The word “kimono” in the Western mindset evokes different images: a traditional item of clothing from Japan, the notion of a dressing gown to be worn indoors sometimes in intimate or even erotic...Show moreThe word “kimono” in the Western mindset evokes different images: a traditional item of clothing from Japan, the notion of a dressing gown to be worn indoors sometimes in intimate or even erotic settings, a coded femininity and a fashionable item. The object of this research is to look at three ways in which the kimono was introduced and subsequently integrated into the Western artistic, material and imaginary landscape of the turn of the 20th century: as a collectible material object, a theme in paintings and photographs as well as an influencing force in the realm of female fashion. The main idea of this paper is understanding why the kimono had such an immense popularity across these fields and audiences in the West as well as to point to the high adaptability of the garment. It is capable of undertaking several, sometimes contradictory, meanings and its simple shape, yet intricate esthetic, made it the ideal recipient of global and local dynamics of the 19th and 20th century int he West. In material culture it was presented as an Oriental accessory enabling fantasist imaginary spectacle. In art and in visual mediums, it framed the female, white body: domestic, exotic and erotic. In fashion, its slow assimilation into female dress participated into a still Orientalist but nonetheless modernizing dynamic, motivating the invention of practical and simpler garments for women living in a new world.Show less
Katsushika Hokusai, one of the most influential reformers of Japanese popular art, contributed towards the formation of landscape genre within the ukiyo-e aesthetic. Hokusai’s vision of space...Show moreKatsushika Hokusai, one of the most influential reformers of Japanese popular art, contributed towards the formation of landscape genre within the ukiyo-e aesthetic. Hokusai’s vision of space reflects his Edokko understanding of place, which he filled with cultural references towards his contemporary identity and Japanese belonging. Furthermore, his genius lies in his enthusiastic, restless spirit that paved his life-long learning and experimentations in multiple stylistic traditions. Influences of Western style and technique can be discovered throughout his ‘early’ woodblock print designs, which marks one of the earliest traces of his tendency of appropriation. His mature landscape designs in the Thirty-Six Views of Mt Fuji series reflect a synthesis of such appropriations. The forty-six prints of this specific series fuses Western concepts of perspective, colour and shade with famous spaces within Japan that are connected with a common direction towards Mt Fuji. Under the Wave off Kanagawa, also known as the Great Wave, also incorporates such elements, and in addition to the established recognition of Mt Fuji, popularizes the animated wave motif at the same time. This particular design of Hokusai is re-imagined throughout the course of the artist’s lifetime, then in the context of Japonisme, post-war Japan, and through other modern and contemporary re-appropriations. Hokusai’s characteristic landscape of appropriated fusion of influences embarks on the journey of transcultural appropriation that elevates the Wave’s status from a Japanese symbol of identity to that of a global icon. Hokusai’s idea of landscape exemplified in the Great Wave is re-interpreted in multiple contexts, receiving new meanings through appropriations continuously.Show less
