Meiji (1868-1912)
The best survey of Meiji art (excluding Western-style painting) is Frederick Baekeland's exhibition catalogue, Imperial Japan: The Art of the Meiji Era, 1868-1912 (Ithaca, N.Y.: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, 1980). Also useful is Meiji: Japanese Art in Transition, edited by Robert Schaap (The Hague: Haags Gemeentemuseum, 1987), a catalogue of an exhibition of lacquer, prints, and Japanese-style paintings. Barry Till, The Arts of Meiji Japan, 1868-1912: Changing Aesthetics (Victoria, B.C.: Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, 1995) is an exhibition catalogue with a rather routine introduction of some 20 pages, and illustrations (mostly black and white) of about 140 objects, mostly prints but also ceramics, cloisonné, lacquerware, sculpture (ivory, wood, metal), etc., many made for export to the West. Persons whose taste runs to such things as early Buddhist painting and sculpture or Kamakura emaki or Edo screens (whether Kano or Rinpa or whatever) will not find much that gives delight here. This ware - with highly detailed enamel decoration - is not to be confused with the earlier ware characterized by a cream-colored body and a clear but somewhat yellowish glaze. For a lavish presentation of Meiji art, see a five-volume collection (actually, eight books, since some volumes consist of more than one book), Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley, Meiji no takara: Treasures of Imperial Japan (London: Kibo Foundation, 1995). These abundantly illustrated volumes set forth objects in the Nasser D. Kahlili Collection as follows: volume 1, lacquer; volume 2, in two parts (360 color plates), metalwork; volume 3, enamels; volume 4, lacquer (in two parts); volume 5, ceramics (in two parts). Also illustrating the Kahlili collection is Joe Earl, Shibata Zeshin: Masterpieces of Japanese Lacquer (London: Kibo Foundation, 1997), with 311 color plates, showing paintings and lacquer objects (inro and large-scale pieces). Satsuma, a Meiji ceramic ware made for export, is the subject of a book by Louis Lawrence, Satsuma (London: Dauphin Publishing, 1991), with almost 100 pieces illustrated in color. For bronzes, cloisonné, and lacquer, see Oliver Impey and Malcolm Fairley, The Dragon King of the Sea: Japanese Decorative Art of the Meiji Period from the John R. Young Collection (Oxford: Ashmolean Museum, 1991). For metal only, see Joe Earle, Flower Bronzes of Japan (London: M. Goedhuis, 1995). We have also heard of, but not seen or been able to trace, Masterpieces of Meiji Metalwork. (London: Barry Davies Oriental Art, 1991).
On Japan's encounter with the West, see Julia Meech-Pekarik, The World of the Meiji Print: Impressions of a New Civilization (New York: Weatherhill, 1986), a highly informative book that examines, through a popular medium, Japan's keen interest in Western culture during the late 19th century. Ann Yonemura, Yokohama: Prints from Nineteenth-Century Japan (Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian, 1990) is a catalogue of an exhibition of 19th-century photographs and newspaper drawings and some 85 color prints of Yokohama and its first foreign residents, from 1859 to the 1870s. The interest is chiefly sociological rather than artistic. Elizabeth de Sabato Swinton, In Battle's Light: Woodblock Prints of Japan's Early Modern Wars (Worcester, Mass.: Worcester Art Museum, 1991) reproduces in color 80 triptychs of prints of Japan engaged in Western-style war (the Sino-Japanese War and the Russo-Japanese War), and informatively discusses the social context as well as the artistry of each work.
On the crisis in Japanese art evoked by opening the door to the West, see John M. Rosenfield, "Western-style Painting in the Early Meiji Period and Its Critics," in Tradition and Modernization in Japanese Culture, edited by Donald H. Shively (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1971). Paris in Japan (Tokyo: Japan Foundation, 1987) is a highly informative exhibition catalogue showing 77 Japanese oil paintings (1890 to 1930) influenced by French art. Minoru Harada, Meiji Western Painting, translated by Akiko Murakata, adapted by Bonnie F. Abiko (New York: Weatherhill, 1974) is valuable for its abundant illustrations.
