By N.P. Thompson
Northwest Asian Weekly
Utagawa Kuniyoshi’s O-ban woodblock print “Shun the Great” may not be the most serious or the most historically significant object in “Japan Envisions the West,” an exhibit of 16th-19th-century Japanese art from Kobe City Museum that opened at the Seattle Art Museum last week. To my eye, however, it’s one of the more memorable pieces in a set of antiquities that, by and large, have just made their maiden voyage across the Pacific.
Kuniyoshi (1797-1861) shows a marvelous sense of perspective in placing the dwarfed figure of a laborer, bent over tilling the soil, in between a pair of pale gray, almost white, pachyderms. One elephant faces us; the other turns his massive derrière to the viewer, raising his trunk in profile so that it reaches the line of distant mountaintops, directly overhead the peasant tending the grounds.
What’s noteworthy here is the coexistence of comic-grotesque elements with a feeling of utter serenity. Brown birds nestle on the hide of the forward-facing elephant, whose sharp tusks point in the landscaper’s direction. The worker in the red tunic devotedly goes about his task, perfectly at peace. The elephants could destroy him at any moment; his salvation is a job well done, no matter the circumstance.
While impressive prints, scrolls and multipaneled screens loom throughout the galleries, some of the greatest pleasures on view are easy to miss. Ceramicist Ogata Shuhei’s “Eight Plates With Dutch Figure Designs” serves as a striking example of what essayist Oka Yasumasa terms “hollandisme,” or the influence of Europe on Japanese art and the subsequent “craze” for Western-inspired items. Shuhei (1788-1839) painted outdoor designs on English creamware, depicting the leisure-class Dutch as oddly featured shapes with prominent noses, either bulbous or pointy. Their wardrobes, ostensibly European, also betray signs of Japanese garments. The result is an elegant fusion of styles, neither wholly Western nor Eastern.
Among the larger-scale works, the anonymously painted hand scrolls “Scenes of Dutch Settlement in Nagasaki,” based on sketches by the city magistrate’s official inspector Watanabe Shuseki (1639-1707), portray trader-host relations as they might have been. In reality, the Dutch were confined to Dejima, a landfill island in Nagasaki harbor that the traders considered a prison.
The picture, nonetheless, displays a kind of harmony: Through open windows of a warehouse-residence, we can spy into a dinner party in one room; in another, musicians play the viola da gamba and other European instruments to regale a visiting samurai.
Two boxes are well worth seeking out. In the first, the anonymous black and gold-lacquered “Jewel Box With Landscape Design” conveys a sense of secrecy and isolation. On its lower front panel, two birds hover above an empty pagoda, the black expanse of the background seeming like the darkest possible night; beyond this, on the panel that curves to meet the top lid, another open-air structure stands forlornly abandoned, the only life in the scene once again being avian, and all flocking in the opposite direction.
There are humans represented here, a pair of lovers, but they’re “hidden” from our scrutiny, at least until we walk around the box and find them sequestered on the right side. The two figures positioned in mid-air appear to be floating, until you notice the woman riding on the man’s back, as if he were a magic carpet.
The second box contains a treasure within a treasure. “Peep-show Box” (circa 1764-81) belongs to the megane-e form, in which optical paintings, specifically landscape paintings, are viewed through a convex lens. The dimensions are small, yet what a dazzling panorama lurks within! Peek inside, and there you find Utagawa Toyoharu’s “View of Nakanomachi at Shin’yoshiwara,” a visually arresting vast perspective that takes your eye across layers of starry firmament and travelers on a high road in the distance.
In the foreground, Toyoharu (1735-1814) stages kimono-clad revelers traversing a crowded street, with the main sources of light in the painting emanating from bright lanterns and pavilion windows. It is a rapturous achievement, even if you have to crouch a little to take it all in.
Visit “Japan Envisions the West: 16th-19th Century Japanese Art From Kobe City Museum” at the Seattle Art Museum, 1300 First Ave., Seattle, Oct. 11 - Jan. 6. For more information, visit www.seattleartmuseum.org.
N.P. Thompson can be reached at info@nwasianweekly.com.
http://www.nwasianweekly.com/200726043/art20072643.htm
Japanese Education Systems
When Japan opened herself to the world in 1868, one of the government's high priority was catching up with Western standards in science and education. The Japanese education system was reformed mainly according to the German and French model which experts regarded as most suitable and advantageous.
After the second world war, the Americans reformed the Japanese education system after their own which consists of six years of elementary school, each three years of junior and senior high school and four years of university or two years of junior college.
Compulsory education includes elementary school and junior high school. Over 90% of all students also graduate from high school and over 40% from university or junior college. At universities the percentage of male students is higher than that of female students while the opposite is the case at junior colleges. The number of graduate university students is relatively low.
