Indigenous Australian Art 2

Elizabeth Nyumi Nungurrayi.  =Parwalla= (2003)

=Parwalla= detail

"Contemporary Indigenous Australian Art" at Wikipedia

"Icons of the Desert"
Exhibition Site from the Johnson Museum (Cornell)

"Lands of Enchantment"
Exhibition Site from the National Museum of Women in the Arts (Washington DC)

"Contemporary Aboriginal Painting from Australia" 
Exhibition Site from the Metropolitan Museum of Art (NY)

Indigenous Australian Art 1

To begin, we'll look at Ancient Rock Art Sites & Styles in Arnhem Land (Northern Territory)

Helpful Links & Articles include:

• "Indigenous Australian art" at Wikipedia
• "X-Ray Style in Arnhem Land Rock Art" at the Timeline of Art History

and these sites about Kakadu National Park:

• Kakadu National Park Visitor Guide
• Rock Art Sites in Kakadu National Park
• Seasons of Kakadu
• Kakadu National Park at Wikipedia

Japan: Contemporary Art

Photo of Takashi Murakami by ~FacelessRebel at deviantart

Naturally there are many, many contemporary Japanese artists worthy of attention.  Here are some links to a few of them.

To start with, there was a famous exhibition at the Asia Society in NYC called "Little Boy" in 2005; a 2007 exhibition at the same place called "Making a Home" was also very interesting.

Probably the most famous contemporary Japanese artist is Takashi Murakami. There's a Wikipedia entry with some useful links.  His page at Kaikai Kiki, the art company he founded is also useful, as is this page from an exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) in Los Angeles.  (There are tons of YouTube videos featuring Murakami as well.  Here's one where he's interviewed by fashion designer Mark Jacobs about, among other things, Murakami's collaboration with Louis Vuitton.)  And he shows in galleries and other museums too.

Besides Murakami, Kaikai Kiki handles a number of artists
Yamamoto Gendai is a Japanese gallery handling many contemporary artists.

Other artists to look at:

• Tsuchiya Kimio
• Yoshitomo Nara
• Kohei Nawa  
• Motohiko Odani
• Chiharu Shiota
• Markio Mori
• Chinatsu Ban
• Yayoi Kusuma 

Japan: Hokusai's "The Great Wave"

Article on “The Great Wave” at the Met’s “Timeline of Art History”

Hokusai article at Wikipedia

Article on the Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji at Wikipedia

More of Hokusai’s work at Wikimedia Commons

"Hokusai:  Mad About Painting" at the Freer/Sackler (Smithsonian) 

Ukiyo-e article at Wikipedia 

Hiroshige.  ”Two Men on a Sloping Bridge in the Rain.”

“Art of the Edo Period” at the Timeline of Art History (Met)

“Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e Style” (Met)
”Art of the Pleasure Quarters at the Ukiyo-e Style” (Met)

The Production of Japanese Woodcut Blocks (J. Noel Chiappa) explains and shows the whole process 

Lots of other examples by lots of artists:

Japanese prints at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Japanese prints at the Minneapolis Institute of Art 

(On Wednesday, we’ll proceed to Hokusai and “The Great Wave”)

You could spend your whole life attempting to understand the Tea Ceremony.  Here's a start.  

Chashitsu (at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts)
Wikipedia article on the Japanese Tea ceremony 
Wikipedia article on the Chashitsu
Website on everything related to the Tea Ceremony 

“Japanese Aesthetics, Wabi-Sabi, and the Tea Ceremony” (.pdf)

Although we could look at many web pages, we can do the job very well with just this one: The Japanese Garden — created by Clifton C. Olds, Professor of Art History Emeritus at Bowdoin College in Maine.  

I encourage you to look through the whole thing, but in class we will focus on two gardens:

Daisen-in

and 

Ryoan-ji 

(OK, I lied, for Ryoan-ji also see this and this and this.)

Japan: Zen Painting

Metropolitan Museum of Art article on Muromachi Period

Sesshu Toyo example & article at the British Museum 

Sesshu Toyo entry at Wikipedia 

More Sesshu 

Entry on Zen at Wikipedia

Metropolitan Museum of Art article on Zen  

"Zen Buddhism’s emphasis on simplicity and the importance of the natural world generated a distinctive aesthetic, which is expressed by the terms wabi and sabi. These two amorphous concepts are used to express a sense of rusticity, melancholy, loneliness, naturalness, and age, so that a misshapen, worn peasant’s jar is considered more beautiful than a pristine, carefully crafted dish. While the latter pleases the senses, the former stimulates the mind and emotions to contemplate the essence of reality. This artistic sensibility has had an enormous impact on Japanese culture up to modern times."

yamato-e

• yamato-e (Timeline of Art History) LINK
• yamato-e (British Museum) LINK
• Japanese narrative scrolls (University of Pittsburgh) LINK

One of the most important works of Japanese literature is The Tale of Genji.  In looking at yamato-e painting from Japan, we’ll be looking at illustrations of this novel.  So you can read more about it, here are some links.  

A complete edition with woodcut illustrations by Harumasa Yamamoto is HERE.

A Japan Times article:  1,000 Years of Genji

Of course Wikipedia has an entry with lots of helpful links.

And there is a 1987 anime of Genji monogatari on YouTube.  (Part 1 of 14 videos linked below)  

Ameratsu Shrine at Ise (Ise-Jingu)

Official Website LINK

"The basis of Shinto faith is the consciousness that nature and human beings are united firmly through the kami. This consciousness is expressed in the ritual forms of worshiping the kami. 

Among the many Shinto sanctuaries in Japan, Ise Jingu is the supreme. For the establishment of the state, the key unifying factors were the Imperial Household, for society, and the production of rice for its livelihood. Ise Jingu links the two factors and offers spiritual support for the Japanese in times of confusion. The kami of Ise Jingu is Amaterasu Omikmai, the supreme deity, who is not only the ancestor of the Imperial Family, but also the kami that gave rice to the people, as described in Japanese mythology."

Official Site “anime” (^_^) LINK (be patient)

Of course Wikipedia has a PAGE too
Fodors Guidebook page

Another good site by Chris Witcombe of Sweetbriar College.

promo video for upcoming 2013 sengu ceremony