The sights of Meiji Japan were recorded by the print artist Kobayashi Kiyochika, whose work is abundantly illustrated, with highly informative comments about the scenes, in Henry D. Smith II, Kiyochika: Artist of Meiji Japan (Santa Barbara, Calif.: Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 1988). Photographers, too, recorded Meiji Japan. See Margarita Winkel, Souvenirs from Japan: Japanese Photography at the Turn of the Century (London: Bamboo, 1991), and Japan Photographers Association, A Century of Japanese Photography (New York: Pantheon, 1980).
There is much more interest today in the Meiji period than there was when this bibliography was first prepared, partly because the academic study of art has been moving away from connoisseurship to a more socially and politically based study - from, one could say, text to context. An interesting book that concentrates on the social context of art collecting is Christine Guth, Art, Tea, and Industry: Masuda Takashi and the Mitsui Circle (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993). Guth examines the relationships circa 1900 between art collecting and the tea ceremony on the one hand and, on the other hand, the business activities of the director of the Mitsui conglomerate, Masuda Takashi (1848-1938).
Taken from:
http://www.asiasociety.org/arts/japan_guide/studies9.html
The art of making sushi
By Maggie Crane, WINK News
Story Created: Feb 4, 2008 at 7:56 AM EST
Blu Sushi was born out of boredom. Hong Kong born sushi chef Kevin Mak used to own a chinese restaurant, but thanks to a buddy in the sushi business, Kevin switched careers. Thirteen years and three businesses later, he hasn't looked back.
Sit at the bar at Blu Sushi and watch the sushi chefs at work. They make it look so easy. But is it?
Sushi chef Kevin Mak makes food into edible art, and he's teaching me how to make a roll called "LoyalTV.com." It's named after a good customer."
In the beginning, you have to make sure your hand is a little wet, so the rice will not stick to your fingers," Mak says.
Well it stuck to mine anyway, and it's no wonder --"We use sushi sticky rice from Japan and mix it with a little sugar, a little salt and a little vinegar," Mak says.Next, we add on spicy tuna, cucumber, and tomago, which is egg mixed with a little sugar and vinegar, and then wrap it up in soy paper."
Make sure your fingers hold all of the ingredients in the middle," Mak instructs me.But that's harder than it looks! Mak is an old pro. He wraps nearly 300 rolls every night, and so do his six other chefs. That's a heck of a lot of raw fish! Mak wraps each roll in about a minute.
Mak says shashimi, which is only raw fish -- no rice -- only needs a little soy sauce and wasabi for flavoring.
Most people have heard of wasabi -- that little green glob on the side of your plate. It comes from the root of a plant and packs a serious punch."Some people say 'oh I love spicy,' but, wasabi is a different kind of spicy, they say 'wow! This goes all the way to the top of the head'" Mak says. What you won't see is what goes on behind the scenes. Blu Sushi gets fresh fish from all over the world."We get it from Canada, from Japan, from Brazil -- everywhere," Mak says. "It just depends where I can get the freshest fish.
"Tuna comes in different grades, and an A++ fish will reel in big bucks."Some, maybe a 500 pound fish or a 700 pound fish, can go for like $50,000 for one fish," Mak says.
But that fish often goes to the sushi capital of the world."Like 80% goes to Japan because they pay a really high price," Mak says. "We have a lot of great tuna too -- it just depends on how much you want to pay for it.
"The different knives sushi chefs use are almost as important as the quality of the fish itself.
"You can get a knife for $50 but they run up to $5,000 for one knife," Mak says.
Even the stones used to sharpen the knives can cost hundreds of dollars a piece.
From succulent sushi to sharp skills, Kevin Mak has one goal every day.
"All the time we try to create something for our customers that they cannot eat at another restaurant," Mak says. "Really, they're not my customers. They're my friends -- they're all my friends!"
http://www.winknews.com/news/local/15272506.html
Story Created: Feb 4, 2008 at 7:56 AM EST
Blu Sushi was born out of boredom. Hong Kong born sushi chef Kevin Mak used to own a chinese restaurant, but thanks to a buddy in the sushi business, Kevin switched careers. Thirteen years and three businesses later, he hasn't looked back.
Sit at the bar at Blu Sushi and watch the sushi chefs at work. They make it look so easy. But is it?
Sushi chef Kevin Mak makes food into edible art, and he's teaching me how to make a roll called "LoyalTV.com." It's named after a good customer."
In the beginning, you have to make sure your hand is a little wet, so the rice will not stick to your fingers," Mak says.
