An Analysis of the Status of Japanese Zen Art Aesthetics in Ukiyo-e from Katsushika Hokusai to Van Gogh

Abstract

Japanese Zen aesthetics extends empty aesthetics to non-literature and art, using painting as an art form to express the unique Japanese aesthetics and the embodiment of Japanese Zen aesthetics in the artist's life experience. By combining traditional Japanese aesthetics with Zen aesthetics, the creators of Ukiyo-e have a god-like perspective that allows them to see everything in the world. The integration of Japanese Zen culture with Chinese Zen, history, and art directly influenced the development of Japanese Ukiyo-e art. This influence, and even a deep monopoly, has influenced the work of two hundred and sixty years of Ukiyo-e artists, from content to effects. These even affected the western art field across the ocean; for example, Van Gogh was keen on such an expression with the concepts of "mono no aware", "wabi-sabi", and "yugen". Through the development history of Ukiyo-e and the specific analysis of Katsushika Hokusai's Ukiyo-e paintings and his influences on Van Gogh, this paper has a detailed understanding, that is to say, all signs indicate the inestimable role of Japanese Zen aesthetics. In Ukiyo-e, the art of the Japanese Zen aesthetic appears in front of the world, along the following path: half-awake self-discipline, as in China's Song dynasty, painting white space aesthetics, thinking of extremely pure appeal, and harmony between man and nature, man and man, and nature and nature.