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Chronology of Japan's Fine Arts

General Characteristics

The study of Japanese art has frequently been complicated by the definitions and expectations established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when Japan was opened to the West. The occasion of dramatically increased interaction with other cultures seemed to require a convenient summary of Japanese aesthetic principles, and Japanese art historians and archaeologists began to construct methodologies to categorize and assess a vast body of material ranging from Neolithic pottery to woodblock prints.

One of the most important ‘proselytizers (обращать в свою веру; привлекать на свою сторону) of Japanese culture in the West was Okakura Kakuzo (1862-1913). As curator of Japanese art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, he explained the mysteries of Asian art and culture to appreciative Boston High Society. As the author of such works as The Ideals of the East (1903), The Awakening of Japan (1904), and The Book of Tea (1906), he reached an even wider audience. Japan— and Asia—was understood as a potential source of spiritual renewal for the West.

Most Japanese art bears the mark of extensive interaction with or reaction to outside forces. Buddhism, which originated in India and developed throughout Asia, was the most persistent vehicle of influence. It provided Japan with an already well-established iconography and also offered perspectives on the relationship between the visual arts and spiritual development.

Another vivid characteristic of Japanese art is an understanding of the natural world as a source of spiritual insight and an mirror of human emotion. Rock outcroppings (обнажение пород), waterfalls, and bended old trees were viewed as having their own spirits and were understood as their personification.

Union with the natural was also an element of Japanese architecture. Architecture seemed to conform (согласовываться) to nature. The symmetry of Chinese-style temple plans gave way to asymmetrical layouts that followed the specific ‘contours of hilly and mountainous topography. The borders existing between structures and the natural world were deliberately unclear. Elements such as long verandas and multiple sliding panels offered constant vistas (вид; перспектива) on nature—although the nature was often carefully arranged and fabricated rather than wild and real.

The perfectly formed work of art or architecture was ultimately considered distant, cold, and even grotesque. The interaction of the spiritual and natural world was also delightfully expressed in the many narrative scroll paintings produced in the medieval period. The sharp distinction between good and evil was gently reduced.

The viewer is advised to expect a striking range of diversity. Yet within that diverse body of expression, certain characteristic elements seem to be repeating: art that is aggressively assimilative; a profound respect for nature as a model; a decided preference for delight over dogmatic claim in the description of phenomena; a tendency to give compassion and human scale to religious iconography; and an affection for materials as important vehicles of meaning.