Japan Art

 

Japanese art from 1576 to the present has many dimensions, each different in its own way. In the early years, Kato painters had been in the service of Shogun for several generations. They spent most of their time creating imposing, heroic designs in impasto. Their paintings were usually of sacred animals and beautiful plants.

One of the earliestJapanese murals was found in The Jukon' sub-Temple of Daitokokuji in Koyoto. The artist was Kano Eitoko, and the work was called," Pine and Crane." This work demonstrates characteristic of the Kano painting age. Eitoko worked in southern style of Muqi, in which he has transformed distant subjects soft parallel modelling strokes and gentle moss dots into bristling angular configurations of rocky shores and massive craggy pines that dominate the space.

Kano masters spent much of their time creating imposing heroic designs in impasto, such as the Great Pine Murals by Kano Tanyu. Room after room, wall after wall it was decorated with paintings of Zen dragons and tigers, the four seasons, moored boats and curved bridges, gardens and peonres, all executed in encrusted pigments and lavishly finished in gold foil.

The art of mural decoration is rooted in the traditions of Japanese paintings.

Click here Untitled Documentto learn more about kano art.

 

Around the late 1500's, Europe influenced Japanese Art. On example is in the artwork "Southern Barbarians". The Japanese were fascinated with waiste garmets and plumed head gear, with enormous galleons which were in that particular work.Japanese artists seemed incapable of static, purely visual, patternistic decoration. Be it lyrical, contemplative, dramatic, or aggresive , nearly all Japanese art is united under one essence:emotion.

Zen master Gibbon Sengai(1750-1837). His paintings were in a simple , direct, spontaneous style. His painting, "Frog and Snail" was a symbolic picture to Buddhism. It meant,"The frog swallowed three buddhas past, present, and future, in one mouthful. This refers to the perfection of all. Of the frog, the snail,the swallowing, lowely, but sacred potential of the frog was a Buddhist theme.Picture-

Towards the end of the 17th century as the appeal of genre painting incraeased, it began to be mass produced. Urban life seemed more elegant and extravagent then ever.also, woodblock carving soared to great heights. The spread of scientific knowledge and interest resulted in the publication of mediacal and botanical books containing exquisite drawings of plants and herbs.Picture-

By the early 18th century, a wider range of colors were added to prints. Many hand color actor prints were produced. The 'brocade prints' of Suzuki Harunobu(1765-70) were the first to perfect the new and more costly techniques. In"Viewing Maple Leaves by the Waterfall"The beautiful garments in pink, orange, and lilac show the fashons of that time. He achieved the intensity of lacquer to the man's garment by adding glue to the black. his work was remembered for its tenderness and innocence.Picture-

19th century- Japanese students studied in the west and foriegners established universities and colleges in Japan. Western oil painting was called Yoga and students in europe for long periods were able to effect japanization of its themes and techniques for more rapidly than the Tokugawa period when foriegn travel was banned. Artist Kuroda Seiki(1866-1924) studied painting for nine years in Paris before returning to Japan in 1893 to open an art school.(He later became the 1st Japanese professor of Western-style at the Tokyo School of Fine Arts)."Lake Shore was one of his best works. His vision was beyond any of the Japanese imagemakers before him and now.Picture-

The modified traditional Japanese painting style was called Nihonga created by Fennollosa. Traditional Japanese influences and styles in Nihonga painting include pure ink landscapes, colour wash styles, and thick impasto screens with coloured designs in gold. Hishida Shunso(1874-1910) paved the way for that particular style. He used no overt line-work. the style he presented at that time was new and people weren't used to it. In "Fallen Leaves" he combines Western realism with poetry of space; trees seem to reduce into all pervading mist, losing definition.

Japanese Animation(anime)

People usually ask, wll what is anime? Anime is Japnese Animation. The word anime is a transliteration of the English word animation. Movies and direct video( called Original Video Animations or OVA's in Japan) are examples of anime. The style, colors, ideas, and plots differ from Americas animation. Japanese artists usually draw there charactors features differently. One key feature is the eyes, the mouth, and the technology depicted in the animation.

Many people might say "Manga are Japanese comics, and Anime is the Japanese
version of animation. Anime is usually, but not always, the animated version
of popular manga." That's partially true, but it can be misleading.

First of all, though an outsider might think Japan "stole" comics from the
West, this is not true. Japan has been making cartoonish art for a very long
time (there are humorous ink drawings of animals and caricatured people from
hundreds of years ago, bearing striking resemblances to modern manga). True,
some aspects of manga are taken from the West, but its main features, such
as simple lines and stylized features, are distinctly Japanese. It may be
that Chinese art had more influence than Western.

Secondly, Japanese manga and anime come in all types, for all sorts of
people. Unlike the U.S., which generally seems to believe that "comics are
for kids," Japanese manga-ka (manga writers) write for everyone from
innocent young children to perverted sex-starved men (there is even a
category for ex-juvenile delinquent mothers!). But even the kiddie stuff
tends not to be as simple-minded as the American versions (not including
intelligent American comics, but more thinking of TV shows). Children's
manga and TV anime shows in Japan will sometimes depict death --- while the
U.S. (on children's TV) seems determined to run away from such realities of
life (note how the U.S. version of "GoLion" ("Voltron") deleted all
references to one of the protagonist's death). And, not surprisingly, much
of Japanese manga and anime includes scenes of students in class or doing
homework, or of people working in their offices. The work ethic seems
omnipresent in the background. Manga and anime also tend to protray
technology sympathetically, while some U.S. comics seem almost to avoid it,
or revile it, or simplify it as much as possible.

A third major difference is the unique Japanese manga and anime style, which
is distinctive and fairly easy to recognize. This is not to say the style is
limiting. Within this broad common stylistic ground, each manga artist's
technique is distinct and unique. The stereotype is of characters with huge
hair and large eyes, but there are many, many variations, from L.
Matsumoto's seemingly unevenly drawn squash-shaped "ugly" protagonists, to
the soft-edged figures in Miyazaki's work. And, of course, there is less
emphasis on the "superhero" world of the U.S.. In most manga, the men and
women aren't necessarily exaggerated extremes of their gender stereotypes,
and they wear things other than skin-tight costumes. In fact, manga and
anime characters tend to have unique and aesthetic tastes in fashion. (It's
also true that many modern U.S. comics have thankfully broken this
stereotype.)

To learn more about anime click here.Untitled Document