Well it stuck to mine anyway, and it's no wonder --"We use sushi sticky rice from Japan and mix it with a little sugar, a little salt and a little vinegar," Mak says.Next, we add on spicy tuna, cucumber, and tomago, which is egg mixed with a little sugar and vinegar, and then wrap it up in soy paper."
Make sure your fingers hold all of the ingredients in the middle," Mak instructs me.But that's harder than it looks! Mak is an old pro. He wraps nearly 300 rolls every night, and so do his six other chefs. That's a heck of a lot of raw fish! Mak wraps each roll in about a minute.
Mak says shashimi, which is only raw fish -- no rice -- only needs a little soy sauce and wasabi for flavoring.
Most people have heard of wasabi -- that little green glob on the side of your plate. It comes from the root of a plant and packs a serious punch."Some people say 'oh I love spicy,' but, wasabi is a different kind of spicy, they say 'wow! This goes all the way to the top of the head'" Mak says. What you won't see is what goes on behind the scenes. Blu Sushi gets fresh fish from all over the world."We get it from Canada, from Japan, from Brazil -- everywhere," Mak says. "It just depends where I can get the freshest fish.
"Tuna comes in different grades, and an A++ fish will reel in big bucks."Some, maybe a 500 pound fish or a 700 pound fish, can go for like $50,000 for one fish," Mak says.
But that fish often goes to the sushi capital of the world."Like 80% goes to Japan because they pay a really high price," Mak says. "We have a lot of great tuna too -- it just depends on how much you want to pay for it.
"The different knives sushi chefs use are almost as important as the quality of the fish itself.
"You can get a knife for $50 but they run up to $5,000 for one knife," Mak says.
Even the stones used to sharpen the knives can cost hundreds of dollars a piece.
From succulent sushi to sharp skills, Kevin Mak has one goal every day.
"All the time we try to create something for our customers that they cannot eat at another restaurant," Mak says. "Really, they're not my customers. They're my friends -- they're all my friends!"
http://www.winknews.com/news/local/15272506.html
Kanji for Tattoos Links
Ever since I was in highschool I always wanted one of those Kanji tattoos that I see everyone with; there was something about it that just seems cool. Be careful when you get these tattoos though! Most are translated incorrectly. While searching the net for kanji tattoos, I came across an about.com site that had lots of correctly translated kanji so I have posted a link to it as well as some other sites that you may find helpful, enjoy!
http://japanese.about.com/library/bltattoo.htm
General Kanji for Tattoos
Check out your favorite words at "50 Popular Kanji: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 and Part 11." The sound files are included to help your pronunciation. You can also see the collection of the kanji characters at "Kanji Land".
"Japanese Style" site will help you to create your favorite word in kanji.
"Only One Items For You" site will help you to create your favorite word with Japanese calligraphy font style.
"DSFY (Design for You).com" offer Japanese symbol, your Japanese Name and kanji translation.
"KanjiStyle.com" site is for designers who wish to use Japanese calligraphy or kanji for design materials.
"Kanjiya.jp" site offer unique kanji T-shirts, custom kanji T-shirts with your name, Japanese kanji symbol translation for tattoo.
"Kanjika.com" translates your English words into accurate Japanese characters for the use in tattoo art, logo, designs, your name in Japanese and novel gifts. Also, check out new "Tattoo Checker".
http://japanese.about.com/library/bltattoo.htm
General Kanji for Tattoos
Check out your favorite words at "50 Popular Kanji: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10 and Part 11." The sound files are included to help your pronunciation. You can also see the collection of the kanji characters at "Kanji Land".
"Japanese Style" site will help you to create your favorite word in kanji.
"Only One Items For You" site will help you to create your favorite word with Japanese calligraphy font style.
"DSFY (Design for You).com" offer Japanese symbol, your Japanese Name and kanji translation.
"KanjiStyle.com" site is for designers who wish to use Japanese calligraphy or kanji for design materials.
"Kanjiya.jp" site offer unique kanji T-shirts, custom kanji T-shirts with your name, Japanese kanji symbol translation for tattoo.
"Kanjika.com" translates your English words into accurate Japanese characters for the use in tattoo art, logo, designs, your name in Japanese and novel gifts. Also, check out new "Tattoo Checker".
Koreans, Vietnamese Share History and Art
By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter
Contemporary Korean and Vietnamese art come together in an engaging and fresh mix of history and pop culture, through an exhibition ``transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix'' at the Arko Art Center.
