Art After Ukiyo-e: Shin-Hanga

After reading about art nouveau and ukiyo-e in Meggs’ History of Graphic Design, I began to wonder about the art movements in Japan that happened after ukiyo-e. Art is continually evolving and finding inspiration with cultural exchange, more-so than ever in the 20^th century.

Towards the end of the Meiji era in 1912, ukiyo-e had fallen out of favor with the populace as Western art was deemed to be more in vogue. The Taisho era is time period after the end of the Meiji era. During this time, Japan was rapidly modernizing and becoming more Western. As a result of this, people began to feel nostalgic for the old and traditional Japan and art was one of the ways this yearning became an outlet for. This art form was to be known as shin-hanga: shin meaning “new” and hanga meaning “prints” and revitalized the ukiyo-e art form. 

The shin-hanga movement was singlehandedly created by a Japanese publisher called Watanabe Shozaburo in 1915. The production methods for shin-hanga were very much like that of ukiyo-e. An artist would create a sketch and hired artisans would create the desired final product. Like ukiyo-e, favored subjects of shin-hanga were traditional themes of landscapes, flora and fauna, gorgeous women and so on.

Yet unlike the staunchly traditional ukiyo-e, shin-hanga is the perfect meeting between East and West. The Eastern use of contour lines and flat colors are utilized in conjunction with Western techniques of realism and three-dimensionality.

Impressionism also played an influential role in shin-hanga, for artists sought to create an effect of light and mood that was lacking in ukiyo-e. The result creates an alluring and ethereal piece of work that blends both Western and Eastern techniques without having to favor one over the other. 

Resources:

http://gallery.sjsu.edu/oldworld/asiangate/bridgingtheocean/yoga/shin_hanga.html

http://www.artelino.com/articles/shin_hanga.asp

http://www.artelino.com/articles/sosaku_hanga.asp

http://www.myjapanesehanga.com/home/articles/print-genres---ukiyo-e-shin-hanga-sosaku-hanga
http://www.matsugallery.com/prints section/Shin Hanga/Matsu Gallery-Shin Hanga Prints.html

Charles Dana Gibson

After reading Chapter 9 and the brief talk about Charles Dana Gibson, my interest was piqued and I decided to research some more about his work and influence on society.

Charles Dana Gibson’s artistic journey began while watching his father cut silhouettes when he was a boy. At 12 years of age, Gibson’s silhouettes were selling at exhibitions. His parents saw his artistic potential and had him apprenticed to a sculptor named Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Yet sculpture was not his forte, and he instead fell in love with pen and ink. Later he was enrolled at the Art Students League but had to leave school after studying there for 2 years due to an unforeseen financial hardship.

In 1885, Gibson found work at LIFE magazine, and he was a valuable asset to the magazine for the presence of his drawings actually enabled circulation numbers of LIFE to increase.  Audiences found his drawings highly appealing and took glee at how he poked fun at high society.

"The Gibson Girl" EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2001).

The Gibson Girl is Charles Dana Gibson’s most famous creation as she instantly recognized for being a portrayal of feminine ideal of the Early 1900s. First appearing in 1890, she appears with the characteristics of aloofness, confidence, flirtatiousness, and athletic abilities. She could have belonged to either class in society, of wealth or middle class. She reflected the changing roles of women of that time period. Gone were Victorian corsets and petticoats, now to be replaced with modern blouses and skirts. The Gibson Girl was highly admired by both women and men alike, she became an icon of pop culture much like today’s Barbie. Women in particular sought to mimic the Gibson Girl’s alluring fashion style. 

Unfortunately, the Gibson Girl and Charles Dana Gibson’s romantic drawings lost favor with the public with World War I. The flapper girl replaced her and became the new symbol for defiance of old fashion norms.

Even though his popularity had waned, Charles Dana Gibson still continued his pursuit of art and turned his attention from pen and ink to oil painting. He died in 1944 after suffering from a heart attack a few weeks earlier.

References:

"The Gibson Girl" EyeWitness to History, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com (2001).

NMAI, . "Charles Dana Gibson: America Imagist." National Museum of American Illustration. (2012). Web. 23 Oct. 2012. <http://www.americanillustration.org/artists/gibson/gibson.html>. 

OSU. "Image and Lifestyle." eHistory at OSU. OSU. Web. 24 Oct 2012. <http://ehistory.osu.edu/osu/mmh/clash/newwoman/image and lifestyle-page1.htm>.  

