Asian Art Research Articles

“theirs is a kind of ecological esthetics”: Three Mountain Poems by Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, and Philip Whalen

“theirs is a kind of ecological esthetics”Three Mountain Poems by Kenneth Rexroth, Gary Snyder, and Philip Whalen1 Todd Giles (bio) I In 1957 West Coast poet Kenneth Rexroth published “Disengagement: The Art of the Beat Generation” in New World Writing No. 11. The Beats, according to Rexroth, were “interested in Far Eastern art and religion; some even call themselves Buddhists. Politically they are all strong disbelievers in State, war, and the values of commercial civilization” (53). West Coast poets were not just turning toward East Asia for inspiration, they were also turning away from their own country— away from McCarthyism, racism, complacency, sprawling Levittowns, thermonuclear detonations, and suburban fallout shelters. They were in, as Rexroth explains, “a state of revolt so absolute that its elders cannot even recognize it. The disaffiliation, alienation, and rejection of the young has, as far as their elders are concerned, moved out of the visible spectrum altogether” (42). While this disaffiliation drew them spiritually and philosophically toward the East, it also, through their study of Chinese rivers and mountains poetry, Zen philosophy, and meditation practices, brought some of the younger West Coast poets back into the American landscape with a profound understanding and appreciation for their place in (and responsibility toward) the environment. In a way, they were following their Modernist predecessors such as Stein, Hemingway, Pound, and Eliot who moved to Europe after the previous world war to help redefine themselves and their nation. [End Page 285] The year 1957 also saw the publication of Alan Watts’s influential book The Way of Zen, which pointed out that the time was right in America for a spiritual awakening: Our very history has seriously undermined the common-sense assumptions which lie at the roots of our social conventions and institutions. Familiar concepts of space, time, and motion, of nature and natural law, of history and social change, and of human personality itself have dissolved, and we find ourselves adrift without landmarks in a universe which more and more resembles the Buddhist principle of the ‘Great Void.’ The various wisdoms of the West, religious, philosophical, and scientific, do not offer much guidance to the art of living in such a universe, and we find the prospects of making our way in so trackless an ocean of relativity rather frightening. For we are used to absolutes, to firm principles and laws to which we can cling for spiritual and psychological security. (vii–viii) As Watts points out, the post-atomic age has brought us face-to-face with the very real potential destruction of the world and everything we hold so dear— “assumptions,” “conventions,” “institutions,” “concepts,” and so forth. “This is why,” he says of the burgeoning counterculture’s engagement with Eastern philosophy, “there is so much interest in a culturally productive way of life which, for some fifteen hundred years, has felt thoroughly at home in ‘the Void,’ and which not only feels no terror for it but rather a positive delight” (viii). This Void of which Watts speaks is another term for the Buddhist notion of śūnyatā, or emptiness, where western binaries such as this versus that, right versus wrong, and us versus them give way to suchness, interconnection, and perpetual unfolding; where, as Dwight Goddard— who Philip Whalen and Gary Snyder were reading at the time— put it in his translation of The Heart Sutra, “form is emptiness, emptiness is not different from form, neither is form different from emptiness, indeed, emptiness is form” (85). Rexroth likewise speaks of the intellectual and cultural break in the western mind keenly felt by Snyder, Whalen, and other members of the counterculture who turned to the nondualist “ocean [End Page 286] of relativity” and new (older) conceptions of “nature and natural law . . . and social change” posited by Eastern philosophy in the concluding chapter of his 1971 American Poetry in the Twentieth Century: Twenty years before ecology became a fashionable evasion, Snyder and Whalen . . . were talking about the ecological revolution and the community of love and learning from the mountains and rivers and the Indians of the Northwest and studying Buddhism and Hinduism. . . . With Snyder, Whalen, Rothenberg, Bill Knott, Leonard Cohen, we are already deep into...

Singing in Dark Times: Report from Berlin

Singing in Dark Times: Report from Berlin

The Mutual Influence between Asian Cultures and American Minimalist Music: An Essential Channel for Aesthetic Exchange

This research aims to show the mutual influence between Asian cultures and American minimalist music. This cultural exchange that started with John Cage, before continuing with Toru Takemitsu and then, Tan Dun, has been a fruitful channel of communication for new compositions in both continents. The paper explores the close connection between early minimalist composers (Reich, Glass, La Monte Young, and Terry Riley) and Asian music and philosophies (Zen Buddhism and Spirituality) as well as some of the ramifications of these traditions over the past five decades. The concept of minimalism was first applied in the arts as a return to simplicity, in tune with Asian philosophies. For some artists, the practice was already present in Asian arts before it appeared in the West. The minimalistic endeavour starts with the experimental works of Cage and Feldman; followed by the movement “Fluxus”. This coincided with what is often considered early minimalism, leading to the great variety of styles and mix of compositional techniques employed by current Asian composers influenced by American minimalism. This paper also analyses the use of minimalism in the Western and Asian curriculum.

