cop: notes from books

These are the notes that I have made from reading these books which I have already harvard referenced:

Cawthorne, N, 1997. The Art of Japanese Prints. 1st ed. Britain: Hamlyn

Designers Network, International, 2004. Japanese Graphics: Beautiful Streamline. 1st ed. Hong Kong: Systems Design Limited.

Gisela Kozak, ED., Wiedemann J., 2003. Japanese Graphics Now!. 1st ed. Spain: Taschen.

Salter, R, 2006. Japanese Popular Prints. 1st ed. Great Britain: A & C Black Publishers Ltd.

Smith, L, 2002. Japanese Prints: During the Allied Occupation 1945-1952. 1st ed. Britain: The British Museum Press.

Looking through these books was really helpful and helped me to get a lot of good research for my project. I was looking for something that would really kickstart my project and I think this is it. There are lots of good quotes from the books which I have wrote down on these pages, and a lot of ideas from them that I can utilise within my essay. As all of the books have a similar topic it will be easy to triangulate between them.

cop: the department of asian art

Department of Asian Art. “Art of the Edo Period (1615–1868).” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/edop/hd_edop.htm (October 2003)

-Department of Asian Art. “Art of the Pleasure Quarters and the Ukiyo-e Style.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/plea/hd_plea.htm (October 2004)

Department of Asian Art. “Woodblock Prints in the Ukiyo-e Style.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2000–. http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/ukiy/hd_ukiy.htm (October 2003)

The Department of Asian Art is a webpage that I found when researching about Japanese Woodblock art. They are really helpful and have a few webpages about the topic that I am looking at. It's from the Metropolitan Museum so I know that it is a reliable source. Some of the quotes that I picked up from these websites are:

‘each print required the collaboration of four experts: the designer, the engraver, the printer, and the publisher’

'By the late 1630s, contact with the outside world was cut off through official prohibition of foreigners'

'Ukiyo-e represents the final phase in the long evolution of Japanese genre painting. Drawing on earlier developments that had focused on human figures, ukiyo-e painters focused on enjoyable activities in landscape settings, shown close-up, with special attention to contemporary affairs and fashions. '

 

cop: woodblock print videos

I found it really interesting to watch these videos and get more of an idea of what Japanese woodblock printing really is. However, watching these videos has made me realise that woodblock printing is a long process and I probably shouldn't spend too much time doing it in my sketchbook. Therefore, I think I should just capture the essence of woodblock printing by being influenced by the aesthetics, colours, linework etc. I think this will make my journal quite interesting without taking up too much space.

cop: namazu the earthshaker

According to a popular Japanese myth the cause of earthquakes is the giant fish Namazu, often depicted as a giant catfish in woodcuts called namazu-e. He is considered one of the yo-kai, creatures of mythology and folklore causing misfortune and disasters. Only the god Kashima can immobilize namazu and with the help of a heavy capstone he will push the fish against the foundations of earth. However the god sometimes got tired or is distracted from his duty, Namazu will use these moments to wiggle his tail, causing an earthquake in the human world.

Namazu depictions are known since the fifteenth century, however only in the late eighteenth century he became associated with natural disasters. In the Tokugawa period (1603-1868) the giant catfish was as a river deity associated with floods or heavy rainfall. He acts often as a premonition for danger, warns people from an imminent catastrophe or swallows dangerous water-dragons, preventing further disasters. The dragon was a very old and powerful symbol, imported from China, and was considered the main culprit of many sorts of disasters, including earthquakes. During the 18th century the giant namazu gradually replaces the dragon in the role as mischief-maker. This change from the dragon to Namazu was minor, because dragons were also associated to water and rivers and therefore considered closely related to the catfish myth.

During the 19th century and especially after the earthquake of Edo(modern Tokyo) in 1855 the wrongdoings of Namazu were considered more a punishment of human greed, as it was believed that the catfish by causing havoc forces people to redistribute equally their accumulated wealth. Namazu became known as yonaoshi daimyojin, the "god of world rectification".

cop: japanese folklore - yokai

http://mentalfloss.com/article/59737/10-horrifying-demons-and-spirits-japanese-folklore

1. Kiyohime

Kiyohime was a young woman scorned by her lover, a monk named Anchin, who grew cold and lost interest in her. Realizing he had left her, Kiyohime followed him to a river and transformed into a serpent while swimming after his boat. Terrified by her monstrous form, Anchin sought refuge in a temple, where monks hid him beneath a bell. Not to be evaded, Kiyohime found him by his scent, coiled around the bell, and banged loudly on it with her tail. She then breathed fire onto the bell, melting it and killing Anchin.

