Japan Re-imagined/Post-war Art

Exhibition

Exhibition Overview

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Japan Re-imagined/Post-war Art
Kris Ercums, curator
March 6, 2008–June 1, 2008
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

hanaire 花入 (flower container), circa 1730, Edo period (1600–1868)
tea caddy, Edo period (1600–1868)
chaire 茶入 (tea caddy), late 1800s–early 1900s, Meiji period (1868–1912) or Taisho period (1912–1926)
Ikeda Masuo
untitled, 1968, Showa period (1926–1989)
Hagiwara Hideo
Somme Day, 1959, Showa period (1926–1989)
Hosoe Eikō
Embrace #3, 1971, Showa period (1926–1989)
Kawachi Seikō
Katsura X, 1984, Showa period (1926–1989)
Itō Sekisui V
tsubo, mid-late 1900s
Miyashita Zenji
vase, circa 1980s, Showa period (1926–1989)
Jun Kaneko
Tanaka Ryōhei
Ruined Farm House #4 (Wall #4), 1975, Showa period (1926–1989)
Tanaka Ryōhei
Wall #4, 1984, Showa period (1926–1989)
Hagiwara Hideo
Memories of the East, 1983, Showa period (1926–1989)
Clifton Karhu
Karasuma Gate, 1989, Showa period (1926–1989)
Takahiro Kondō
Sawada Tetsurō
Skyscape, 1985, Showa period (1926–1989)
Yoshida Tōshi
Unknown (Michi no), 1968, Showa period (1926–1989)
Fukushima Keidō
Tsujimura Shirō
Morishita Ryōzō
A Weir, 2000
Matsuda Yuriko
Hiroshi Kawano
Simulated Color Mosaic, 1973, Showa period (1926–1989)
Inui Tai
Fighting Festival, 1980s, Showa period (1926–1989)
Tsuboi Asuka
Yoshiko Jinzenji
Iwami Reika
Sueharu Fukami
Seto Hiroshi
untitled (88/01), 1988, Showa period (1926–1989)
Kuroda Shigeki
Riders-B, circa 1984, Showa period (1926–1989)
Imamura Yoshio
Kaoru Kawano
Camellia (E), date unknown
Honda Kazuhisa
116th Landscape, 1979, Showa period (1926–1989)
Miyamoto Shufu
雨 (Rain), 1985, Showa period (1926–1989)
Saitō Kiyoshi
Gate Horyūji, Nara, 1970, Showa period (1926–1989)
Munakata Shikō
Munakata Shikō

Events

March 7, 2008
Talk
Gallery 318