Traditional intellectual properties and Yoruba (Ifa) philosophy in South‐West Nigeria: Intellectual property versus traditional protection approach

AbstractThe claim that Ifa is not merely a form of worship has been made by many scholars and remains a controversy. According to them, it is the core of Yoruba philosophy and scientific as well. Nevertheless, there exists art and science of an intellectual orientation regarding the development of Yoruba people. There are artworks, sculptures, incantations (poetry), and performances in Ifa. Divination is based on the binary system linked to science, as well as the process of traditional healing. Indeed, where you have art and science, intellectual property rights (IPRs) are in pursuit. In this case, copyright, patents, and trade secrets. The aim of this article is to examine IPRs in the spiritual world of Ifa and Yoruba philosophy; proposing that spiritual intellectual properties are for an entirely different world with a protection mechanism outside the modern approach of protection, while other forms of traditional intellectual properties outside the realm of the spiritual world requires modern intellectual property protection approach, subsequent to the understanding of the creator or inventor.

Artistic research on the Silk road

The goal of the work is to characterize the study of the artistic heritage of the lands and countries through which the Silk Road passed, to determine the state of research on this issue in European and Asian historiography. The research methodology is based on the general scientific principles of systematics, objectivity, critical attitude to sources. The study used theoretical research methods: synthesis, analysis, induction and deduction. As a result of using the method of comparative studies, it was possible to compare individual examples of Far Eastern and Central Asian art, to determine the role of borrowing Western cultures in Asia. In addition, the paper also uses chronological (on which the main presentation of the material is based) and retrospective research methods. Scientific novelty. This is the first time in Ukrainian historiography and art studies that the peculiarities of the coverage of the cultural and artistic development of the countries through which the legendary «Silk Road» passed have been analyzed. Conclusions. The study of the art of the Silk Road took place in several stages: from the end. XIX century to the present. The 1950s and 1990s were a transitional period, when contemporary art critics focused on classifying previous achievements and highlighting the impact of Hellenization on the Silk Road cultural movement. After the 1990s, a new stage in the study of the art of the Silk Road came, when researchers from different countries began to study the art of this region. The study also noted that current research on the exchange of art between China and foreign countries on the ancient Silk Road has focused mainly on how the East has been influenced by the West. However, the influence of Western and Central Asian Chinese art remains an unexplored problem. Therefore, this topic is definitely a promising area for further research.
 Key words: Silk Road, art, research, historiography.

Living Archive. Nyota Inyoka’s Archive: Traces of the Ephemeral and Ancient Dances Reenactment

The French National Library keeps since 1983 the personal archive of the dancer and choreographer Nyota Inyoka (Fonds Nyota Inyoka). This archive comprises twenty-eight boxes of documents, besides costumes belonging to the dancer, which are constitutive as material of enormous value for the necessary recovery of this figure that has fallen into oblivion in the history of dance. This article aims at providing a first approach to the Nyota Inyoka Archive by ramifying the study in two directions. On the one hand, it allows us to articulate some keys to her choreographic proposal and her theoretical conception of dance. On the other hand, it enables us to broaden the reflection towards the relationship between the archive and the dancing body. Nyota Inyoka's repertoire revolves around ancient cultures that refer mainly to traditions from ancient Egypt and South and Southeast Asia. Thus, the archive takes on an important presence linked to the discipline of dance in a double sense. Firstly, the ephemeral nature of this art favors the archive to become an essential element for dance research. Whilst if we take into consideration the choreographic process of the dancer based on visual sources from Egyptian and Asian art, her body is constituted as a living archive. In this sense, I will offer a reading of Nyota Inyoka’s work as a kind of avant la lettre reenactment of ancient dances.

