Asian Arts Council 2024-25 - FY25 - General Meeting Lectures

The innovations in landscape painting that occurred during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910) of Korea were explored by Allie Arnell, SDMA Docent, in True View Landscape Painting of the Joseon Dynasty. Prior to the Joseon period, Chinese culture and art were embraced by Korea, resulting in depictions of Chinese mountains in the landscape paintings of that time. With the advent of the Joseon, Korea’s interest grew in its own history and sacred places, especially the Diamond Mountains. Jeong Seon (1676-1759), known as the “father of true view” painting, repeatedly traveled to the Diamond Mountains to paint their riveting views of spiked peaks, plunging waterfalls and the boulder-strewn landscape, capturing not just their likeness, but their essence and the feeling of being a part of such compelling mountainscapes. His innovative style contrasted light and dark areas of the mountains, a birdseye panoramic viewpoint, and employed a series of vertical strokes to represent the vertical peaks and ink dots or short horizontal strokes to depict trees and plants. Later artists were influenced by his style and his ability to engender the longing to be in the presence of these mountains’ grandeur.

  Though Chinese art history has not included a formal genre of still life as in the Western tradition, depictions of fruit, objects of material culture such as knick-knacks or wealth such as antiquities, and flowers and plants as auspicious symbols have been portrayed with regularity in Chinese art. In her presentation of Treasured and Quotidian Objects: Still Life in Chinese Art, Heather Simmerman traced the aesthetic principles and examples of Chinese still life imagery from the Song dynasty (960-1279) to the modern/contemporary period.
  Early renditions of still life in China are found in Chan (Zen) Buddhist paintings from the Song period, which were used for meditation to gain intuitive insight “outside the scriptures.” Though flower paintings also originated with Buddhist art as representations of offerings, over the centuries flowers and plants acquired a rich range of associated meanings, largely from poetry, so scholar-painters (i.e. the literati) from the Song period and onward began to systematically exploit these possibilities for conveying meaning through their pictures. To satisfy growing demand from the prosperous middle class, urban studio masters in the Qing dynasty (1644-1912) updated and popularized the qinggong, 清供,”elegant offering” style of auspicious flowers and plants with added antiquities and scholar’s studio items in affordable prints for New Year wishes and other seasonal or personal well-wishes and gifts.
  Scholars appreciating antiquities were a popular painting theme during the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing dynasties, and featured displays of bronze antiquities, scholar’s rocks and studio implements, and other collectibles. Depictions of the objects became the sole focus of artistic renderings in various media with the “hundred antiques” pattern: porcelains, mixed media cloisonné and jade carvings on wood panel, a silk table valance, rugs, enameled teapots, opium boxes, and snuff bottles.
  Naturalistic ink and color paintings of flowers, plants, and rocks were created as far back as the Song dynasty in a style called xiesheng 寫生, or “painting from life.” Western techniques of three dimensional perspective and shading were introduced by Jesuit priests acting as imperial court painters in the late Ming – early Qing period. From the late Qing period, artists in China have embraced the still life motif, combining traditional Chinese stylistic elements such as the daxieyi freehand expressive brushwork with modern more vibrant colors and a focus on egalitarian rather than elitist objects.
  Heather Simmerman earned a Ph.D. in chemistry from Indiana University, then pursued a career in the biotech industry. In addition to being a Museum docent, and AAC Vice Chair, she has been accepted into the University of London SOAS-Alphawood program of study for the Postgraduate Certificate in Asian Art commencing Fall 2024.

In Devine Felines: The Cat in Japanese Art, Rhiannon Paget, Ph.D., discussed the myriad forms in which cats appear in folk tales, art and everyday life . Cats have held a special place in Japanese culture for 1,000 years. They are believed to have been brought from China as rat catchers, but soon became beloved pets and prized possessions. As far back as the 9th century, Emperor Uda expressed his joy and admiration for his ink-black cat that was “superior to all other cats.” They symbolize luck, good fortune and prosperity, and some thought they had protective powers. The ubiquitous maneki neko (beckoning cat) figurines with one paw raised that are found at the entrance to shops and houses have a long history of being associated with good fortune. On the other hand, in folktales, bake neko is a shape-shifting cat that begins life as an ordinary cat, but as it ages it develops supernatural abilities, becoming a human that can walk on its hind legs, can speak and, fearsomely, can summon fireballs at the end of its tail! Cats were often depicted in ukiyo-e “floating world” images, especially woodblock prints by Utagawa Kuniyoshi and Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, of beautifully attired geisha caressing a beloved cat. In the 20th century, the sosaku hanga (creative print) movement allowed full freedom of self-expression by artist’s who embraced all of the elements of creating a woodblock print: self-designing, self-carving and self-printing. Saito Kiyoshi’s (1907-1997) use of a wood-grain technique provides his Two Cats print with an interesting three-dimensionality. Cats have embedded themselves in Japanese culture and have permeated artwork, literature and folklore for centuries.

