Fujita Tsuguharu was a pivotal character in the promotion and innovation of Japan as a country. As a diverse and popular individual in Paris, he gained fame and wealth while he developed his painterly style in the 1920s. He sought to reinvent and the “European nude” to sate the hunger of both the narcissistic European cultures and to uplift the Japanese style of painting. This was to evolve Japan’s culture and help to attain a national identity. The Second World War, however, brought about a change that attributed to a diversion in Fujita’s style in paintings. A transformation into a dark, graphic, realism was the focus, yet there was always that lingering attempt to solidify Japan’s identity. It is certainly reflective of the sacrifice of one for the benefit of the whole.
A Japanese painter, Tsuguharu was born the year 1866 in Tokyo, Japan under his birth name Fujita. In his adolescence, he familiarized himself with French oil painting techniques and applied them to Japanese stylized artworks. Tsuguharu graduated from Tokyo University of Fine Arts and Music; following his graduation, Tsuguharu travelled to Paris where he furthered his familiarity with Western art and art forerunners such as, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse and Amedeo Modigliani (citation). Although he mostly lived in France, Tsuguharu would make periodic trips to Japan; in the closing days before World War II he returned to Japan. As if inevitably, Tsuguharu left Japan in 1949 and went back to France, settling a year later and officially becoming a French citizen in 1955. Upon becoming a French citizen and converting to the Roman Catholicism, he was christened with the name Leonard in 1966.
During Tsuguharu’s initial visit to Paris, he developed his version of the...
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... to reinforce the typical emotions the Japanese felt during war. This painting allows empathy to be achieved. As unsure as the viewer is while looking at this painting, it appears as though the Japanese would have felt the same during World War II and all the events surrounding it.
Fujita Tsuguharu’s contribution to the innovation of Japanese culture and identity was definitely successful in its attempt. The celebrated Euro-Japanese nude styles allowed for Japan and Tsuguharu to become a pillar in the artistic world. Tsuguharu in the future expressed a more violent nationalism in his later works painted the country in its true nature; one of sacrifice and hardship, continually pushing for greatness and honour – the sacrifice of few for the whole. He was truly a diverse character who contributed whole hearted for the identity and construction of his country, Japan.
Much of what is considered modern Japan has been fundamentally shaped by its involvement in various wars throughout history. In particular, the events of World War II led to radical changes in Japanese society, both politically and socially. While much focus has been placed on the broad, overarching impacts of war on Japan, it is through careful inspection of literature and art that we can understand war’s impact on the lives of everyday people. The Go Masters, the first collaborative film between China and Japan post-WWII, and “Turtleback Tombs,” a short story by Okinawan author Oshiro Tatsuhiro, both give insight to how war can fundamentally change how a place is perceived, on both an abstract and concrete level.
On Farting by Hiraga Gennai gives the reader a perspective into the world of various arts in the Edo Period. Not only are we shown what is meant to be a proper practicing of the arts through his satirical character, Crankshaw Stonington Esquire, but he counters this claim that the arts were then lacking in life, passion, and ingenuity. They had become boring and outdated without any creativity being brought forward. To prove this he sings his praises for a fart artist, and engages in a lively debate about what truly marks art as meaningful and how a change to the traditions would improve the civilization. However passionate, his argument may not be effective enough to change the minds and ways of those who revel in the traditional.
I saw that soldier’s faces were lit eerily in the dim light. The sculptures apparel seemed fitting due to the light rain that was falling at the memorial site. I noticed the wall glimmering as the raindrops slid down the glassy surface and fall into the wilting flowers while the images illuminated from the glare of rain and light. I felt this morbid and realistic presence of the soldiers and for a mere second felt the gloom and menace of the war they were in. I walked around the site to gather more information on what the memorial was dedicated to. I walked past the mural wall and as I did I paid particular attention to the various images of people and equipment on the wall. All of the facial expressions of the people on the wall gave the memorial a very real presence to it. I continued walking down the granite walk and I read it was the Korean War Veterans Memorial and immediately got the message the artists were trying to convey. It was very clear that they were showing the public that freedom is not free. The memorial symbolizes the soldiers that have fought for the freedom of others and it recognizes the importance of these actions and
Jeffrey Kingston. Japan in Transformation, 1952 – 2000. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited, 2001. 230 pp.
Musui’s Story is the exciting tale of a low class samurai’s life towards the end of the Tokugawa era. Although one would normally imagine a samurai to be a noble illustrious figure, Musui’s Story portrays the rather ignominious life of an unemployed samurai. Nonetheless, this primary account demonstrates the tenacity of samurai values and privileges present at the end of the Tokugawa shogunate. The social status of samurai had been elevated to such a state that even someone like Musui was easily able to gain influence in everyday affairs with his privileges. Not only that, but he had retained his values as a warrior and still kept great pride for his arts in weaponry.