Yang Enlin (1929–2014)

This article introduces Yang Enlin, whose scholarly life was dedicated to building and deepening the cultural understanding between China and Germany. Born in Yunnan, China, in 1929, he graduated from the Central University of Governance (Guoli zhongyang zhengzhi daxue 國立中央政治大學) in Nanjing in 1948. To continue his studies, he then moved to Switzerland and later Germany. From the 1950s, he lived in East Berlin, first working as a translator, and then, after doctoral studies at Humboldt University, at the East Asian Art Collection of the Pergamon Museum. During his tenure at this institution from 1959 to 1994, he not only contributed to the museum’s mission in the form of exhibitions and catalogues, but also continued his research in the areas of Chinese art history and German studies. He, moreover, kept working on the translation of Chinese literature into German and was teaching Chinese language, calligraphy, and painting.

Origin of Symmetrical Composition in Decorative Art of the Viking Age

For the first time, a symmetrical composition with figures of a deity standing on the godsof carnivorous animals appeared in the Middle Eastern art of the III–II millennium B.C. In the Mycenaean era, this composition became known to adherents of Hellenic art, who realized it both in painting and sculpture. This composition realizes the idea of their authors striving to convey to recipients the concept of the power of the depicted deity and his power over the animal world. A symmetrical composition with standing predatory animals, which is a clear
 oriental innovation in the art of ancient Europe, was not represented on our continent in ancient and Hellenistic times. As a result of the gradual increase in the eastern influence on the art of late Rome, symmetry again became known to Europeans in
 the products of provincial-Roman masters of the 5th century A.D. In late antiquity, goldsmiths in the Roman provinces used this composition on the parts of military belt sets. These images became models for the ancient German masters who represented
 the God Wotan / Odin surrounded by mythical animals and birds dedicated to him.
 The decorative art of the Viking Age, alien to symmetry, retains it only in the plot of the pagan canon «Odin and the Crows». Variants of this «pagan icon», realized in the decorative art of the Viking Age, came to an end in the Germanic world of a
 composition with symmetrically located predators, which began in the Ancient East
 in Akkadian time. In this case, we have a unique example of the multi-thousand-year existence of the pictorial motive, used by jewelers and stonecutters to make impressive images of mystical creatures. The predators surrounding them were intended to
 symbolize the unearthly power of the deities.In Byzantium, a symmetrical composition remained relevant until the XIV
 century. Modern and contemporary historypreserves paired images of predators in heraldic and architectural compositions. However, their genetic relationship with Ancient Eastern images requires additional study.

DE LA MUSEALIDAD AL COLECCIONISMO: EL CASO LUISA LYNCH

This article examines the case of Luisa Lynch’s Asian collecting–currently the Asian Collection in the National Museum from Fine Arts in Chile–according to the formation rules that define the practice of collecting and outside of conventional analysis associated with the museum. It argues that the collecting of Asian art in Chile cannot be conceptualized like a museum collection. On the one hand, the paper reveals the characteristics and limitations of museality, that is and perspective of the museum and the rules that shape it, for the study of the Lynch collection. On the other hand, it offers a new approach based on principles that emerge from Lynch’s collecting phenomenon: the liberal attitude and its installation conditions.

Oriental Elements in Cezanne’s Art

Paul Cezanne is one of the representative artists of post-impressionism in France. In the early 19th century, Japanese paintings were famous and influenced by the second industrial revolution and respected Oriental works of art. Many Western artists initially increased Oriental elements to create but superficial. In the mid-19th century, with the emergence of Oriental art stores in the streets of France, the popularity of Oriental works has been further developed. Until the late 19th century, represented by Cezanne artists, art has been dared to explore and innovate on the road. Painting, especially in the late paintings of many potential injections of Oriental elements. Cezanne did not go to the East; a visible blend of Eastern and Western art exploration seems to have a hidden fusion very early. Therefore, this paper attempts to conduct a preliminary discussion on three aspects of composition, artistic temperament, and color, which helps us further explore the early integration of Eastern and Western art.

Compositional particularities and asian influences in the musical conception and works of john cage

"One of the most important figures of the 20th century, avant-garde composer, artist, writer, and theorist John Cage was deeply influenced by various philosophical orientations from South and East Asia, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Zen, and I-Ching. He studied various doctrines and the works of several Asian philosophers, which resulted in the reorientation of his philosophical and aesthetic ideas. At the same time, this influenced his musical style, the conception of his compositions, as well as his thoughts on the functions of art – discernible in his music. Cage identified himself with certain ideas he encountered in the philosophical texts he studied, but he refrained from describing himself as representative of any of these orientations. Unlike other Western composers inspired by oriental art and music, Cage was rather influenced by the philosophical dimension of Asia. He avoided the use of Asian music sources in his works and was not interested in using new sounds for the sake of creating a novel musical discourse but aimed to evoke or emphasize certain philosophical ideas through his composition. The aim of the present paper is to present the Asian philosophical influences that marked the figure of John Cage, his perspective on life and art, and influenced his rhetoric, as well as the ideas that he employed within his compositional process. Keywords: John Cage, Asia, Avant-garde, Hinduism, Buddhism, Zen, I-Ching, indeterminacy "