2. Yuki-onna (Snow woman)

There are many variations of this popular Japanese tale. Yuki-onna is usually described as having white skin, a white kimono, and long black hair. She appears in snowfall and glides without feet over the snow like a ghost. She feeds on human essence, and her killing method of choice is to blow on her victims to freeze them to death and then suck out their souls through their mouths.

3. Shuten Dōji

Shuten Dōji is described as more than 50 feet tall with a red body, five horns, and 15 eyes. There’s no need to fear this demon, though. In a legend from the medieval period, warriors Raikō and Hōshō infiltrated Shuten Dōji’s lair disguised as yamabushi (mountain priests) to free some kidnapped women. The oni greeted them with a banquet of human flesh and blood, and the disguised warriors offered Shuten Dōji drugged sake. After the demon passed out, the warriors cut off his head, killed the other oni, and freed the prisoners.

4. Yamauba (Mountain ogress)

Also originating in the medieval period, yamauba are generally considered to be old women who were marginalized by society and forced to live in the mountains—who also have a penchant for eating human flesh. Among many tales, there is one of a yamauba who offers shelter to a young woman about to give birth while secretly planning to eat her baby, and another of a yamauba who goes to village homes to eat children while their mothers are away. But they're not picky; they’ll eat anyone who passes by. Yamabuas also have mouths under their hair. Delightful!

5. Uji no hashihime (Woman at Uji Bridge)

In another tale of a woman scorned, Uji no hashihime prayed to a deity to turn her into an oni so she could kill her husband, the woman he fell in love with, and all of their relatives. To accomplish this, she bathed in the Uji River for 21 days, divided her hair into five horns, painted her body red with vermilion, and went on a legendary killing spree. Besides her intended victims, anyone who saw her instantly died of fear.

6. Tengu

Tengu are impish mountain goblins that play tricks on people, featured in countless folktales and considered purely evil until about the 14th century. They were originally depicted as birdlike, with wings and beaks, though now the beak is often replaced with a comically large nose. They are known to lead people away from Buddhism, tie priests to tall trees and towers, start fires in temples, and kidnap children. Many legends say the tengu were hypocritical priests who must now live the rest of their lives as mountain goblins as punishment. Locals made offerings to the tengu to avoid their mischief, and there are still festivals in Japan dedicated to them today.

7. Oiwa

A revenge story made popular by the famous kabuki drama Yotsuya kaidan, Oiwa was married to a rōnin (masterless samurai) named Iemon; he wanted to marry a rich local’s daughter who had fallen in love with him, and, in order to end their marriage, Oiwa was sent a poisoned medicine. Though the poison failed to kill her, she became horribly disfigured, causing her hair to fall out and her left eye to droop. Upon learning of her disfigurement and betrayal, she accidentally killed herself on a sword. Her ghostly, deformed face appeared everywhere to haunt Iemon. It even appeared in place of his new bride’s face, which caused Iemon to accidentally behead her. Oiwa’s spirit followed him relentlessly to the point where he welcomed death.

8. Demon at Agi Bridge

This story begins as so many horror stories do: With an overly-confident man who boasted to his friends that he didn’t fear to cross Agi Bridge or the demon rumored to reside there. As oni are known for their ability to shape-shift, the demon at Agi Bridge appeared to the man as an abandoned woman. As soon as she caught the young man’s eye, she transformed back into a 9 foot green-skinned monster and chased after him. Unable to catch the man, the demon later changed into the form of the man’s brother and knocked on his door late at night. The demon was let into the house and, after a struggle, bit off the man’s head, held it up and danced with it before his family, and then vanished.

9. Kuchisake-onna (Slit-mouthed woman)

In an urban legend from 1979 that swept through Japan, Kuchisake-onna wears a surgical mask and asks children if they think she is beautiful. If they say yes, she takes off the mask to reveal her mouth slit from ear to ear and asks the question again. The only way to escape is to give a noncommittal answer, such as "you look OK." Barring that, you can distract her with certain Japanese candies. But if the children say yes again, she will cut their mouths to make them look like her.

