
-Different views are observed as you walk around the building.
-There are terraces around the garden where monks meditate.
-Certain elements are symbolic, but there is still ambiguity.
-Rocks tend to represent water and mountains.
-Macrocosms represented within microcosms.
-Walls can represent obstacles to enlightenment.
-Lone trees sometimes represent the Bodhi tree. |
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BARE PEAKS OF MOUNT GABI, Nanga, Yosa Buson
-Buson was a poet who became a painter later in life.
-Hand scroll, ink on paper.
-Derives from an 8th century Chinese poem about Mount Gabi in China.
-He’s never seen it, but it’s poetically familiar to him.
-In contrast to Taiga, Buson only paints the peaks.
-You can’t tell how far down the valleys go – ambiguity.
-Thick marks, yet translucent, diluted, grey.
-Utilizes more outlines, more layers.
-This depicts the range at night.
-The moon appears at the end.
-He begins the scroll with his inscription and seal – unusual format.
-He wants to focus on the moon at the end. |
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EASTERN CLOUDS, SIFTED SNOW, Nanga, Uragami Gyokudo
-He was a samurai; eventually he retired to become a painter/poet.
-He drank a lot of sake before he painted.
-He has a spectrum of style.
-He likes to fill the picture plane.
-It is heavily worked and complicated.
-Lots of layers.
-The landscape seems constrained due to the lack of negative space. |
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WITHIN, Edo, Hakuin
-Most Edo Zenga are done on common, humble paper surfaces.
-Hakuin believed there were many false Zen masters and monks; he wanted to teach the true way and spoke out against them.
-Enso – circle.
-Completeness, fullness.
-Emptiness.
-The moon.
-A rice cake.
-Total enlightenment or total lack of it.
-Enso circles don’t have to be perfect.
-Mu – character which means “without”, or “nothing”.
-Focus of contemplation and meditation.
-Emphasizing the character “within” by extending it.
-Surrounded by rough-looking calligraphy.
-Painted with a wide brush, bold.
-It says meditation in activity is better than silent meditation.
-Don’t be passive; be engaged. |
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ONE HAND CLAPPING, Edo, Hakuin
-36x11”.
-Hakuin thought some new koans were needed to invigorate Zen study.
-So he made this one.
-Conflation of imagery: Hote, happy, eccentric, bald guy, carries a bag (riches, gifts, nothing), representing the enlightened eccentric.
-He also looks like Daruma and Hakuin himself.
-Hakuin is able to depict correct proportions, but he doesn’t have to, so he doesn’t here.
-The calligraphy is loose, fluid, atypical.
-“All you clever young people, no matter what you say, if you don’t hear the sound of one hand, everything else is rubbish.”
-The answer can’t be reached through intellect or reasoning. |
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RED AND WHITE PLUM BLOSSOMS, Edo, Ogata Korin
-Set of two screens that go together.
-Flat, textured components on gold background.
-The gold pushes everything to the surface of the picture plane.
-The patterning in the water suggests movement and depth, while flattening at the same time.
-Only black used in the water; the trees are colorful and dimensional.
-The lichen on the trees are created by puddling inks on top of each other.
-Using the technique to its full decorative potential.
-Plum trees symbolize regrowth.
-Plum trees look old and gnarled, but produce beautiful blossoms.
-Plum branches with blossoms often represent male sexuality and fertility in erotic Japanese prints (not this screen). |
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IRIS SCREEN, Edo, Ogata Korin
-Korin was from a wealthy cloth merchant family.
-Merchants weren’t higher class, but they were wealthy.
-Korin and Kenzan inherited money when their father died.
-Korin spent his inheritance very quickly and almost went bankrupt; so he had to get a career.
-Known for his large scale screens.
-Simple: irises against a gold background.
-Reference to literature, Tales of Ise.
-Specifically, it was meant to remind you of a moment in the Tales of Ise where you walk over a plank bridge through a swamp with irises growing everywhere.
-He left out the bridge ---> implication.
-This image is extremely well-known; it often appears in museum gift shops.
-Fragmented; the irises move on and off the screen, implying there is more than you can see.
-Decoration with deeper meanings.