The Japanese school year starts in April and consists of three terms, separated by short holidays in spring and winter, and a one month long summer break.
A characteristic of the Japanese school system are entrance exams, and with them a high competitiveness among students. Most high schools, universities, as well as a few private junior high schools and elementary schools require applicants to write entrance exams. In order to pass entrance exams to the best institutions, many students attend special preparation schools (juku) besides regular classes, or for one to two years between high school and university (yobiko).
The most prestigious universities are the national University of Tokyo and University of Kyoto, followed by the best private universities.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2150.html
After the second world war, the Americans reformed the Japanese education system after their own which consists of six years of elementary school, each three years of junior and senior high school and four years of university or two years of junior college.
Compulsory education includes elementary school and junior high school. Over 90% of all students also graduate from high school and over 40% from university or junior college. At universities the percentage of male students is higher than that of female students while the opposite is the case at junior colleges. The number of graduate university students is relatively low.
The Japanese school year starts in April and consists of three terms, separated by short holidays in spring and winter, and a one month long summer break.
A characteristic of the Japanese school system are entrance exams, and with them a high competitiveness among students. Most high schools, universities, as well as a few private junior high schools and elementary schools require applicants to write entrance exams. In order to pass entrance exams to the best institutions, many students attend special preparation schools (juku) besides regular classes, or for one to two years between high school and university (yobiko).
The most prestigious universities are the national University of Tokyo and University of Kyoto, followed by the best private universities.
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2150.html
Growing demand for contemporary Southeast Asian art
By Valarie Tan, Channel NewsAsia Posted: 24 August 2007 2022 hrs
SINGAPORE : The market for contemporary Southeast Asian art is growing rapidly.
One Singapore gallery says prices for well-known art works have gone up by about 150 percent over the last three years.
The bulk of the buyers are from Asia.
Malaysian artist Ahmad Zakii Anwar has gained popularity over the last decade due to his artwork.
Collectors of his artwork come from all over the world.
But a majority of them are Asians from places such as Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.
Just this year, one of his paintings went under the hammer for US$43,000 - a personal world record for the artist.
Irene Lee, Director, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, said, "Some works that were sold for 3, 4 thousand dollars could now be auctioned for easily US$25,000 to US$30,000. So I think that's a very impressive progress in the last 2-3 years."
She added, "It's an influence of how Asian contemporary art has captured a lot of imagination and interest from collectors around the world."
But numbers mean little to Johor-based Mr Zakii who turned professional about 15 years ago.
The 51-year-old former graphic artist said he is more inspired by the process of making art.
He said, "I'm not a collector. I'm not a dealer. The only thing I can do is make good art. To make the best art that I can, that I possibly can. And if that art moves the market, moves the standard of Southeast Asian contemporary art, then I'm happy with that."
Mr Zakii is currently holding a solo exhibition of his works at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute.
He is the first Malaysian artist to be invited for the institute's Visiting Artists Programme.
The exhibition runs till September 8. - CNA/ms
SINGAPORE : The market for contemporary Southeast Asian art is growing rapidly.
One Singapore gallery says prices for well-known art works have gone up by about 150 percent over the last three years.
The bulk of the buyers are from Asia.
Malaysian artist Ahmad Zakii Anwar has gained popularity over the last decade due to his artwork.
Collectors of his artwork come from all over the world.
But a majority of them are Asians from places such as Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan.
Just this year, one of his paintings went under the hammer for US$43,000 - a personal world record for the artist.
Irene Lee, Director, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, said, "Some works that were sold for 3, 4 thousand dollars could now be auctioned for easily US$25,000 to US$30,000. So I think that's a very impressive progress in the last 2-3 years."
She added, "It's an influence of how Asian contemporary art has captured a lot of imagination and interest from collectors around the world."
But numbers mean little to Johor-based Mr Zakii who turned professional about 15 years ago.
The 51-year-old former graphic artist said he is more inspired by the process of making art.
He said, "I'm not a collector. I'm not a dealer. The only thing I can do is make good art. To make the best art that I can, that I possibly can. And if that art moves the market, moves the standard of Southeast Asian contemporary art, then I'm happy with that."
Mr Zakii is currently holding a solo exhibition of his works at the Singapore Tyler Print Institute.
He is the first Malaysian artist to be invited for the institute's Visiting Artists Programme.
The exhibition runs till September 8. - CNA/ms
Enjoy Japanese Calligraphy (SHODO)
Two Japanese "kawaii" cute girls wearing "yukata" are enjoying "shodo" (Japanese calligraphy) and have their own special T-shirt and "uchiwa" (Japanese paper fan) on which her piece is printed.
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