2016 Fiscal Year Research-status Report
A New Definition of Japanese War Painting (sensoga)
Project/Area Number |
15K02154
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Research Institution | Kansai Gaidai University |
Principal Investigator |
Berry Paul・A 関西外国語大学, 国際文化研究所, 研究員 (10533622)
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Project Period (FY) |
2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
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Keywords | sensoga / propoganda / wartime painting |
Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
In FY 2016, I conducted research on war time paintings at the Tokyo National Museum of Art on a number of occasions. I photographed and took detailed notes on many important sensoga works, especially those by Fujita Tsuguji and Nakamura Kenkichi. While in Tokyo during these trips I gathered many more wartime publications from various bookstores in the Kanda area that help to establish the means and varied contexts of the distribution of images of sensoga during the war years. I discussed the role of painters during the war years with curators at the Itabashi Kuristu Bijutsukan who have worked on documenting the careers of many less well known painters, including some who employed surrealist styles in paintings that supported the war effort. On October 21 and 22 of 2016, I participated in discussions at the St. Louis Art Museum (St. Louis, Missouri) during their two-day symposium on war related prints connected to the Sino-Japanese and Russo-Japanese wars. I discussed issues of wartime propoganda and the uses of war imagery during conflicts with a variety of American and Japanese scholars who attended the meetings. A close reading of Jacques Ellul’s, Propanganda: The Formation of Men’s Attitudes, has given me an effective new way to draw together the various aspects of my research on Japanese sensoga while at the same time drawing connections to similar patterns of production and use in many countries in Asia and the West during the war years.
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Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
The cooperation of related institutions and scholars has been very productive.
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Strategy for Future Research Activity |
Another trip to WDC to study materials in National Archives and view paintings at the Army Museum and the Navy Museum in the WDC area will be made in late May and early June. Preparations for forming a panel on wartime painting for the AAS convention in March of 2018. Consultations with Japanese scholars about my translation of the military instructions for the creation of sensoga. Preparation of a draft article of my research results with the aim of laying the groundwork for a book on this topic.
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Causes of Carryover |
I was able to cover the expenses of international travel to St, Louis for the war print symposium and expenses related to my multiple research trips to Tokyo by using other sources of funding. The main kaken expenses for this year were primarily for the acquisition of wartime magazines.
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Expenditure Plan for Carryover Budget |
This coming year will see multiple international trips including one in late Spring to visit archives and military Museums in the WDC area, and attendance at the 2018 AAS conference to present a paper relating to my research results. In addition, there will be other trips inside Japan (especially to Tokyo) for consultation with various scholars. There may be usage of funds for checking my translations of some texts.
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Research Products
(1 results)