Art Deco in Imperial Japan

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Art Deco in Imperial Japan

This lecture demonstrates the broad permutations of the so-called deco style, and its diverse applications in art made for the exhibition hall, the street, the body, and the home. The talk reveals the decisions the inspired the collection, and the ideas that inform the exhibition. It analyzes how deco expresses Japan's cosmopolitan urbanism of the 1920s and 1930s, and the muscular traditionalism that was often used to project the power of Japan as a military power. The presentation concludes with examples of Japanese art deco beyond the exhibition, including architecture, gardens and collectibles.

 

Event Timeline

5:30-6:30 p.m.: Mansion and Deco Japan open for self-guided touring
6-6:30 p.m.: Members-only wine and cheese reception. Join today!
6:30-7:30 p.m.: Lecture
7:30 p.m.: Book Signing. Deco Japan by Dr. Brown are available in the Museum Shop for purchase

 

About the Speaker

Kendall H. Brown is professor of Asian art history in the School of Art at California State University Long Beach. He received BA and MA degrees in history and art history from the University of California, Berkeley and a Ph.D. in art history from Yale University. From 2007-09, he simultaneously served as curator of collections, exhibitions and programs at the Pacific Asia Museum.

Dr. Brown publishes actively in several areas of Japanese art. After initially working on 16th and 17th century painting, as seen in several essays and the book The Politics of Reclusion: Painting and Power in Momoyama Japan (Univ. of Hawai’i, 1997), his interest turned to the 20th century and to woodblock prints. His work on Kawase Hasui was published in Kawase Hasui: The Complete Woodblock Prints (Hotei, 2003), abridged in Visions of Japan: Kawase Hasui’s Masterpieces (2004) and the catalogue, Water and Shadow: Kawase Hasui and Japanese Landscape Prints (VMFA/Brill, 2014). Several essays explore the networks and agents responsible for the spread of the shin hanga movement.  He has published two small books with Dover Publishing on popular illustration and cover art from 1890 to 1920. Dr. Brown has curated or contributed to exhibitions for museums across the country, including Shin Hanga: New Prints in Modern Japan (LACMA, 1998), Taisho Chic (Honolulu Academy, 2002); Deco Japan (ASI, 2012), and Traditions Transfigured; The Noh Masks of Bidou Yamaguchi (CSULB UAM, 2014).  He is now working on exhibitions of Japanese sheet music cover art, lacquer makers’ tools, and garden-inspired fine art.

Professor Brown is also a leading figure in the study of Japanese gardens in North America. His book Quiet Beauty: The Japanese Gardens of North America (Tuttle 2013) expands on his earlier work, Japanese-style Gardens of the Pacific West Coast (Rizzoli, 1999). His essays include studies in One Hundred Tears in the Huntington’s Japanese Gardens: Harmony with Nature (2013) and Ritual Practice and Performance in Gardens and Landscapes (Dumbarton Oaks, 2007) and various journals. After planning the International Conference on Japanese Gardens Outside Japan in 2009, he served as President of the Board of the North American Japanese Garden Association from 2012-14.  He is currently working on a book, Visionary Landscapes, which explores the styles, meanings and functions of Japanese gardens in the 21st century.

 

 

 

About the Deco Japan Lecture Series

Deco Japan  builds on the passion that Hillwood founder Marjorie Merriweather Post had for decorative art, focusing on her most transformative era, when she epitomized the flapper lifestyle and developed her own taste for finely-crafted objects. In this four-part series, dive deeper into the incredible Japanese craftsmanship and design of the art deco era.

 

Wednesday, September 21      
Art Deco in Imperial Japan, with Ken Brown

Tuesday, October 4
Shopping for Kimonos in the Taishō and early Shōwa Periods: Tradition in Transition, with Monika Bincsik

Wednesday, October 19
Not Just a Flapper: Japanese Women in the Art Deco Era, a conversation with Tom Looser and Estella Chung

Wednesday, October 26
Cosmopolitan Architecture and Interior Design in Japan: the Art Deco Interlude, with Isabelle Gournay