10. Aka Manto (Red Cloak)

With a demon for just about everything, why shouldn’t the Japanese have a few for their bathrooms? Aka Manto, one of the more popular demons, hides in women’s bathrooms. In one version of the story, Aka Manto asks women if they would like a red cloak or a blue cloak. If the woman answers “red,” Aka Manto tears the flesh from her back to make it appear she is wearing a red cloak. If she answers “blue,” then he strangles her to death. Unfortunately, if you encounter Aka Manto, there may be no escaping: Some versions of the story say if you don’t answer or if you pick a different color, he will immediately drag you to hell.

cop: the great wave merchandise

I just thought I would make a collection of all the merchandise that I have found for Hokusai's 'The Great Wave off Kanagawa' I think this will be good for me to see what is out there and how it is being re purposed. Sometimes,  they just take the image itself and put it onto something new, however sometimes they take the idea of it and redraw or redesign it. I want to ask myself is this where some of the popular art from today will be in a few hundred years? When the artist is dead does that leave the art to be grabbed by people who just want to make some money? Does this diminish the importance of traditional art?

There are some on this presentation that are quite ridiculous. There is some sort of thong (?) which i'm not sure why this beautiful artwork is appropriate. There are things that I see as having irony to them, like a tea  towel with the print on it, to mop up wetness using a wave. There is an almost humorous irony to it. 

It was interesting for me to collect these and see how I could try and incorporate them into my own drawings.

cop: hokusai

I want to talk in my essay about the re-purposing of traditional Japanese Woodblock for example, Hokusai's 'The Great Wave' which is a really popular and famous piece. I want to relate this to Barthes and his 'ownership' and 'authorship' piece, much like what I did in the study task. I think this will really help to make my essay not just about the traditional, but how it now communicates in the modern era. Does this communicate authorship? Or is repurposing the best thing for gathering interest on our history?

cop: study task 5

Google's Definitions

Line - 
   a long, narrow mark or band. "a row of closely spaced dots will look like a continuous line"

1. • 
     
   • 
     

     
     

     
     
   • 
     

     
     

     
     
   • 
     

     
     

     
     
   • 
     
   • 
     

     
     
   • 
     

     
     
   • 
     

     
     
   • 
     

     
     

     
     
   • 
     
   • 
     
   • 
     

     
     

     
     
   • 
     
   • 
     

     
     
   • 
     
2. a length of cord, rope, wire, or other material serving a particular purpose. "Lily pegged the washing on the line"
3. 
   

Shape - the external form, contours, or outline of someone or something. give a particular shape or form to.

Colour - the property possessed by an object of producing different sensations on the eye as a result of the way it reflects or emits light.

Texture - the feel, appearance, or consistency of a surface or a substance. give (a surface) a rough or raised texture.

Collage - a piece of art made by sticking various different materials such as photographs and pieces of paper or fabric on to a backing. the art of making collages. a collection or combination of various things.

Artist Examples

Line

Jonathan Calugi

Shape

Yiying Lu

Colour

Danny O'Connor

Texture

Phil Young

Collage

Hannah Hoch

cop: different type of woodblock prints

ukiyo-e

ukiyo-e means 'Pictures of the Floating World'. Images of everyday Japan, mass-produced for popular consumption in the Edo period (1615-1868), they represent one of the highpoints of Japanese cultural achievement. Popular themes include famous beauties and well-known actors, renowned landscapes, heroic tales and folk stories.



namazu-e

In November 1855, the Great Ansei Earthquake struck the city of Edo (now Tokyo), claiming 7,000 lives and inflicting widespread damage. Within days, a new type of color woodblock print known as namazu-e (lit. "catfish pictures") became popular among the residents of the shaken city. These prints featured depictions of mythical giant catfish (namazu) who, according to popular legend, caused earthquakes by thrashing about in their underground lairs. In addition to providing humor and social commentary, many prints claimed to offer protection from future earthquakes.




nishiki-e

Previously, most prints had been in black-and-white, coloured by hand, or coloured with the addition of one or two colour ink blocks. A nishiki-e print is created by carving a separate woodblock for every colour, and using them in a stepwise fashion. An engraver by the name of Kinroku is credited with the technical innovations that allowed so many blocks of separate colours to fit together perfectly on the page, in order to create a single complete image.



senso-e

Senso-e are woodblock prints with war scenes from the Meiji period, especially from the Sino-Japanese (1894/95) and Russo-Japanese (1904/05) war. Senso-e were a big business during the Sino-Japanese war. These woodblock prints were meant as newspaper illustrations from the war front.

sumo-e

Sumo-e are images of sumo wrestlers and sumo fights. Such images have been popular during all centuries of Japanese woodblock printmaking. The subject is popular even among contemporary Japanese printmakers. In the 1980s the Japan Sumo Wrestling Association commissioned a series of sumo-e to Daimon Kinoshita, born 1946.

cop: study task 4

Parody / Representation / 

Commodity fetishism 
In Karl Marx's critique of political economy, commodity fetishism is the perception of the social relationships involved in production, not as relationships among people, but as economic relationships among the money and commodities exchanged in market trade.

