Proposal
- Compare landscape painting by Guo Xi’s with woodblock print of Mt. Fuji by Hokusai. Consider the following in your discussion: patrons, producers, materials, production, function and meanings.
Two objects:
– Early Spring, Old Trees, Level Distance (hand scrolls)
– Fugaku Sanju-Rokkei (Thirty-Six Views of Mt. Fuji)
e.g. The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Introduction:
General Claim:
Both Hokusai and Guo Xi captured the essence of the landscapes they saw (? Not sure yet)
Stand:
Clear differences in influences, mediums, style/technique and context of landscape painting
Hokusai:
Edo Period Artist
Background: Katsukawa school, cutter of woodblocks, Tawaraya Sori School, Kano and Tosa Schools (Chinese-style painting + native Japanese yamato-e)
Influenced by Chinese, Western and Dutch styles of art
Guo Xi:
Chinese landscape painter from Henan Province
Northern Song Dynasty
Court Professional, a literatus, well-educated painter
Tentative claim:
-There are more differences between the landscape paintings by Guo Xi and Mt. Fuji by Hokusai (?)
Essay Plan:
- Introduction
- Differences between Guo Xi and Hokusai’s use of techniques and approach to landscape painting
Hokusai:
Kumogata Clouds,
foreign influences,
use of color and pigment,
interpretation of a picture (context),
deep pictorial space, removed and high viewpoint (yamato-e)
enhance 3D via placing one foot in front of the other.
Guo Xi:
rooted in tradition (academic scholar) – studies the trees, nature etc.,
use of tonal varieties of ink,
brush strokes: thin beginning and end, broad centers,
landscape art not bound by nameable place,
approach towards space and spatial recession- through motifs
- Similarities between Guo Xi and Hokusai’s approach to landscape painting– yamato-e’s Chinese characteristics (rhythmic repetition)
– deep pictorial space
– execution based on fundamental knowledge of perception of space and depth
(academic backgrounds, studies from schools (Hokusai)
- There is a distinction between Hokusai’s woodblock prints and Guo Xi’s handscroll landscape art
- Conclusion
Tentative Bibliography:
Hokusai
Bouquillard, Jocelyn. Hokusai’s Mount Fuji. New York: Abrams, 2007.
Bell, David. Hokusai’s Project: The Articulation of Pictorial Space. England: Global Oriental, 2007.
White, Julia, Mochinaga Brandon, Reiko and Woodson, Yoko. Hokusai and Hiroshige: Great Japanese Prints from the James a Michener Collection, Honolulu Academy of Arts. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press, 1999.
Mayor, A. Hyatt and Betchaku, Yasuko. “Hokusai.” The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin New Series Vol. 43, No. 1 (1985): 1-2+4-48. Accessed March 3, 2016. http://www.jstor.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/stable/pdf/3263896.pdf
E. Guth, Christine. Hokusai’s Great Wave: Biography of a Global Icon. Honolulu, Hawaii: University of Hawaii Press, 2015. http://www.jstor.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/tc/verify?origin=%2Fstable%2Fpdf%2Fj.ctt13x1kh0.6.pdf
E. Guth, Christine. “Hokusai’s Great Waves in Nineteeth-Century Japanese Visual Culture.” The Art Bulletin Vol. 93, No. 4 (2011): 468-485. Accessed 3 March 2016. http://www.jstor.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/tc/verify?origin=%2Fstable%2Fpdf%2F23208270.pdf
Guo Xi
Vanderstappen, Harrie. The Landscape Painting of China: Musings of a Journeyman. Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2014.
Foong, Ping. “Guo Xi’s Intimate Landscapes and the Case of “Old Trees, Level Distance” Metropolitan Museum Journal Vol. 35 (2000): 87-115. Accessed March 3, 2016. http://www.jstor.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/stable/pdf/1513027.pdf
Jang, Scarlett. “Realm of the Immortals: Paintings Decorating the Jade Hall of the Northern Song.” Ars Orientalis Vol. 22 (1992): 81-96. Accessed March 3, 2016. http://www.jstor.org.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/stable/pdf/4629426.pdf
Lawton, Mary. “Guo Xi [Kuo His; zi Shunfu]” Oxford Art Online. January 30, 2002. http://www.oxfordartonline.com.ezlibproxy1.ntu.edu.sg/subscriber/article/grove/art/T035701?type=biography&type=article&search=quick&q=Guo+Xi&pos=1&_start=1#firsthit