Throughout history artists have used art as a means to reflect the on goings of the society surrounding them. Many times, novels serve as primary sources in the future for students to reflect on past history. Students can successfully use novels as a source of understanding past events. Different sentiments and points of views within novels serve as the information one may use to reflect on these events. Natsume Soseki’s novel Kokoro successfully encapsulates much of what has been discussed in class, parallels with the events in Japan at the time the novel takes place, and serves as a social commentary to describe these events in Japan at the time of the Mejeii Restoration and beyond. Therefore, Kokoro successfully serves as a primary source students may use to enable them to understand institutions like conflicting views Whites by the Japanese, the role of women, and the population’s analysis of the Emperor.
This painting of the industrial revolution is very thought provoking, and causes a person to think about of what was happening during the industrial revolution. He shows the horrors of the factories and the serenity of the nature. He makes someone want to go back in time where things were peaceful, and there was just nature. Everything was in it’s own natural state and peaceful. This painting gave viewers a small glimpse into the past of the United States and the industrial revolution. Even though this picture showed a small glimpse of the past, a picture (or painting) is truly worth a thousand
It was not until the 19th century that a very powerful tool was examine in depth by different viewers, photographic images. In the depression years, war was not seen by others as what war really is, and or what war can do. Some perceived war as an act of heroic action, and were not really aware of the pain that war brought to others remotely. Photographs were and continue to be visual representations of current and history events. In Regarding the Pain of Others, written by Susan Sontang. She analysis many factors in how war is perceived in images/photos by different viewers. Susan Sontang also reacts to a key point word that Woolf ’refers to as “we” when it comes to relating to the pain of others and there experience of this subject.
Known for her work as a historian and rather outspoken political activist, Yamakawa Kikue was also the author of her book titled Women of the Mito Domain (p. xix). At the time she was writing this work, Yamakawa was under the surveillance of the Japanese government as the result of her and her husband’s work for the socialist and feminist movements in Japan (p. xx-xxi). But despite the restrictions she was undoubtedly required to abide by in order to produce this book, her work contains an air of commentary on the past and present political, social, and economic issues that had been plaguing the nation (p. xxi). This work is a piece that comments on the significance of women’s roles in history through the example of Yamakawa’s own family and
Born in Tokyo in 1949, Toshio Shibata is best-known for his Large Format 8x10 photographs that exhibit the traditional aesthetic of Japanese painting. After completing an extensive education in painting and printmaking in Japan and Belgium, he eventually progressed towards photography as a medium of expression (Barker 2013). After viewing the American West exhibit, specifically works by Edward Weston, he definitively chose photography as
Over the course of Japanese history, arguably, no artist is more famous for their works than Katsushika Hokusai. During his 88 years of life, he produced over 30,000 pieces of artwork, and heavily influenced Western styles of art. His most famous piece was created around 1831, a Japanese styled piece titled, The Great Wave off Kanagawa. This piece has stood as a defining piece of artwork in the Japanese culture for over 180 years, analyzed by students and authors for the interpretations filling the paper. The relationship between Hokusai’s painting has directly affected the Western point of view of Japanese style. The English author, Herbert Read’s novel interprets the painting distinctly differently from a Japanese point, American poet,
In this poem, imagery shapes what we think and what we will further believe about war based on how vividly we see it. If there were horrible pictures taken during this battle we would have been given a visual representation of it. If we were given a helmet to touch and try on we could easily understand what the soldiers physically felt during this war. Unfortunately, we cannot fully understand this war though because we cannot smell, hear, or taste this war like the soldiers did. Although in this poem all five of our senses are fed by words that help us go back in time and visit the place that is written about. Without imagery this war scene would be short, boring, and uneventful. With the overpowering description given in each line we see a more accurate depiction of war and are given an opportunity to live it as if we were there.
This painting may not look like much at first, but it is full of meaning and emotion whether it’s you who are feeling it or the artist who made it. That artist happens to be the Dutch painter, Vincent Van Gogh. Vincent actually made three different versions of this painting, that are currently residing in the Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago, Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, and Paris, Musée d'Orsay museums. He also made two sketches of this peace that are in the Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum, and Paris, Private collection, he included those sketches in his letters to friends and family. This one specifically is one of the copies that is being help at the Chicago, Art Institute of Chicago. [redundant, you already specified this paintings location in the first part of the paper] A lot is known about this series of paintings since he wrote an abundance of letters about it in detail to his loved ones, he wrote about 13 letters to be exact (Brooks, The Paintings).
Nothing surrounds war. I believe that this is shown by the fact that the setting of this painting is the desert. The desert is a place known as a location where very little living things are found. People that enter war have a hard time returning
To me the painting is a way of showing you what everyone else is seeing. That the painter had the men looking right at each other so they can see themselves running away. In turn I got to see myself doing the same thing and was able to change because of it. When other people look at the painting they probably see something else. That is why I choose to do the painting, it gives you the choice too interpret it any way you see fit. Or it can just be a beautiful painting to look at, but the painting was so much more to me. It painted a thousand words for me.