-The screens tie together; not concerned with Western notions of perspective. |
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SET OF FOOD DISHES
-(There are more dishes than this – this was the only photo I could find).
-Kenzan was a multi-talented artist: painting, calligraphy, ceramics.
-He could create his own unique surfaces and decorate them himself.
-Sometimes Kenzan made the vessel and Korin decorated it.
-Innovative designer, well-known; he signed his work.
-Signing work was becoming more and more common; so were forgeries.
-Issues with provenance.
-Maple leaves.
-References to the seasons appear over and over in Japanese art.
-Specifically referencing an area of Japan noted for its maple foilage, Tatsuta.
-There are poetic and literary references to Tatsuta, too.
-Colorful Rimpa style.
-He often used enamels underneath translucent glazes to create a shimmering, uniform surface.
-Heavily stylized and decorative.
-Blue leaves appear in some dishes.
-The wave motifs are stylized. |
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UCHIKAKE WITH BAMBOO AND MIST DESIGN, Edo, Gion Nankai
-Clothing designates status and wealth.
-During this period, sumptuary laws were put into place.
-People still dressed extravagantly and just covered it in public.
-Fewer layers now, but coordinating the layers is important.
-The Uchikake is an outer coat.
-Could be used to cover sumptuous under garments.
- Tagasode =“Whose sleeves?” paintings depict clothing without its wearer.
-Implying the person by their belongings and clothes.
-More restrained color, indicative of Nankai’s painting style.
-Attributed to Nankai based on a poem about it.
-Commissioned by a merchant for his mistress.
-Bamboo was symbolic of virtue and strength, but Nankai liked painting plants. |
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NACHI WATERFALL, Nanga, Ike Taiga
-Nanga paintings are inspired by Chinese models, but they go farther.
-Chinese literati – scholar painters.
-Was previously prominent in the Muromachi period – re-emerging.
-Tend to be monochromatic or minimal in color.
-Painting manuals were popular and numerous.
-Informational, instructive.
-Painting in the Chinese style of a famous place, the Nachi waterfall.
-He modified it a little but, but people would recognize it.
-The negative space is not really negative.
-He has a distinctive style – he was nicknamed “wiggly-line Taiga.”
-He also uses a specific dot technique.
-It is a technique mentioned in painting manuals, but he uses it differently.
-He layers the dots on top of other things, but not to build up form.
-Excitable, agitated, activated brush. |
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DARUMA, Modern-contemporary 1911-- , Nantembo
-Utilizes humor like Sengai, with the intensity of Hakuin.
-Nantembo’s name derives from the name of the staff he carried around and whacked students with.
-The heavily loaded brush slams down, slightly tearing the paper and splattering Daruma’s face.
-Represents the moment of the monk discovering enlightenment.
-The earring and hair identify him as Daruma.
-The earring and his eyes are also enso.
-He’s frowning; why not have him frowning?
-It’s so emphatic that he doesn’t need to represent the body or the nose.
-The calligraphy is slanting, irregular.
-Alludes to Daruma. |
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TEA ROOM, Muromachi
-Many traditional tea houses have very small, low entrances.
-Allows you to leave your ego behind.
-All are made equal in the tea house.
-Sometimes tea rooms were simply corners of larger rooms.
-Some felt that it was important to have a special structure for the tea house with a garden path leading up to it.
-The path shouldn’t be too pristine or artificial looking; there must be natural elements.
-Tea rooms are small, meant only to accommodate an intimate group.
-There is a niche meant to hold artwork.
-Could be landscape, hibiscus flowers, bamboo, calligraphy.
-A sense of balance, harmony, and irregularity.
-Ex. A vase of flowers placed off to one side, with a drop of water on the side.
-The Tea Ceremony:
-Very restrained and codified art form.
-The Tea Master dictates appropriate choices during the ceremony.
-Harmony, respect, purity, and tranquility should be demonstrated during every tea ceremony.
-The Chinese have their own tea ceremonies, but it really caught on in Japan.
-The Japanese used mostly green powder tea.
-Wabi-sabi
-Wabi – organic, rustic, simple, understated, restrained.
-Sabi – beauty in age, beauty of use, of human touch. |
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NAMBAN BYOBU, Momoyama
-Depictions of Westerners.
