THE HISTORY OF

JAPANESE ART

By Olivia Junghans

Jomon Period- ca. 11,000- 300 B.C.

•This was the era of the Neolithic, nomadic hunters and gatherers whom eventually settle in semi-permanent villages.

•The Jomon, Japan's first ceramic culture, produced strongly tactile pottery such as pots and figurines shown here.

•The word Jo-mon means "cord markings," and derives from the distinctive patterns produced by rolling a rope-wrapped stick across the surface of wet clay. The lower portion of this vessel bears these markings, together with incised whimsical designs.

•The decorative rim is a typical feature of Middle Jomon pottery, is known as the "fire-flame" because the coils of clay resemble leaping flames.• These pieces of pottery have an unknown artist

Yayoi Periodca. 300-300 A.D.•Powerful chieftains ruled over an increasingly stratified society. 

•Wet-rice cultivation, introduced by immigrants from the continent of Asia, encouraged the establishment of permanent villages.

•Potters produced elegant, wheel-turned pottery with smooth, painted or burnished surfaces. Bronze technology from Korea led to the production of swords, spearheads, and dotaku bells, which were prized as symbols of prestige… not musical instruments.

The picture below is a dotaku bell

Kofun Period300-552

• This period was the time of a ruling aristocracy with close ties to Korea .

• Kofun translates to "old tomb," and refers to tumuli, or mounded graves, built for the imperial family and other high-ranking aristocrats.

•These tombs were furnished with ceramic cups, bowls, iron armaments, bronze mirrors, and stone jewelry.

• Burial mounds were adorned with clay sculptures called haniwa. They are in the form of warriors, shamans, animals or birds. Made of simplified geometric forms with naively applied adornments such as this horse’s saddle.

Asuka Period552-645

•Korean envoys introduced Buddhism to Japan in 552.

• Empress Suiko and the prince-regent Shotoku supported the religion. In less than 100 years it became firmly established, sharing the Japanese spiritual psyche with the indigenous belief system known as Shinto, or Way of the Gods.

•Monks and craftsmen from Korea and China were invited to immigrate to provide the objects of worship necessary for the new religion.

•Buddhist establishments became major art patrons, and from the 7th through the 11th centuries, there are few surviving works of art that are not Buddhist in inspiration. Painting and sculpture of the Asuka Period are patterned largely on Korean and Chinese prototypes.

•What we have here is Kannon, the most worshipped of the bodhisattvas (Bodhi-saht-va). Such small gilt bronzes were easily transported, thus helping to spread Buddhism and Buddhist iconography throughout Asia. 

Mural painting from the Takamatsuzuka Tomb

Shinto (Way of the Gods)

•The indigenous religion of Japan, Shinto is a form of nature-worship dating back to an unrecorded antiquity.

•In Shintoism, the Japanese worshiped the myriad nature spirits believed to inhabit natural phenomena such as rocks, waterfalls, trees and mountains. Later, under the influence of Buddhism and Confucianism, they also came to revere the spirits of their ancestors.

• The gods called kami are Shinto deities who were not originally represented in human form. Instead, the area where they were believed to be present was separated.

• Later, with the adoption of the highly developed Buddhist artistic tradition prompted Japanese artists to create Shinto paintings and sculpture.

•The sculpture here is the Divin Rainmaking Boy

Nara Period645-794

•During the Nara period the power and influence of Buddhism grew. The Japanese constructed many temples to accommodate the growing numbers of worshippers and clergy.

• Buddhist deities in bronze, wood, clay and lacquer were commissioned to fill temples. The painting and the sculpture resemble Kichijjōten

•It was during this period that the colossal bronze Buddha (Daibutsu) of Todai-ji temple was constructed to ensue the prosperity and protection of the entire nation.

• Increased contact with China caused paintings and sculpture to be modeled closely on the style of the contemporary T'ang dynasty.

Heian Period 794-1185•With the moving of the capital from Nara to Heian-kyo (modern Kyoto) in 794, a new era began. Priests Kukai and Saicho introduced new forms of Buddhism from the mainland, including esoteric or Tantric practices.

• These new forms of Buddhism brought a an assortment of deities, providing painters and sculptors with fresh sources of inspiration.

•By the year 1000, Esoteric Buddhism was being eclipsed by the popularity of the worship of Amida Buddha. The concept of Amida's heavenly "Pure Land" greatly influenced the arts, giving rise to elegant architectural forms and paintings and sculpture that reflected the idyllic beauty of Amida's paradise.

• Under the aristocratic Fujiwara regents, the court entered its "golden age." Members of this elite society developed native styles of calligraphy and painting that became enduring hallmarks of Japanese artistic expression.

Kamakura Period1185-1333•In 1185, Minamoto no Yorimoto proclaimed himself the Shogun of the country and moved the seat of government to Kamakura, a small village in Eastern Japan that gives its name to this historical period.

•The new government soon set about rebuilding many temples in Nara that had been destroyed during military “campaigns”.

• Sculptors were inspired by the works of the late Nara period, but created a new style with greater emphasis on realism. Secular paintings, too, were more realistic and literal in conception, in accordance to the military leaders' pragmatism.

•You can see in the scultures here that they are more realistic, with muscle and are more anatomically correct.

Muromachi Period1392-1573•Following the fall of the Kamakura military government, the Ashikaga family established a new military a regime in Kyoto.

• The Ashikaga shoguns were great patrons of the arts, and in many cases skilled artists themselves. They encouraged trade with China, and Japanese Zen monks who served as envoys brought back a wealth of Chinese art objects.

