Japanese Art and Culture

Japanese Art

• The Hikone screen is a Japanese painted folding screen from the Kan'ei era (c. 1624–44) that depicts people in the pleasure quarters of Kyoto playing music and games.
• The screen is 94 cm x 274.8 cm in size, folds in six parts, and is painted on gold-leaf paper.
• It is considered representative of early modern Japanese genre painting and possibly the earliest work of ukiyo-e.

Taoist Art

• The Vinegar Tasters painting, made by Kano Isen’in (c. 1802-1816), is a traditional subject in Chinese religious painting that depicts the three founders of China's major religious and philosophical traditions.
• The three founders - Confucius, Buddha, and Laozi - are shown dipping their fingers in a vat of vinegar and tasting it, with each reacting with a different facial expression.
• The expressions represent the predominant attitude of each philosophy: Buddhism (bitter), Confucianism (sour), and Taoism (sweet).

Thangka Painting

• Thangkas are mainly sacred scroll paintings that depict Buddhist deities, events, and compositions of mandala designs.
• The lotus flower, often pink or light red, symbolizes enlightenment and spiritual purity as it emerges from the mud.
• The lotus flower usually has 8 or 16 petals and can have different colors to represent different motifs.

Cambodian Art

• The traditional visual arts of Cambodia revealed the conservatism of the 'Khmer Empire'.
• Ancient themes were preferred, and rarely was there an effort to improve or adapt.
• Principal crafts included weaving, silver, goldsmith, and jewelry making, as well as wood and stone sculpture, painting, and architecture.

Vietnamese Art

• Dong Ho Painting is a type of Vietnamese folk painting originating in Dong Ho Village, with a 300-year history.
• Paintings are printed on a special kind of Dzo paper made from the bark of a tree called "Dzo".
• Artists use pine leaf brushes to coat Dzo paper with sea bivalve mollusk powder to create a sparkling colorful background.

Nabataean Art

• The Nabataeans were an ancient Arabian people who formed an independent kingdom with its capital at Petra in Jordan.
• Their art is known for potted painted ceramics, sculpture, and architecture, which were dispersed among the Greco-Roman world.

Laotian Art

• Laotian Art often features themes of religiosity in Buddhism and includes materials such as textiles, wood-carving, and basket-weaving, sculpture, and architecture.
• The most famous Buddhist sculpture in Laos is the Phrabang, also known as the "Delicate Buddha", which is the mystical national emblem of Laos culture.

Nepalese Sculpture

• Nepali art is diverse and complex, featuring intricate floral patterns, mythical beings, and the fusion of Hindu, Buddhist, and indigenous elements.
• The Bodhisattva Padmapani Lokeshvara is a notable sculpture, characterized as the Buddha of the future, standing in a graciously exaggerated posture.

Bhutanese Art

• Bhutanese arts and crafts are known for their bold use of colors, exquisite attention to detail, and symmetry.
• Art is used to decorate homes, temples, and everyday objects of the Bhutanese people, and is seen as a religious experience leading to enlightenment.

Japanese Pottery

• Jomon Pottery vessels are the oldest in the world, with impressed decoration that resembles rope, which is the origin of the word "jomon".
• All Jomon pots were made by hand, without the aid of a wheel, with women producing these early potteries.
• Jomon is said to be the world's oldest pottery to be discovered, dating back to 3,000-2000 BCE.

Nihonga

• Nihonga is a general term for traditional Japanese painting, which originated during the Meiji period.
• Tetsu Katsuda's "Evening" (1934) and Katsushika Hokusai's "The Great Wave off Kanagawa" are notable examples of Nihonga.