Taisho Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia, And Deco

The Taisho period, loosely the first three decades of the twentieth century, was a dynamic era in Japan. On one hand, it spawned social liberalism and political radicalism; on the other, it generated the social conservatism and cultural nativism that grew into the ultra-nationalism of 1937-1945. In art, it produced an infatuation with Western modernism as well as a new exploration of traditional aesthetics. Between these dramatic polarities was a rich middle ground of cultural synthesis and symbiosis in which Western concepts of modernity and nostalgia for Japanese tradition seamlessly merged or creatively contrasted. These values are witnessed in the Art Deco style, particularly as it infused Japanese art of Taisho. Much of the debate over Japanese cultural identity centered on the appearance and social role of women. The primary focus in this volume is the nexus of tradition and modernity manifest in popular images of women, as well as in domestic furnishings and fashions made for women. In an introductory essay, historian Sharon Minichiello provides a broad context for these issues by sketching major domestic and international events and themes of the period. In his essay and catalogue entries, art historian Kendall Brown first examines how women were at the center of the sociocultural debate on Japanese modernity, then details how artists helped fashion various female types, including the modern girl, the traditional beauty, and a new type of hybrid woman. The nihonga paintings, woodblock prints, textiles, and domestic artifacts discussed and illustrated here are a broad range of objects representative of mainstream Taisho visual culture, and reconstruct the styles popular from 1915 to 1935 in a celebration of Taisho- Chic. Kendall H. Brown teaches Asian art history at California State University, Long Beach. Sharon A. Minichiello is professor of Japanese history and director of the Center for Japanese Studies at the University of HawaiÕi. The other contributors are Reiko M. Brandon, Patricia Salmon, Eriko Iijima, and Annie M. Van Assche.

Taisho Chic: Japanese Modernity, Nostalgia, and Deco

Arts & Photography

Brown, Kendall H.

Minichiello, Sharon A.

History & Criticism

Honolulu Academy Arts

New Songs on Ancient Tunes presents a sweeping selection of Chinese paintings and calligraphies from the turbulent century between 1850 and 1950. Drawn entirely from the private San Francisco collection of the Reverend Richard Fabian, the works span the years between the Opium War and the Cultural Revolution. The book includes a survey of the bold style of the late nineteenth-century Shanghai School, as contrasted with the conservative artists of the late Qing dynasty Orthodox School, and examines the impact on artists of the new urban (and international) culture of Shanghai, and interactions with Western and Japanese art. The book also explores the influence of Chinese archaeology on late Qing dynasty calligraphy and in turn, the influence of new styles of calligraphy on painting. Focusing on superb works by the leading artists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, New Songs on Ancient Tunes includes the painters Ren Bonian, Xugu, Zhao Zhiqian, Wu Changshi. Fu Baoshi, Qi Baishi, Xu Beihong, and Zhang Daqian, and the calligraphers Deng Shiru, Yi Bingshou, He Shaoji, and Wu Dacheng. The book includes essays by Jonathan Spence, Chu-tsung Li, Stephen Little, and Qianshen Bai, and catalogue entries by Little, Rachel Farkas, Janet Carpenter, and Bruce McCLaren.

New Songs on Ancient Tunes: 19th-20th Century Chinese Paintings and Calligraphy from the Richard Fabian Collection

Literati painting, or bunjinga, flourished in Japan after its early 18th-century introduction from China. This book magnificently illustrates and examines an important collection of literati and shin nanga artworks, including outstanding examples of paintings, calligraphy, and ceramics.

Literati Modern: Bunjinga from Late Edo to Twentieth-Century Japan

Berry, Paul

Morioka, Michiyo

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