•Monks who were amateur painters produced the first ink paintings in Japan, but professional artists quickly adopted the technique.

• Zen monks also transmitted the Chinese custom of drinking powdered tea, leading to the development of the Japanese tea ceremony.

•Important artists of the time:Mokkei (c. 1250)Mokuan Reien (died 1345)- the painting with the two fat guys…Kao Ninga (e.14th century)Mincho (1352–1431)Josetsu (1405–1423)- the painting of the man cat-fishing.Tenshō Shūbun(died 1460)Sesshū Tōyō (1420–1506)Kano Masanobu (1434–1530)Kano Motonobu (1476–1559)

Doan (Yamada Yorikiyo)

 

Momoyama Period1573-1615•After a period of civil strife, the warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi reunified the country and built a castle in Momoyama, translating to "Peach Mountain," south of Kyoto.

• Decorating the walls and sliding doors of these vast interiors gave rise to innovative and bold styles. This taste for flamboyance carried over into textile and lacquerware designs.

• At the same time, tea masters promoted a counter aesthetic that prized the rough texture and imperfect forms of native wares.

•Artists of the time:Kano Eitoku (1543–1590)Kano Sanraku (1559–1663) - tigersKano Tanyu (1602–1674)Hasegawa Tohaku (1539–1610)- the tree doorsKaiho Yusho (1533–1615)

 

Edo Period1615-1868•With the decisive battle of Sekigahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu effectively gained control of the country.

•The resumption of a stable government stimulated the Japanese economy and resulted in an unprecedented surge of artistic activity. In addition to several schools of painting, decorative arts such as ceramics, lacquer ware, textiles, and metalwork flourished as never before.

• Ukiyo-e, "pictures of the floating world," first emerged in the seventeenth century. This new art form was created for the urban townspeople, a new class of art patron with their own interests and tastes. Through mass-produced woodblock prints, inexpensive art works were available to everyone. At first, artists specialized in depicting famous Kabuki actors or geishas, but by the 19th century they also produced designs featuring landscapes, legendary heroes, and nature studies.

•A few (there are many) important artists:Yosa Buson (1716–1783)Ito Jakuchu (1716–1800)Ike no Taiga (1723–1776)Suzuki Harunobu (c. 1725-1770)Maruyama Okyo (1733–1795)Okada Beisanjin (1744–1820)Uragami Gyokudo (1745–1820)

Kitagawa Utamaro

Hara Yo_yu_sai

Meiji Restoration1868-1912• in 1867 several powerful daimyo (regional warlords) band together and overthrow Shogun Yoshinobu (1837–1913), forcing him to resign authority. Marching into the imperial capital Kyoto, they "restore" Emperor Mutsuhito (1852–1912) to power and establish the Meiji ("enlightened rule") Restoration.

•Throughout the century, however, the drive to Westernize is paralleled by continued isolationist tendencies and a desire to resist foreign influences. Eventually, as has happened numerous times in the nation's history, after the Japanese assimilate what has been borrowed, they use these imports to formulate a new but distinctly Japanese modern society.

• In the art world, social changes as well as the introduction of moveable print and photography led to a gradual disappearance of the Ukiyo-e woodblock prints.

important artists

•Taiso Yoshitoshi (1839-92) produced Ukiyo-e style prints, some highly lyrical, but others often lurid in nature showing ghosts, murders, and scenes from the restoration wars.

•Kobayashi Kiyochika (1847-1915) depicted the many changes in Meiji society, his landscapes of the new Tokyo often using devices borrowed directly from the West.

•1904 Yamamoto Kanae (1882-1946) started the innovative new Sōsaku Hanga ('Creative Print') movement.

Kuroda Seiki, Lakeside, 1897, oil on canvas

Hishida Shunso (1874–1911)

Hosui Yamamoto

Taisho Period1912-1926•The shin-hanga movement was an mix of traditional Japanese woodblock printing methods and artwork by contemporary artists. The war-time prints of the Meiji period depicting the Russo-Japanese battles received a very limited amount of success so the shin-hanga movement served to reinvigorate the woodblock printing medium

•Sosaku hanga artists were influenced by a wide variety of international art movements and were a diverse group which were held together only by their strong beliefs in individuality. This was a new level of self-expression and marked a great change in social attitudes as well as art.

•Important Artists Kishida Ryūsei (Young Girl Standing-1923)Tomita Keisen (1879–1936)Koide Narashige (1887–1931)-the family at the tableShimomura Kanzan (1873–1930)

Showa Period1926-1989Japanese painting in the prewar Shōwa period was largely dominated by Yasui Sotaro and Umehara Ryuzaburo, who introduced the concepts of pure art and abstract painting to the Nihonga tradition, and thus created a more interpretative version of that genre. This trend was further developed by Leonard Foujita and the Nika Society, to encompass surrealism. To promote these trends, the Independent Art Association (Dokuritsu Bijutsu Kyokai) was formed in 1931.

Heisei Period1989- present•Japanese-style or nihonga painting continues in a prewar fashion, updating traditional expressions while retaining the same style.

•Some artists within this style still paint on silk or paper with traditional colors and ink, while others used new materials, such as acrylics.

•There are also a number of contemporary painters in Japan whose work is largely inspired by anime sub-cultures and other aspects of popular and youth culture. 

Important artists:Ogura Yuki (1895–2000)Uemura Shoko 1902-2001Koiso Ryouhei (1903–1988)Kaii Higashiyama (1908–1999)Hayao Miyazaki(1941-present) Shinoda Toko (1913-present) (abstract piece)

Thank you for watching!