Rhiannon Paget is Curator of Asian Art at The John and Mable Ringling Museum of Art, Florida State University, in Sarasota, Florida. A specialist of Japanese art, she has published research on paintings, textiles, popular visual culture, and especially of Art, Florida State University, in Sarasota, Florida. A specialist of Japanese art, she has published research on paintings, textiles, popular visual culture, and especially woodblock prints, most recently Divine Felines: The Cat in Japanese Art (2023). She has curated numerous exhibitions, including Mountains of the Mind: Scholars’ Rocks in China and Beyond (2023–24), and Saitō Kiyoshi: Graphic Awakening (2021). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Sydney, Australia.

An engaging and informative departure from the usual virtual lecture was a guided tour of the Mingei International Museum’s Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo led by its co-curator Emily Hanna, Ph.D. Over millennia different methods of processing the leaves of various plants to obtain indigo were discovered independently by different cultures around the world from Africa and Asia to the Maya. Indigo dye is extracted from the green leaves of a variety of plants in a complex process requiring their drying, composting or fermenting in a vat of water, then removing the leaves and vigorously stirring or beating the greenish liquid to introduce oxygen, causing it to turn it blue, and ready to dye cloth. If the liquid is left to settle, it can turn into a paste and be dried for later use or for trade. Intricate and beautiful patterns can be created in the cloth by using a “resist” where dye is blocked off with wax, rice paste, tie dye or other methods. Among its interesting properties, indigo is antimicrobial and flame resistant – samurai wore indigo undergarments to retard infections from wounds, and Japanese firemen wore indigo vests as a fire retardant. Indigo does not penetrate the surface of fabric, but when tiny flakes rub off it creates a faded look, while still retaining its blue hue. In 1897 synthethic indigo became available and captured the market due to its lower cost and faster production, as well as the demand for the durability of blue jeans during the gold rush. More recently, a growing trend for natural materials has revived interest in plant-based dyes and fibers, plus a concern for the toxins released during synthethic indigo production, and the risks to workers and the environment, has led to a resurgence of traditional methods of creating indigo.

Dr. Emily Hanna is Director of Exhibitions and Chief Curator at Mingei International Museum. She began her curatorial career at the Metropolitan Museum of Art where she received a doctoral fellowship and wrote her dissertation on African masquerade. She received a Ph.D. from the University of Iowa, with areas of specialty in African, Pre-Columbian, and Native American art. She has curated over 40 exhibitions at institutions including the High Museum of Art, and the Birmingham Museum of Art, where she served as Senior Curator and Department Head. She also taught art history at the university level for 12 years. Emily is co-curator of the exhibition Blue Gold: The Art and Science of Indigo.

In her fascinating presentation of Kimono: Garment, Canvas and Artistic Muse, Meher McArthur illustrated a diverse array of contemporary art works by artists who used the Japanese kimono as inspiration. Over the centuries, kimono evolved from the fashion of the imperial court and elites, and later as a status symbol for the wealthy merchant classes, but when Japan opened its borders in the 19th century, a preference for Western dress resulted in kimono being worn on formal occasions only by women. Now, innovative contemporary artists are using kimono as a canvas to convey symbolism and meaning in their works. Karen La Monte creates haunting cast-glass sculptures of flowing dresses, absent the female form. Miya Ando’s Mourning kimono contrasts the permanence of linked aluminum squares with the undeniable impermanence of life.

Moved by a visit to Manzanar, where Japanese Americans were incarcerated during WWII, Peter Liashkov fashioned a monumental-scale kimono from thin polypropylene fabric, acrylic and ashes printed with images of living conditions, rusted cots and a looming guard tower on the back to express the loss and suffering of its inhabitants.

Illustrating the tumultuous period in Japan of 1920-1950 that was reflected in a surprising place, Kendall Brown, Ph.D., presented Visualizing Music in Modern Japan: Sheet Music (and Music Ephemera) at the Crossroads of Modern Mass Culture.

In the 1920s, sheet music for the harmonica was popular, and school children were taught to read music and play the instrument. The artwork on the covers of sheet music ranged from art deco, to realism and abstract, and captured the changing trends of modern culture in their illustrations. Mass marketing developed to sell not only sheet music, but also the records and movies that featured those songs. During the period of rising militarism and war in the 1930s and 1940s, sheet music covers appealed to the country’s patriotism by depicting war planes and uniformed soldiers.

Kendall Brown is emeritus Professor of Asian Art History in the Art Department at California State University Long Beach. He is an art historian and has published and curated widely on Japanese art and Japanese-style gardens in North America. In 2024, for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston he guest curated the exhibition, Songs for Modern Japan: The Art of Japanese Sheet Music, 1905- 1950.

A summary of this lecture will be posted here the month after the lecture is given.

A summary of this lecture will be posted here a month or two after the lecture is given.

A summary of this lecture will be posted here the month after the lecture is given.

A summary of this lecture will be posted here the month after the lecture is given.