Japan Re-imagined/Post-war Art

Exhibition

Exhibition Overview

Image not available
Japan Re-imagined/Post-war Art
Kris Ercums, curator
Asia Gallery, Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas

Many artists in the wake of the postwar years turned to a profound examination of Japanese history, tradition and society as both a means for self-critique and cultural regeneration. This process of “re-imagining” Japan during the postwar period took on many forms. Some artists sought to celebrate the “Japanese spirit,” depicting it in fresh, contemporary idioms as a way of granting it universal appeal. For others remembering the past was part of a critical investigation of Japanese society. New developments in the international art scene like Pop and conceptualism offered other Japanese artists a fresh perspective for approaching their society through art. Presenting many never-before exhibited prints and ceramics from the Spencer’s permanent collection, Japan Re-imagined/Post-war Art explores the multiple ways in which Japanese artists during the later half of the twentieth century negotiated issues like culture, memory, time and space.

This exhibition is organized by Kris Ercums, Asian art curator, in conjunction with the exhibition Resounding Spirit: Japanese Contemporary Art of the 1960s.

Exhibition images

Works of art

circa 1730, Edo period (1600–1868)
Edo period (1600–1868)
late 1800s–early 1900s, Meiji period (1868–1912) or Taisho period (1912–1926)
Ikeda Masuo
1968, Showa period (1926–1989)
Hagiwara Hideo
1959, Showa period (1926–1989)
Hosoe Eikō
1971, Showa period (1926–1989)
Kawachi Seikō
1984, Showa period (1926–1989)
Itō Sekisui
mid-late 1900s
Miyashita Zenji
circa 1980s, Showa period (1926–1989)
Jun Kaneko
1989
Tanaka Ryōhei
1975, Showa period (1926–1989)
Tanaka Ryōhei
1984, Showa period (1926–1989)
Hagiwara Hideo
1983, Showa period (1926–1989)
Clifton Karhu
1989, Showa period (1926–1989)
Takahiro Kondō
2001
Sawada Tetsurō
1985, Showa period (1926–1989)
Yoshida Tōshi
1968, Showa period (1926–1989)
Fukushima Keidō
2001
Tsujimura Shirō
1999
Morishita Ryōzō
2000
Matsuda Yuriko
1992
Hiroshi Kawano
1973, Showa period (1926–1989)
Inui Tai
1980s, Showa period (1926–1989)
坪井明日香 Tsuboi Asuka
2006
Yoshiko Jinzenji
1998
Iwami Reika
1990
Sueharu Fukami
1980–1992
Seto Hiroshi
1988, Showa period (1926–1989)
Kuroda Shigeki
circa 1984, Showa period (1926–1989)
Imamura Yoshio
1992
Kaoru Kawano
date unknown
Honda Kazuhisa
1979, Showa period (1926–1989)
Miyamoto Shufu
1985, Showa period (1926–1989)
Saitō Kiyoshi
1970, Showa period (1926–1989)
Munakata Shikō
1952
Munakata Shikō
1937

Events

March 7, 2008
Talk
Gallery 318