``transPOP: Korea Vietnam Remix,'' featuring works of 16 artists from Korea, Vietnam and the United States, opens on Dec. 18 and runs through Feb. 28.
The idea for the exhibition exploring the interconnection between Korea and Vietnam was formed while the two U.S.-based curators Min Yong-soon and Viet Le were dining in Koreatown in Los Angeles. Min and Le, who are also artists, realized their common interest in the history and contemporary pop culture of their respective native countries.
```transPop' is an attempt to create a new word, combining transnational and pop. It tries to convey our interest in examining the transnational flow of culture. Hallyu is a very strong force in this transnational flow of culture. … `Korea and Vietnam Remix' is taken from hip-hop, where you mix the music and take some of the elements and create something new,'' Min said, in a meeting with reporters Wednesday.
Min, who was born in Korea but moved to the U.S. in 1960 when she was only seven years old, said the exhibit is part of her on-going quest to learn more about her connection to Korea. ``The exhibition reflects my two areas of interest: history and popular culture. I'm a huge fan and addicted to TV dramas. … And the particular mix of U.S., Korea and Vietnam comes from the background of the Korean involvement in the Vietnam War. The war becomes the historical movement that influences the exhibition,'' she said.
During the Vietnam War, Korea was the second-largest foreign military and economic presence in the country, after the United States. It is also well known that Korea's economy received a big boost from its participation in the Vietnam War. However, the historical and cultural ties between the two countries are not often explored.
Le's own experience as a child when his family escaped from Ho Chi Minh by boat after the Vietnam War, led to his interest in ``historical trauma, pop culture and modernization.''``As an artist, I am interested in what is remembered and what is forgotten. Some of that is represented through pop culture, movies and propaganda. Both Korea and Vietnam have gone through rapid modernization progress. … Modernization can also be traumatic and violent,'' Le said.
Both countries share common experiences in war, and subsequent rapid modernization, Korea in the 1980s and Vietnam in the 1990s. In the 1990s, the presence of many Korean companies in Vietnam led to the influx of Korean dramas, which became widely popular and even influenced the development of Vietnam's own pop culture.
>Tiffany Chung, a Vietnamese-American artist based in Hanoi, will show a video about Vietnamese pop star Lam Truong. ``He is the first Vietnamese pop icon. The video shows him and how Vietnamese are starting to idolize and worship pop stars. This is an influence of the Korean Wave. He does a lot of covers of famous Korean pop songs. This isn't just about him, but also about the new Asian identity,'' Chung said.
During the exhibition, there is a lounge where visitors can read books and other materials on the project, listen to K-pop and V-pop music and watch Korean and Vietnamese videos.
On Jan. 18 and 19, there will be a symposium focusing on ``transnational exchanges and the intersections of history, trauma and popular culture'' and with experts from Korea, Australia, Japan, Vietnam and the U.S.
After Seoul, Min said the exhibit will be shown at the University of California Irvine University Art Gallery in October, and Verba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco in November. While they would love to bring the exhibition to Vietnam, the curators admit it is difficult but are still trying to work it out.
Tickets are 2,000 won for adults and 1,000 won for children and students. Visit www.arko.or.kr or call (02) 760-4598.
cathy@koreatimes.co.kr
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2007/12/148_15558.html
During the Vietnam War, Korea was the second-largest foreign military and economic presence in the country, after the United States. It is also well known that Korea's economy received a big boost from its participation in the Vietnam War. However, the historical and cultural ties between the two countries are not often explored.
Le's own experience as a child when his family escaped from Ho Chi Minh by boat after the Vietnam War, led to his interest in ``historical trauma, pop culture and modernization.''``As an artist, I am interested in what is remembered and what is forgotten. Some of that is represented through pop culture, movies and propaganda. Both Korea and Vietnam have gone through rapid modernization progress. … Modernization can also be traumatic and violent,'' Le said.
Both countries share common experiences in war, and subsequent rapid modernization, Korea in the 1980s and Vietnam in the 1990s. In the 1990s, the presence of many Korean companies in Vietnam led to the influx of Korean dramas, which became widely popular and even influenced the development of Vietnam's own pop culture.