Context: Hair Salon Advert
Subject / content / compostiton: Woman being beaten by Man, Woman still has styled hair, Man above the woman can be seen as hierachy, Woman sat down; submissive
Audience: People who want hair styled, Women mainly?
Purpose: To advertise to a male audience that want haircuts as well or want their women to
Method of production: Magazines, billboards, posters

cop: study task 3

Both Storey and Dyer's analyses of Mulvey's essay 'Visual pleasure and narrative cinema' seek to explore Mulvey's claims about spectator's theory. Storey is primarily concerned with the 'male gaze' and how the female body is erotically presented within film. Dyers brings in aspects of what could be termed the 'female gaze' – he talks about the film 'Picnic' and how the main male character frequently takes his shirt off, as if presenting himself for female spectators. However, Dyer himself also seems to disprove of this comparison later in the essay by referencing Mary Ann Doane's quote: 'female spectator is a concept, not a person'. There is no such thing as a 'female gaze', he seems to say. Male displays of power and ideal body types in film is a male power fantasy. As Storey says, the male spectator looks to these male characters as a reflection of themselves, thus they serve as an ego boost for the male audience rather than an erotic image for women.

Storey's focus is on the idea of fetishization of the female body to moviegoers, and when he speaks of the male audience he talks about them identifying themselves with the power fantasy these men present in terms of a sexual nature. However, Dyer's power fantasy encompasses the male ego as a whole – as a pillar of strength for his female counterpart that '[fights] for his family'. He considers how the audience, both male and female, identify with their favourite stars and attempt to emulate them.

Both Storey's and Dyer's texts on Mulvey's essay suggest that Mulvey's message was about male empowerment in cinema film, exploring it and describing why it needs to change. Whilst Storey focuses on the male ideal in erotic settings and how this is problematic and detrimental to the female star, Dyer's evaluation is broader in terms of his handling of the male ego. He touches on eroticism, but extensively explores other reflections of themselves that moviegoers see in film.

cop: study task 2

cop: study task 1

Rowland Barthes addresses the issues concerning artist and author ownership in his 1967 essay ‘The Death of The Author’. This relates to the contemporary Illustrative work as a question; who owns the art we make? Barthes says ‘the writer can only imitate a gesture […] never original’. Is he saying that nothing is original nowadays? In this new social media world especially, copyright claims are becoming more frequent. So it begs the question, who does own it? The consumer? The creator? The publisher? This short essay will discuss the probability with ownership, using an example of Katsushika Hokusai’s artwork.

The artist is undoubtable, Hokusai is famous for many pieces of art he created. His name is recognisable everywhere. His most subjectively famous piece ‘The Great Wave off Kanagawa’, is repurposed and redesigned everywhere. Does this mean it still belongs to him? Rowland Barthes says ‘language knows a ‘subject’, not a ‘person’’, is this Rowland saying that people only see the piece of art and not the creator behind it? This can be relevant when looking at the ‘Great Wave’ from Hokusai, as it has been repurposed into a lot of modern items, such as mugs, t-shirts, posters. The question is do people buy these items to support the artist, or because of the piece of art?

We have to pose the question whether people would buy these merchandises knowing the artist or just because it looks nice? This subject of ownership is something that Michael Rock touches upon in his essay ‘The Designer as Author’, Rock states ‘[…] most design is done in a collaborative setting’. Some may interpret Rock as saying no design is completely by one person, it includes many others. It could be argued that Hokusai’s art was like this, as with traditional Japanese woodblock printing there are many artists involved in the process, from the carver, the inker, the printer, the publisher. So does this beg the question of whether Hokusai’s art is solo or collaborative, if you come up with the idea does it make it truly only yours?

