Montag
28
JUN

18.15 Uhr

Japanese Calligraphy between Paris and New York Schools of Abstraction

Dr. Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer, University of East Anglia, Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norwich

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.

Eugenia Bogdanova-Kummer specializes in modern Japanese art. After earning her Ph.D. from Heidelberg University, she held a postdoctoral position at the Smithsonian Freer | Sackler Galleries before joining the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures.

This lecture is organized within the framework of the lecture series “New Publications in Japanese Art History" at the IKO, Heidelberg.
It will take place via Zoom; to attend please refer to the link below.
Zoom-Meeting-ID: 878 8252 8176
Passcode: bokujinkai

L. Alcopley contemplating work by Eguchi Sōgen at the exhibition of modern Japanese calligraphy at Museum Cernuschi in 1953. Photograph from Bokubi no. 58 (September 1956), p. 9

L. Alcopley contemplating work by Eguchi Sōgen at the exhibition of modern Japanese calligraphy at Museum Cernuschi in 1953. Photograph from Bokubi no. 58 (September 1956), p. 9

Streaming / Video URL

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87882528176?pwd=aC9lVXZLMlBiamdiU2JCQ0dINTBpQT09

Adresse

CATS – Centre for Asian and Transcultural Studies, Gebäude 4120

Voßstraße 2

69115 Heidelberg

Veranstalter

Institut für Kunstgeschichte Ostasiens

Homepage Veranstalter

http://iko.uni-hd.de/

Kontakt

Institut für Kunstgeschichte Ostasiens

Kontakt URL

http://iko.uni-hd.de/