>Tiffany Chung, a Vietnamese-American artist based in Hanoi, will show a video about Vietnamese pop star Lam Truong. ``He is the first Vietnamese pop icon. The video shows him and how Vietnamese are starting to idolize and worship pop stars. This is an influence of the Korean Wave. He does a lot of covers of famous Korean pop songs. This isn't just about him, but also about the new Asian identity,'' Chung said.
During the exhibition, there is a lounge where visitors can read books and other materials on the project, listen to K-pop and V-pop music and watch Korean and Vietnamese videos.
On Jan. 18 and 19, there will be a symposium focusing on ``transnational exchanges and the intersections of history, trauma and popular culture'' and with experts from Korea, Australia, Japan, Vietnam and the U.S.
After Seoul, Min said the exhibit will be shown at the University of California Irvine University Art Gallery in October, and Verba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco in November. While they would love to bring the exhibition to Vietnam, the curators admit it is difficult but are still trying to work it out.
Tickets are 2,000 won for adults and 1,000 won for children and students. Visit www.arko.or.kr or call (02) 760-4598.
cathy@koreatimes.co.kr
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/art/2007/12/148_15558.html
Unique 'Degas and the Art of Japan' Exhibition in Final Month at Reading Public Museum
READING, Pa., Nov. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The works of Edgar Degas were deeply influenced by Japanese art, yet surprisingly, there has never been an exhibition devoted to this subject...until now. Degas and the Art of Japan at the Reading Public Museum, on display now through Sunday, December 30, 2007, is the first exhibition of its kind to bring together a variety of works by Degas with an illuminating selection of Japanese objects, including a work actually owned by Degas and many images he knew and admired. Displayed side-by-side with the art of the famous Impressionist, these dynamic scenes of Japanese life are revealed as the inspiration for many of Degas' most inventive pictures of dancers, cabaret singers, laundresses and the French countryside.
This unique exhibition of over 60 works, organized by the Reading Public Museum, includes works by Degas borrowed from museums and private collections in the United States, Canada and Europe -- as well as three extraordinary pictures by Degas belonging to the Reading Public Museum's permanent collection. The Degas works are complemented by Japanese objects from major national institutions, as well as from the Museum's own extensive collection.
As the exhibition progresses, Degas' debt to Japanese art comes alive in portraits, pictures of women bathing and combing their hair, scenes of theater-goers and ladies of leisure, and in fans... one decorated by the artist himself. Previously unidentified links between Degas' pictures of laundresses and their Ukiyo-e prototypes are brought to light, as will other little-known aspects of the French artist's sustained engagement with the art of Japan.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated color catalogue written by exhibition curators Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall, who also organized the groundbreaking exhibition Degas and the Dance in 2002-3 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
This exhibition is underwritten by the Marlin and Ginger Miller Exhibition Endowment and Sovereign Bank. Additional grants have been made by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the Jerlyn Foundation, Yuasa Battery, Inc., and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
The Reading Public Museum is located at 500 Museum Road, Reading, PA. Web: http://www.readingpublicmuseum.org/.
READING PUBLIC MUSEUM
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,229696.shtml
This unique exhibition of over 60 works, organized by the Reading Public Museum, includes works by Degas borrowed from museums and private collections in the United States, Canada and Europe -- as well as three extraordinary pictures by Degas belonging to the Reading Public Museum's permanent collection. The Degas works are complemented by Japanese objects from major national institutions, as well as from the Museum's own extensive collection.
As the exhibition progresses, Degas' debt to Japanese art comes alive in portraits, pictures of women bathing and combing their hair, scenes of theater-goers and ladies of leisure, and in fans... one decorated by the artist himself. Previously unidentified links between Degas' pictures of laundresses and their Ukiyo-e prototypes are brought to light, as will other little-known aspects of the French artist's sustained engagement with the art of Japan.
The exhibition is accompanied by a fully-illustrated color catalogue written by exhibition curators Jill DeVonyar and Richard Kendall, who also organized the groundbreaking exhibition Degas and the Dance in 2002-3 at the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
This exhibition is underwritten by the Marlin and Ginger Miller Exhibition Endowment and Sovereign Bank. Additional grants have been made by the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, the Jerlyn Foundation, Yuasa Battery, Inc., and the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts.
The Reading Public Museum is located at 500 Museum Road, Reading, PA. Web: http://www.readingpublicmuseum.org/.
READING PUBLIC MUSEUM
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,229696.shtml
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