Hokusai’s ‘the Great Wave’ was created within Japan’s period of isolation, meaning he had no contact with the outside world other than Japan. His influences were minimal, lending to the idea that he could be the sole influencer of his work. It is only later on, when the country was reopened, that people started to see his work. It began to be repurposed as you can see in the picture, in this modern world being collaborated with ‘Pokemon’ which was created in 1995, a very long time after Hokusai, however Hokusai’s influence still remained in this contemporary era. This idea can be heard in Barthes’ essay in his ending quote, ‘the birth of the reader must be at the cost of the death of the Author’. Hokusai’s work is only recognised properly in this modern era after his death.

end of module evaluation

finished essay

visual evaluation

more more sketchbook

carrying on from my other drawings, i really like the idea of animal-human role reversal and incorporating banksy quotes into my work. i think this really shone in these drawings.

i think these turned out really good and i'm pleased with them. they have the cute aesthetic that i was looking for but also with the dark message behind them. i think they have an element of humour to them, although the subject is very dark. using copic was a bit of a mistake as it went through the page of the other drawing (live and learn!) so for the other rabbits i used watercolour which i think works effectively. 

starting drawing up this idea but wasn't really liking it that much. might try something more with it but not sure. i don't think it's really working for the aesthetic that i wanted to portray. 

this was my first really successful drawing tying banksy quotes in with animal cruelty! this was a real turning point for me and i think it really showed me how banksy quotes can relate in this way. the image is insinuating that the rabbit's dreams are cancelled, as it can't have dreams because it's going to be made into a fur coat. i would like to try out drawing this image again, possibly incorporating a cage.

another drawing which i think really shone with the banksy quote. i think the drawing doesn't really fit it that much and could be worked on, but i think the theme of the drawing does really relate to the quote. 

decided to draw a banksy quote without incorporating the animal cruelty. however, i dont think this image has much of a message to it and i don't really like it. it's not what i've been trying to say and doesn't really work with the other drawings i've done. i just wanted to try out some other things too in the middle of doing my chosen theme.

more drawings of the little bear which was one of the first drawings that i did. as he was a polar bear i also wanted to show that animal cruelty doesn't just stem from abusing an animal, but also neglecting the earth can really effect animals. for instance, global warming. i got this idea for global warming after seeing one of banksy's pieces 'i dont believe in global warming' as i think it is still a really important subject.

just another banksy quote that i found really influential. it really spoke to me. 'disturb the comfortable' is a message that i am really trying to portray. the comfortable people wearing their fur coats and non-CF mascara which got stabbed into a rabbit's eye. although i like the quote, i'm not sure the typography that i did really works with what i'm trying to portray. just writing words isn't really what i wanted to do, but use visual.

another instance of animal-human reversal. this time using littering as the subject. as when you litter, for example, your coke can holder it can end up choking a small animal as  they are confused and adventurous. animals don't know what these things are. i do like the image and i think it almost looks like she's trying to do a fashion statement, like coke holder necklaces are the new in thing.

key essay quotes

"Propaganda has been around for many years, and has been used as a platform for Artists and Illustrators to produce work relating to the views and opinions of an individual."

"Animal cruelty is a subject that many Illustrators rise to, using their talents to express the struggles that animals cannot express themselves."

"Hogarth said ‘there is no part of my works of which I am so proud… because I believe the publication of them has checked the diabolical spirit of barbarity to the brute creation, which, I am sorry to say, was once so prevalent in this country’. Some might say Hogarth believes that his Illustrations didn’t play a large enough role in stopping cruelty, but instead just showed it for what it really is."

"Illustrators often take influence from these posters in the creation of their own designs, a lot of them utilising these alarming and distressing themes to catch the attention of their audience."

"What Ellul is saying is that propaganda first comes from a will for it to be made, there is no propaganda unless there is an idea that drives it."

"Illustrators use propaganda as a way to invoke emotions into their audience, as the IPA said, psychologically manipulating the viewer’s opinion."

"These acts of unity from the Illustration community show how propaganda doesn’t have to be seen as a form of aggression, but a form of peace and concord."

"This shows how sometimes Illustration is just raw powerful emotion that comes from one individual and ends up affecting millions of people."

"Meaning he just wanted the Illustration to speak for itself, not to make money from."

"This is showing a different kind of role that Illustration plays, sometimes harsh words and sarcasm are needed in order to get across the right point and to make people listen."

"We can also see the success of Illustration and propaganda as influential political tools within the work of Banksy who, as previously discussed throughout this essay, uses his well-known visual signature to draw attention to prominent issues within contemporary society."