Lecture series: New Publications in Japanese Art History

We are pleased to announce this summer term’s lecture series at the Institute for East Asian Art History, Heidelberg University: New Publications in Japanese Art History.

The first talk "The Accidental Translator" will be given by Nicole Coolidge Rousmaniere (the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, University of East Anglia, Norwich) on her translation work in general and her recent co-translation publication, The Genga Art of Doraemon.

https://www.sainsbury-institute.org/info/the-genga-art-of-doraemon

The Accidental Translator
June 7, Monday 2021, 6:15 pm (CEST)
https://zoom.us/j/95968486390?pwd=RzJNUVN6OUFrR3Fhc1Z2d3dHYTJJQT09

Abstract
Art historian Nicole Rousmaniere has had a wide range of experience in translating Japanese into English, from a comprehensive and scholarly history of art in Japan to blockbuster Manga comics. Translation has not been Rousmaniere’s primary focus but a means to an end, to increase understanding of Japanese culture in the English-speaking world. But the act of translation has thrown up a number of fascinating questions. Translation is, at its most basic, communication of meaning from one source language into another, but of course it is so much more. Translating as an academic making source material accessible forces one to quickly gain a full tool kit to convey complex ideas, including periodisation, politics and place. This discursive talk addresses some of these issues in addition to basic challenges such as translating for documentary film subtitles and manga speech bubbles. For example, Japanese will have three words where English has six, and how do you translate the sounds the sea is exclaiming? Translation has been, to this scholar, an accidental adventure that opens up an intriguing number of scholarly pitfalls and many delights.

Two more future talks will be:

28.6.2021, 6:15 pm
Eugenia Bodgadnova-Kummer (University of East Anglia, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norwich)
Japanese Calligraphy between Paris and New York Schools of Abstraction

Abstract
Japanese calligraphy—an art form usually allocated to the East Asia cultural context—played an unusually prominent role in the global art of the early postwar years.
The long 1950s marked the beginning of the new cultural era, with abstraction becoming the new dominating form of artistic expression in the Western Bloc. The fierce competition between the American and European schools of abstract painting mirrored the tense politicized cultural atmosphere of the unfolding Cold War. Rivalries for the global cultural leadership between Paris and New York defined the trajectories of art mobilities far beyond the two metropoles. In this tense cultural environment, new avant-garde calligraphy from Japan had its unprecedented global breakthrough and could be seen in the most prominent international art venues alongside abstract painting. The avant-garde calligraphy group Bokujinkai, formed in Kyoto in 1952, driven by the ambition to bring the art of calligraphy to the same level of prominence as abstract painting, successfully leveraged the rivalries of the bipolar system of postwar abstract art, while visually and theoretically adjusting their art to the international audiences. This talk will demonstrate how avant-garde calligraphers from Japan challenged and contributed to the postwar landscape of abstract art, while modernizing and transforming their art beyond recognition.

The lecture will take place via Zoom; the link will be posted under the following link soon:
https://www.zo.uni-heidelberg.de/iko/events/index_en.html?lang=en

12.7.2021, 6:15 pm
Frank Feltens (Assistant Curator of Japanese Art, Freer Gallery of Art and Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington D.C.)
Modes of Making: Ogata Korin and Art in Early Modern Japan

Abstract
Ogata Korin (1658-1716) is one of early modern Japan's most cherished artists. He was also one of the era's most versatile painters, having worked in nearly every medium available to artists during his time: painting, lacquer, ceramics, and textiles. Korin's mastery lies in the multivalence of his materials and his skill in recasting age-old themes into novel visual experiences. Through the lens of the iris subject — one of Korin's signature tropes — this talk explores the processes of production, layered cultural meanings, and impact of key examples of Korin's iris works in different media. The talk draws from Feltens' book "Ogata Korin: Art in Early Modern Japan," available from Yale University Press.

The lecture will take place via Zoom; the link will be posted under the following link soon:
https://www.zo.uni-heidelberg.de/iko/events/index_en.html?lang=en

Please check out our institute website (https://www.zo.uni-heidelberg.de/iko/) for updates, abstracts, and posters!

We are looking forward to welcoming you virtually!