The Arts in New York City

Being Chinese, I have always been interested in the art of nearby countries, such as Japan. I decided to learn more about Japanese art, one that I thought to be heavily influenced by Chinese art, for the third report, and see how it had been influenced by my culture. The best place I could have thought of is the Metropolitan Museum, since I learned so much about Spanish art during Renaissance period in it. Unsurprisingly, I did see a lot of similarities between Chinese art and Japanese art; interestingly enough, I even found a Chinese emperor appearing in one of the Japanese paintings. Nevertheless, I did find distinctiveness in Japanese art, deserving of attention for its uniqueness and delicacy, despite its Chinese’s influences. The trip enriched my understanding of Japanese art as well as my own culture.
The Four Accomplishments, made by Kano Motonobu, is a great example of Chinese’s influence on Japanese paintings. The upper -class in Japan admired Chinese art, and brought many Chinese painting techniques into their artworks. Chinese themes, too, had great meaning in Muromachi culture. The four accomplishments, which allude to the gentlemanly pursuits of music, games of strategy, calligraphy, and painting in Chinese culture, were a popular subject for abbot’s quarters and audience rooms of the ruling classes during the Muromachi period. Human subjects, situated within space created by overhanging trees, rocks, and architecture in the painting, are stately reminders of the spiritual appreciation of nature. This same principal of “appreciation of nature” was also emphasized in one of the Chinese paintings, Poet on a Mountain Top by Shen Zhou, that I learned in my high school. It seems that Chinese and Japanese shared the same idea of unity of human being in nature and of harmony of mind and landscape.
My fashion design interests drew my attention to Kosode with Pattern of Mandarin Orange Tree and characters, made during the Edo period. It was the only piece of Japanese clothing we saw in the gallery. A mandarin orange tree, bearing fruit and flowers, rises from the center of this robe in a design scheme typical of the second half of the eighteenth century. At the top, the sleeves and upper body of the robe are embellished with characters embroidered in green or purple silk or in gold thread. The three Chinese characters, which, gladly, I fully understood, stand for year or age, longevity or celebration, and pleasure or joy; according to the caption, they offer congratulatory wishes that maybe part of a poem such as this one from the Hounshu, an eighteenth-century collection: as I hear the approach of the year’s last day, may it celebrate the joys of your reign in the world. The designer of this robe fully understands the idea that death is a part of life, and that one should peacefully accepts death. He or she must have a positive life, alone with an optimistic view and integrity.
To me, this visit was almost more of a review in Chinese culture than a new lesson about Japanese art; yet, I was impressed by Japanese art to some degree. Kosode, the beautifully made fine robe, struck me because of its delicacy and the theme behind it; one has to be a wise man, who has walked a long way, to reach this conclusion of life, as well as a skillful artist in clothes-making to produce such a robe. I was almost confused by the Four Accomplishments, wondering if I was really in a Chinese gallery; the fact that it was on a screen brought me back to reality because Chinese paintings were usually presented on hand scrolls. Overall, it was a great trip, worthwhile to make, whether as a review of Chinese culture or as a lesson in Japanese art.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 at 11:10 pm and is filed under Hang Hannah Gao, WRITING ASSIGNMENTS. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.