Team Members: Gekkie, Pin, Son Tra, Raj
Artist Statement:
Bijinga is term used to describe pictures that contain beautiful in Japanese art. The type of print for these pieces of art are called Ukiyo-e, which are woodblock prints. These pieces were meant to focus on the beauty of women during the time, hence the meaning of Binjinga. Women were depicted in a mysterious way. The artists of these Bijingas had the faces of the women either angled or partly covered. The backgrounds were flat to emphasize on the women of the pictures.
One artist who was known for creating his own bijingas was Yoshu Chikanobu. He created a series of Bijingas, which included 50 prints. This group of prints were known as Shin Bijin. Learning from artists whose works including Bijingas, Chikanobu adapted his own style of depicting women. His prints had women who were taller and thinner that recreated interest of these prints to before.
During the time of creating Dancing with Fan, Japan was going through major changes because of their integration with the rest of the world. There was western influences that were affecting Japanese art and Chikanobu included them in this Bijinga. He was using more vibrant colors compared to before.
Our response to the piece by Chikanobu was to include more relevant objects in the Bijinga that shows how women have changed over the years. Women were always dressed in similar traditional clothing but today women are seen wearing much more than just traditional clothing. Today, women are dressing in suits because they are out there in the workforce and hold jobs and careers that are equal to men. They also wear casual clothing as well because of their balanced lifestyle between working and enjoying life.