Japonisme and Modernism: Exhibitions and the Challenge of Ethnic Minority Writers

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K00420
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 02030:English literature and literature in the English language-related
• Research Institution: Tsuru University
• Principal Investigator: Nakachi Sachi 都留文科大学, 文学部, 教授 (50247087)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: Japonisme / Modernism / Yone Noguchi / Ukiyoe / Primitivism

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The purpose of this research was to examine the relationship between Japonisme, which spread widely in Europe and the United States from the latter half of the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century, and Modernism, which became a major art wave in the world at the beginning of the 20th century. I explored this topic by focusing on the exhibitions held at that time and the involvements of minority artists in them. The research was conducted widely, including Primitivism, Chinoiserie art, African and Oceanian art, etc., but the main focus was on the artist network led by Yone Noguchi who published English essays and poems on Ukiyoe prints. Along with Noguchi's writings, the topics such as the circulation of ukiyoe prints in the US, the impact of Korin's art at the Japan-British Exposition, the Genroku boom in Japan, the Japanese print exhibitions by Frank Lloyd Wright at the Art Institute of Chicago, and the poems of John Gould Fletcher and Amy Lowell are examined.

Free Research Field

文学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

「オリエンタリズム」―すなわち西欧の東洋への眼差しのポリティックス―の視点を基軸としたポストコロニアルな文学・芸術論は西洋と東洋の不均衡な関係を明らかにしたが、欧米社会で抑圧されてきたアジア系あるいはアフリカ系などのエスニック・マイノリティの作家や芸術家たちが、いかにオリエンタリズムの機構を利用しながら活躍していたかについてはあまり目配りをしなかった。しかしながら、ジャポニスムとモダニズムの興隆にはエスニック・マイノリティ芸術家や作家たちの積極的な介入も大きな位置を占める。本研究の意義は野口米次郎に焦点を当てながら、その点に取り組み、ジャポニスムとモダニズムについて再考した点にある。