Blogs

Curator’s Corner

Contemporary Bamboo

Monday, May 23, 2016 | Karl Cole

Bamboo (take or dake in Japanese), the fastest-growing woody plant on Earth, has been a cultural underpinning in Japan since forever. It has been used there to make everything from cups and ...

Curator’s Corner

A Look at Rainy May Days

Monday, May 9, 2016 | Karl Cole

Most of May’s weather has been pretty cold and rainy so far, so I thought I’d look at art (which I do every day anyway) to take my mind off of it. Of course, a title including “May R ...

Curator’s Corner

It's the Little Things in Life

Tuesday, February 16, 2016 | Karl Cole

I despise the terms “decorative arts” and “minor arts” to categorize any art work that is not a painting, print, photograph, or sculpture. I prefer the word “miscellaneou ...

Curator’s Corner

Winter

Monday, January 11, 2016 | Karl Cole

Well, it’s winter. Instead of ruefully awaiting spring, I prefer to look at works of art that evoke the idea of winter, one way or another. It’s always interesting to me how artists can ca ...

Curator’s Corner

Happy New Year

Monday, January 4, 2016 | Karl Cole

Since I’m feeling lazy this week, I’m showing you Japanese New Year cards (surimono) again. I think they’re lovely, and who wouldn’t want to receive one of these color woodcut ...

Curator’s Corner

National Monkey Day

Wednesday, December 16, 2015 | Karl Cole

I always admit I’m never too old to learn. This week I learned about National/International Monkey Day, which fell on the 14th of December. The commemorative day has only been around since 2000, ...

Curator’s Corner

The Noble Carp?

Friday, December 4, 2015 | Karl Cole

It probably doesn’t occur to most people to view a fish as a symbol of heroic qualities, unless maybe it’s a whale or a shark. In Japan, the carp (koi in Japanese) is a symbol of cour ...

Curator’s Corner

More Wearable Art

Friday, November 20, 2015 | Karl Cole

You may remember that I introduced you to the fiber art of Korean artist Jeung Hwa-Park, whose work is fabulous, back in 2009. Now I’ve discovered this wonderful Japanese artist who bowls me ove ...

Curator’s Corner

Did you known that the Japanese did not have a written language up until the 400s CE? I find cursive Japanese so incredibly beautiful. The story behind its development is very interesting, and I bet y ...

Curator’s Corner

A Neglected Japanese Printmaker

Monday, July 27, 2015 | Karl Cole

I’m pretty sure there’s generally a misconception about the ukiyo-e phenomenon in Japanese art. It is certainly one I had until I recently came across hundreds of gorgeous woodblock prints ...

Curator’s Corner

How Old Is This?

Tuesday, May 26, 2015 | Karl Cole

Lately, I can’t seem to get away from seeing “abstraction” in all sorts of places. I came across this wonderful Japanese bowl from the mid-1700s to mid-1800s and was sort of wowed by ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 12: Abstraction

Monday, February 2, 2015 | Karl Cole

In our art history survey, we are now at the end with the 1900s. The big “revelation” in Western art starting very late in the 1800s and flowering in the early 1900s was abstraction. Abstr ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 11: Unknown Impressionists

Monday, January 26, 2015 | Karl Cole

Art in the 1800s brought us the terms Neoclassicism, Romanticism, and Realism, covered in my New Slant on Art History. The second half of the century saw a major shift in how artists used art to portr ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 10: Ubiquitous Real

Monday, January 19, 2015 | Karl Cole

So far we have taken a look at Classicism and Romanticism around the world in the 1800s. Now let’s look at “realism,” which—like every other style—has been a trend somewh ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 9: What is Romanticism?

Monday, January 12, 2015 | Karl Cole

Last week I discussed the stylistic designation “classicism” in both Western and non-Western art produced in the 1800s. For today’s New Slant on Art History, I continue to look at th ...

Curator’s Corner

Survey No. 7: The 1700s

Monday, December 22, 2014 | Karl Cole

As we approach the 1800s in our Art History Survey, just so we do not forget (as if) that art was being produced in other parts of the world besides the West, let’s look elsewhere at art produce ...

Request
Catalog
or Planner

Blogs

Japanese art

Topics

Most Popular

Tags

Contemporary Bamboo

A Look at Rainy May Days

It's the Little Things in Life

Winter

Happy New Year

National Monkey Day

The Noble Carp?

More Wearable Art

The Beauty of Wayō Shodō

A Neglected Japanese Printmaker

How Old Is This?

Survey No. 12: Abstraction

Survey No. 11: Unknown Impressionists

Survey No. 10: Ubiquitous Real

Survey No. 9: What is Romanticism?

Survey No. 7: The 1700s

Topics

Share

Most Popular

Tags

Always Stay in the Loop