Michigan Oriental Art Society
Sunday, March 8, 2015
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.
THE EARLY POPULARITY OF HOKUSAI
IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
IN NINETEENTH-CENTURY FRANCE
Emily Eastgate Brink
Beginning
in 1814, the Japanese printmaker Katsushika Hokusai began a series of
illustrated print volumes (12 produced in his lifetime and 3 posthumously),
collectively known as the Manga (漫画
"Random Sketches"). These volumes were originally intended as
teaching tools for students of printmaking in Japan and include a wide variety
of imagery, ranging from birds and flowers to landscapes and humorous vignettes
of everyday life. In contrast to contemporary manga, which
function as narrative comic-books, Hokusai's Manga avoids story-telling
in favor of diverse, descriptive images unconnected by plot. Though the Manga
could be found in official French libraries and collections as early as the 1830s,
Hokusai's work gained increased popularity in France with the opening of
Japanese ports and trade after 1854.
This presentation examines the early
interpretation and popularity of Katsushika Hokusai’s Manga in late nineteenth-century Paris. A multi-volume
series of diverse illustrations, the Manga
arrived in France during a moment of transition in French culture, literature,
and the visual arts.
Emily Eastgate Brink received her PhD in
Art History from Stanford University and is a Visiting Scholar with the Center
for Japanese Studies at the University of Michigan. Her work examines
issues of materiality and globalization in nineteenth-century European art,
with an emphasis on the cultural exchange between Japan and France.
