Copying and theory in Edo-Period Japan (1615-1868)

• Autores: Kazuko Kameda-Madar
• Localización: Art history: journal of the Association of Art Historians, ISSN 0141-6790, Vol. 37, Nº. 4, 2014 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Theorizing imitation in a global context / coord. por Paul Duro), págs. 708-727
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • This essay challenges the stereotypical ideas attached to "utsushi" (copy, duplicate, replica) while reconsidering the issue of reproduction, allusion, adaptation, transculturation, and pedagogy in the Japanese art tradition, through case studies of the Tokugawa-era (1615-1868) literari painters, Nakayama Koyo (1717-1780) and Nakabayashi Chikuto (1776-1853). Koyo and Chikuto were prolific theorists who, in their treatises, theorized that the proper study of painting began with copying Chinese models in order to gain the technical discipline necessary for the development of an individual style. For literari painters, the practice of copying the particular style of earlier masters was an intellectual activity that prominently displayed their knowledge of history. Re-evaluation of "funpon" (study sketch, copybook, pictorial model, etc.) is another way to shed new light on the historical significance of copying. These literari painting theories, however, are filled with intriguing complexity and irony that is frequently contradicted by the practice of tghe painters themselves.