Unstable Objects: the Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple and Song Dynasty Viewing Practices

Michigan Oriental Art Society

Sunday, October 12, 2014

St John Hospital-Oakland Education Center, 27351 Dequindre Rd, Madison Heights (between 11 Mile and 12 Mile Rds)

Social Time at 1:30 pm, Meeting at 2:00 pm.

Unstable Objects: the Luohan Sculptures of Lingyan Temple and Song Dynasty Viewing Practices

 Rebecca Bieberly, Visiting Professor University

Department of Art and Art History, Oakland 

Although artworks from the historical past often appear as stable objects with determined meanings and histories, they are constantly being re-imagined by the audiences that view them. This talk considers the variety of viewing practices of audiences in Song dynasty (960-1279) China through a rare set of 11^th century clay Buddhist sculptures housed in Lingyan temple in Shandong province.

Produced in nearly life-sized proportions, these sculptures depict luohan—historio-mythical enlightened monks charged by the historical Buddha Śākyamuni with the task of maintaining Buddhism here on earth. Rendered with naturalistic detail, each appears not as a supernatural being, but as an earthly and “ordinary” cleric. The potential audience of these works and their viewing practices was diverse: abbots, government officials, poets, painters, laypeople, and others. All approached naturalistic Buddhist imagery with different social and religious protocols and various expectations. While some understood works such as the Lingyan sculptures as religious objects, other viewers might have considered them as works of art. Not static, the Lingyan temple sculptures shifted in meaning from viewer to viewer. This instability, which resists attempts to define these works, continues to the present day as contemporary audiences participate in the re-imagining of these unique sculptures.

Demonstration of the Art of Woodblock Printing

Michigan Oriental Art Society

Sunday, September 14, 2014

St John Hospital-Oakland Education Center, 27351 Dequindre Rd, Madison Heights (between 11 Mile and 12 Mile Rds)

Social Time at 1:30 pm, Meeting at 2:00 pm.

Demonstration of the Art of Woodblock Printing

 By Nobuko Yamasaki

 

 

In the Tokugawa period (1615-1868), the process of producing ukiyo-e, traditional Japanese woodblock prints, was developed and refined by artists such as Hokusai, Sharaku and Utamaro. Typically the process involves multiple people: an ukiyo-e master paints a picture, a second craftsman carves the image into cherry woodblocks (usually one for each color), still another craftsman applies the inks to the woodblocks and produces the prints, and finally a company sells the prints. Nobuko Yamasaki, our speaker for today, will show us how she carries out all of these tasks by herself using plywood boards, watercolors, special traditional tools and glue for fixation.

Multiple copies of ukiyo-e can be produced from one set of woodblocks and the copies are usually numbered. Sometimes original woodblocks are destroyed after a run to prevent proliferation of “originals”. Also, copies of “originals” can exist with small differences in hues and colors because of differences in each “batch” run.

Nobuko Yamasaki studied design at Seika University in Kyoto, Japan where she learned woodblock print making from a teacher named Hiroshige. After she graduated, Richard Steiner, a noted woodblock print artist and teacher, recognized her talent and this led to her training as an apprentice in his Kyoto studio for five years. She has taught woodblock printing since January 2009. She is passionate and dedicated to her work and hopes to share her love for printmaking with others as well.

The MOAS program for October will feature Natsu Oyobe, Assistant Curator of Asian Art, at the University of Michigan Museum of Art in Ann Arbor.