대교약졸(大巧若拙)의 의미 고찰 – 철농 이기우(鐵農李基雨)의 전각예술(篆刻藝術)을 중심으로 –

Taoist doctrine had a great influence on Chinese art, and as a result, East Asian art appreciated the value of “Inaction nature(無爲自然)”. Inaction nature(無 爲自然) is related to Laozi's “Conforms to naturalness(道法自然)”, which is the doctrine that connects with Laozi's “The Greatest Skill Seems to Be Clumsy(大巧 若拙)”, it aims for poor beauty of “Inaction(無爲)” that goes beyond outstanding techniques. Laozi pursued the greatest skill that matched the nature of Tao and it is the skill of Tao(道之巧). Jol(拙) means ‘clumsy’ that is natural without any decoration. In order to ‘seem to be clumsy’, a skilled technique of “What the heart wishes one's hands accomplish(得心應手)” is required. Lee, Ki-woo(1921-1993) was a modern Korean calligrapher and engraver. He studied to Muho Lee Han-bok and Wichang Oh Se-chang, and tried to promote the artistry of engraving and calligraphy in the dark age of culture. By combining modern aesthetics on the foundation of “Clumsy and plain(古拙素朴)”, he boldly pioneered not only calligraphy but also the field of engraving, which was like a wasteland. He expanded the world of engraving indefinitely not only with stone engraving but also with various media. This paper sheds light on Lee Ki-woo‘s view of art, which was rose to the level of “What the heart wishes one's hands accomplish(得心應手)” and pursued “Purifying the heart(心齋)” and “sitting oblivion(坐忘)” and then reached to the level of “The Greatest Skill Seems to Be Clumsy(大巧若拙)”. I hope that this paper could be a cornerstone for restarting research on Lee Ki-woo, which has been sluggish.

Transformation of Buddhist Mandalas into a Virtual Reality Installation

Abstract Technology can translocate traditional art into interactive, immersive experiences. At the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, the authors transformed Tibetan Buddhist mandalas into a 3D virtual reality mandala installation. Furthering this project, they externalized an analog of the meditative experience by recording electroencephalograms that dynamically modulated the visual scene. The use of neurofeedback allowed fluctuations in the alpha power to drive the intensity of the fog obscuring the mandala. This aimed to give a sense of clearing the fog with one’s mind in a meditation-like state. The collaboration demonstrated how technology intended for scientific use may be adapted to an artistic installation that enriches the visitor experience.

Breaking through the Traditional barrier: the Performability of Asian Action performance Calligraphy

This article in Harold rosenberg of the proposed action painting, on the basis of the Asia movement performance calligraphy this specifically for the art of calligraphy artist form new schools were discussed, based on a number of calligraphy artist used by art material, creative process, and the comparison of relevant context and discourse, to introduce a number of calligraphy artist's unique art form. The feedback of interviews with artists will be used as references and their representative views will be presented completely. It proves that the performance forms and artistic concepts of Asian calligraphy artists make calligraphy's territory no longer limited to visual art or shaping art, but also invade into the country of language art and performing art.

Design and Cultural Aspects of 20th Century Chinese Xiangjin Brocade

Abstract As one of the representative silk-woven artworks of the 20th century in China, Chinese Xiangjin brocade, well-known as “the flower of Oriental art”, draws on the essence of Sichuan brocade, Yun brocade, Song brocade, so as to form its own unique artistic style. It also takes the lead in the innovation of traditional brocade in key processes such as craftsmanship, design and jacquard, whose drawing technique is the exact core skill making it intangible cultural heritage. So far, there have been few studies on crafts and textile design in China before the 20th century or even after the reform and opening up, and rather fewer studies on the structure of Xiangjin brocade in the 20th century. This paper attempts to record and classify 1008 pieces of Xiangjin brocade in the Suzhou Silk Archive, China, as well as to find out their design features, oriental flavour, and unique weaving techniques. In addition, the cultural connotation of Xiangjin brocade as the painting medium was also put forward by analysing those brocades' historical texts, images, and style.

