Mar 28, 2024  
College Catalog 2013-2014 
    
College Catalog 2013-2014 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ART 271 - Japan and the (Inter)National Modern


This course introduces students to the art and visual culture of Japan from the late 19th century through the post-millennium. In this class, we will ask: What are the Japanese modern and postmodern? How might Japanese art, design, media and spaces be understood not only through the lens of Japanese history over the last 150 years but as part of transnational movements? To answer these questions, this course explores prewar constructions of modern painting, architecture and design, with particular focus on movements and trends that have occurred since the end of World War II in 1945. Addressing a diverse array of artistic forms and visual media such as fashion, anime (Japanese cartoons), painting, architecture, advertising design, sculpture, and manga (Japanese comics), we will explore themes such as trauma, nationalism, protest, hybridity, fantasy, embodiment, and performativity. Students will be asked to critically consider how these works operated as a part of international flows in art, design, and consumerism as well as how artistic practice has become increasingly commodified at home and abroad. (4 Credits)