-European ships and fashion were fascinating to Japanese.
-Exotic curiosities, with a touch of barbarism.
-Many Westerners found foreign peoples barbaric, cannibalistic.
-However they thought the Chinese and Japanese were cultured, if different.
-They are whiter than other peoples.
-They tried to assimilate somewhat to Japan, learning the language and customs.
-Mash-up of eastern and western traditions.
-Gold clouds --> very Japanese.
-Western people and things --> Western subject.
-Many of the screens are read left-right, the Western way.
-Namban – southern barbarians.
-The Westerners came from the south to Japanese ports.
-Often, they brought gifts of diplomacy.
-Ivory, horses, guns, artwork, etc.
-Christianity was very successful in the late 16th-17th century.
-The Dutch brought objects almost exclusively.
->They were Protestant and not as interested in conversion.
-Dutch brought many maps.
-Japanese renditions of Dutch maps were created on byobu.
-Japanese artists painted scenes of the West, using Western perspective and sometimes oil paint.
-Made a small artistic impact for a brief time, then resurged later on. |
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STOWE LANDSCAPE, Edo, Shiba Kokan
-Wrote a treatise on the importance of Western influence.
-He thought we should describe things realistically in our paintings so that we have them once the subject is gone. |
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STUDY OF ANIMALS, Edo, Maruyama Okyo
-Wants to bring together Western and Japanese ideas.
-Saw a Dutch perspective box and began his own works with perspective.
-Copied Western images and also produced his own.
-Intrigued by different ways of viewing the same image.
-Interested in realistic depiction.
-Sees books and paintings that describe life naturalistically.
-Liked to record animal and plant life to preserve them through images.
-Uninterested in the instructive guides on how to paint things.
-He thinks it can be done better through observation.
-Trying to understand the rabbits visually.
-Reapplying Western tendencies to his world. |
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PINE TREES IN SNOW, Edo, Maruyama Okyo
-Byobu.
-Interested in Western realism, but not completely ignoring Japanese traditions.
-Recedes in space, showing perspective.
-He still incorporates the gold clouds, symbolic of respectable Japanese painting.
-Typical Japanese subject matter.
-Japanese mark-making.
-He loves to blend Eastern and Western.
-Limits himself, only incorporating Western ideas to an extent. |
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DANJURO AND VILLAIN, Kiyonobu
-After seeing a Kabuki play, often people would want to purchase prints of the actors.
-Actor prints are popular within the Torii school.
-Brightly colored prints to maintain the fiction and drama of the Kabuki theater.
-The Edo style was considered ‘rough’
-Acture angles.
-Dramatic line, changing thickness.
-Engages the viewer in the drama of the performance.
-The villain is coming from above – purple face.
-Danjuro is the red, enraged hero.
-Kiyonobu is known for his ‘gourd legs’ and wriggly lines, enhancing movement. |
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GIRL ON HER WAY TO A SHINTO SHRINE, Harunobu
-Represents the invention of multi-color block printing.
-Marks on the corners of the block serve as registration.
-Nishiki-e colors.
-Harunobu’s colors are more muted and gray.
-Known for depicting petite, young girls.
-‘beautiful women’ is one category of image-making common in prints.
-The wind is blowing and exposing her ankles – suggestive. |
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Lovers with a clam shell
Utamaro
poetic
erotic - not as erotic as some other japanese prints
symbolic |
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Actor Yadorigi as a wife
Sharaku
Does not conceal the masculinity of the actor
Sharaku only had a month long career |
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The Great Wave (36 Views of Mt. Fuji)
Hokusai
boats
movement
Mt. Fuji in background |
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Snow at kambara
Hiroshige
Ukiyo-e - floating images; ephemeral |
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MELON SKIN, Nanga, Enomoto Kikaku
-Tied to Basho, a poet.
-Old pond...
a frog leaps in
water’s sound.
-Small, ink on paper, 12x17”.
-Meaningful merging of haiku and image.
-Haiku poems are formed by 17 sounds.
-The meaning can be open to interpretation.
-Subtlety, implication, ambiguity.
-Melons are bound together and symmetrical.
-Division, separation from the whole, equality, no matter how you cut it.
-Playful, simple. |
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