THE PECULIARITIES OF KYU DEGREE CHILDREN’S ATTESTATION IN AIKIDO

The article analyzes the peculiarities of the approach to the certification of children in aikido at the level of kyu. It is determined that the lack of regulations for attestations and the use of outdated programs does not allow to fully unleash the potential of children and leads to their loss of interest in aikido classes and further development.
 The state of physical culture and sports activities of children in terms of preparation for certification at the children’s level is revealed. It is determined that the absence of a competitive factor is not an obstacle to the formation of a special attitude to certification, but cultivates a special attitude to the partner on the tatami, based on respect for physical characteristics and psychological comfort and mental balance of the partner. All these factors teach to build competently not only the training process, but also the skill of social connections and relationships both on the tatami and in society.
 It was found that the proposed optimization of children’s physical culture and sports activities has a positive effect on the results of certification, the attitude of athletes and their parents to the training process, as well as improves the psycho- emotional and physical condition of children.
 It is established that the traditional approach to the certification of children in aikido, assumes that the child is admitted to practice, and, accordingly, to the exam, from the age of eight. Under such conditions, the child reaches the first kyu and moves to adult certification levels at the age of fourteen, which is fully consistent with the conditions of the start of certification for adults. But the realities show that, today, more and more children begin to practice aikido at 6-7, and even at 4- 5 years. It seems impossible for such children to wait 2-4 years to be admitted to the exam, because there are no competitions in aikido, and other forms of motivation, except for the exam and participation in children’s educational seminars are not provided.
 The authors of this article, based on their own experience and urgent needs of the organization, provide recommendations on the rules of aikido certification for children, as well as amendments to the provisions on certification requirements for children’s Aikido athletes. In addition to the above, we consider important the fact that, given the age and level of prior training of children, we emphasize safety in performing both general and special physical training, which is especially important during the certification, because every exam is accompanied by a high level of nervous and emotional stress.
 The presented article is based on the principles of work underlying the Eurasia Aikido Organization, but this technique can be used for any school and federation, because in the foreground – features of physical and psycho-emotional age development of children in oriental martial arts.

Reframing Japonisme: Women and the Asian art market in nineteenth-century France, 1853–1914

Reframing Japonisme: Women and the Asian art market in nineteenth-century France, 1853–1914

“The Soul Sense of a Beautiful Thing”

Abstract Katharine Nash Rhoades, a painter, Charles Lang Freer’s assistant, and a member of the Stieglitz Circle, met Freer at Mount Kisco, New York, the country home of Asian art collectors Agnes and Eugene Meyer on June 29, 1913. Their friendship lasted until Freer’s death on September 25, 1919. Although their relationship was relatively short in duration, it was characterized by loyalty, warmth, and mutual respect. Rhoades and Freer shared the pursuit of beauty as the guiding principle in their lives. Rhoades’s paintings reveal the influence that the Japanese art in Freer’s collection had upon her work. She was instrumental in the creation of the Freer Gallery of Art as it is known today. This article, based on extensive research using primary sources, sheds new light on the relationship between Katharine Rhoades and Charles Lang Freer and the ways in which the art of Japan played a key role in their lives.

Style Recognition of Door God Paintings by Hypothesis Testing for Texture Features of Painting Patterns

Many studies in the literature have presented multiple remote sensing techniques for defect inspection of paintings. At present, however, papers on defect inspection and restoration of oriental architectural arts—such as door god paintings—are still rare. If an aged and damaged door god painting needs a restoration, then following the style and treatment skill of the original artist as much as possible is important for the restoration. Unfortunately, it is usually difficult to access the original artists for some of the aged door god paintings. This paper considers the texture features of auspicious patterns of armors on warrior door gods as useful information to recognize styles of door god paintings by unknown artists. First, a two-level two-dimensional discrete wavelet transform coupled with co-occurrence matrix calculation was adopted to analyze the texture features, based on the descriptors of angular second moment (ASM), entropy (ENT), contrast (CON), homogeneity (HOM), dissimilarity (DIS), correlation (COR), and cluster tendency (CLU), in the four orientations of 0° (horizontal), 45° (vertical), and 90° and 135° (double diagonal). Second, a two-tailed t-test based on the analyzed texture features was introduced into the hypothesis testing for demonstrating the master and apprentice relationships between the surveyed artists, and for recognizing the door god painting styles of unknown artists as well. The experimental results show that the proposed method effectively describes the texture features of the auspicious patterns of the surveyed door god paintings, and is able to determine the useful co-occurrence features for recognizing unknown artists’ painting styles.

Remembering Nawal El Saadawi

Remembering Nawal El Saadawi