COLLECTION NAME:
Louis Black Collection of Japanese Prints
Record
Collection:
Louis Black Collection of Japanese Prints, Art History Dept, Cummings Arts Center, Connecticut College, New London
Artist:
SHIRO KASAMATSU
Culture:
Japan
Title:
Evening at Edge of Shinobazu Pond (at Veno Park, Tokyo)
Medium:
Woodcut
Dimensions (centimeters):
36 x 24 cm
Creation Date:
1932
Creation Century:
20th Century
Primary Creation Decade:
1930-1939
Primary Subject:
landscape
Secondary Subject:
water
Donor:
Louis Black, 1955
Description:
two very faint human figures in a park alongside pond, at dusk or nightfall
In Evening at Edge of Shinobazu Pond, the brushstrokes Shiro utilizes
to depict the water are reminiscent of the broken brushstrokes made famous
by the French Impressionists. However, the brushwork in the rest of the image
is too precise to be considered impressionistic. The highly developed sense of
perspective can also be attributed to Western artistic influences. Visible
through the tree in the immediate foreground, the pathway leads the eye
through the image to the stairway leading even further into the background.
The electric lanterns lining the path are another, more concrete manifestation
of Japan’s Westernization, as is the location of the image itself: Ueno Park in
Tokyo. Designed in imitation of the Western concept of a public park with
museums and grand promenades, the park exemplifies Japanese appropriation
of architectural, as well as ideological appropriations of Western imperialism.
In Evening at Edge of Shinobazu Pond, the brushstrokes Shiro utilizes
to depict the water are reminiscent of the broken brushstrokes made famous
by the French Impressionists. However, the brushwork in the rest of the image
is too precise to be considered impressionistic. The highly developed sense of
perspective can also be attributed to Western artistic influences. Visible
through the tree in the immediate foreground, the pathway leads the eye
through the image to the stairway leading even further into the background.
The electric lanterns lining the path are another, more concrete manifestation
of Japan’s Westernization, as is the location of the image itself: Ueno Park in
Tokyo. Designed in imitation of the Western concept of a public park with
museums and grand promenades, the park exemplifies Japanese appropriation
of architectural, as well as ideological appropriations of Western imperialism.
