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- High Art, Low Art
The evolution of the arts during the Edo period is diverse and complex. Distinct modes of creative expression developed, showing a curious blend of austere restraint and simplicity along with ostentatious displays of exuberance and daring. Delicacy and exquisiteness of form came to characterize Edo artistic taste. Edo art exhibited distinctly indigenous Japanese concepts and style interspersed with foreign trends and influences. These foreign styles were eventually assimilated and became part of the unique culture of Edo Japan. During a short period known as the Genroku era (1688- 1703) great progress was made in every branch of art, including an increased use of flamboyantly rich materials and colours seen in the costumes, lacquerware, ceramics and architecture of this period. The daimyo tended to have luxurious and sumptuous residences with beautiful gabled roofs and elaborate interiors. The all-encompassing bakufu sought to regulate the living conditions of the four social classes under the daimyo, and in particular to curb any outward show of ostentation or extravagance by the well-to-do merchants. The bakufu began dictating the size of citizens� houses, the size of their lots, the decoration on their gates, the number and style of screens or scrolls in their homes and even the style of their dress. The wealthier townsmen�s dress used rather plain fabrics for the outer garments, but beautiful fabrics for inner garments and their interior linings. The repressive restrictions over the decoration of their homes forced the townspeople into developing a simple and elegant style, using just one scroll in an alcove (tokomoma) with perhaps a flower arrangement (,ikebana) to express the mood of the season. Despite these rules, the townspeople did play a leading role in the cultural and artistic development of the nation. The wealth and energies of a vigorous, expanding urban population was spent on pleasure and rich living as well as the arts.
High Art
The Tokugawa rulers were extraordinarily active as patrons of the arts. Following in the footsteps of their military predecessors, the Ashikaga shogunate, they supported the Kano school of painting because the subject matter was primarily Confucian in spirit, which nicely complemented their official policies. The Tokugawa shogunate expected the nobility to follow suit, and as a result representatives of the Kano school prospered and could be found in every urban centre catering to the tastes of the feudal lords. Kano art came to symbolically reinforce the Tokugawa�s authority over the nation. Aesthetic discernment was one of the ways through which the daimyo could show their personal expression and level of cultivation. Kano painters, who became a hereditary assemblage of professional and secular painters, originally
OPPOSITE
28. Tanyu Kano (1602-74)
Two Landscape Sketches / Deux esquisses de paysage Album leaves, ink on paper
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