On Print and Ebooks

The impact of the mechanization of bookmaking in 15^th century Europe can be comparable to the impact of digital media and distribution of books and print today.

Prior to the 15^th century, books were scarce as bookmaking was a very laborious and time consuming process. Using mechanical means to produce books enabled a much larger segment of the population to enjoy literature and created an overabundance of books. Unfortunately, the surplus of books caused scribes fearing for their livelihoods. It’s understandable that the scribes would despise this technology. Some even attempted to forbid printing in their respected towns. Sadly for the scribes, manuscript production eventually declined in favor of print.

Fast forward to the 21^st century where modern publishers are facing a thorny issue that print may one day go the way of the dinosaurs. Books on paper are the old fashioned way of reading as technology has created the ability to read books on digital media. Ebooks can now be purchased in virtual bookstores and later be read on the Ipad, Kindle, computer, or cell phone. Ebook checkouts are rising in numbers at libraries even.  For bibliophiles with limited space, digitally storing ebooks may be the way to go.

Just as the printed book caused an overabundance of books, the Internet and digital means has opened the floodgates for authors and readers. The ease of creating content has lead to the rise of self published authors, and the Internet allows for a much wider audience than a bookstore would. Authors can also do away with the middlemen: publishers and editors. Authors can connect with their audience and get fan feedback instantly.

Yet, like the advent of printed books, not everyone is happy with ebooks or digital media.

The 15^th century complaints of that the aesthetics of the printed book was inferior to its calligraphic counterpart is quite similar to readers complaining about reading books on screen vs. paper. Many prefer print because it is more comfortable or more aesthetically pleasing to be able to hold an actual book in hand.

Publishers themselves have been slow to jump on the digital bandwagon. Producing ebooks cost less than their print counterparts. Yet monetizing profit on digital books is demanding for innovation in the publishing industry and print is a model that has worked for centuries.

Protecting digital rights is another tricky issue as pirating and unwanted distribution is a major concern for publishers. Yet digital rights management or DRM on ebooks is a great annoyance for consumers. Furthermore, is there actual ownership of the digital book, when the book can be deleted without the buyer’s consent or knowledge, as shown with Amazon removing George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm from users’ Kindle?

As the printed books have shown us, technology changes by leaps and bounds, either one learn to adapt or be put to extinction. One day it may be that new generations who grow up on ebooks may find digital books more comfortable than printed books. Whichever the future may hold, as it was shown in the 15^th century printed books have revolutionized literacy and communication, and ebooks will likely do the same in the modern world.


References:

Bissram, Veena. "Ebooks or Printed Books: Which Are Better for You?." Mashable.com. 20 2011: n. page. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://mashable.com/2011/10/20/reading-ebook-versus-print/>.

Epstein, Jason. "How Books Will Survive Amazon." New York Books 26 April 2012. Web. 15 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nybooks.com/blogs/nyrblog/2012/apr/26/how-books-will-survive-amazon/>.

Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs' History of Graphic Design. 5th. New Jersey: John Wiley , 2012. 528. eBook.

Stone, Brad. "Amazon Erases Orwell Books From Kindle." New York Times 17 July 2009. Web. 16 Oct. 2012. <http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/18/technology/companies/18amazon.html?_r=0>.

On Asian writing and the future

Perusing through chapters 1-4 of Meggs' History of Graphic Design enlightened me into realizing how much I take being able to read and write for granted. Literacy has been a major part of my life since I was very little, I cannot imagine not being able to read or write. Alongside, Asian writing has always fascinated me, so the chapter on “The Asian Contribution” was the one I found to be the most exciting. I’ve personally always thought Hanja, Korean writing, was highly distinctive and unique although I never understood why the writing had so many circular forms. Learning about the abstract representations of the mouth and tongue gave me a further appreciation for Korean writing.  

The chapters on ancient societies such as Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, China showed us how writing is constantly evolving and it probably will not stop changing until the end of time. I am curious to know if the authors of Meggs’ Graphic Design will continue to talk about the evolution of Asian writing in future editions, particularly with modern issues such as attempts of abolishing the logoform system in favor of Romanization such as pinyin and romaji, as well the effects on the usage of simplifying characters in modern/mainland Chinese writing. 

Chinese writing has history of thousands of years behind it and has also influenced the writing systems of neighboring nations such as Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. Since it's inception with the bone-and-shell script, then to the standardization in the Qin Dynansty, Chinese writing has always never been a static form. In the 1950s, the Communist Party of China undertook a campaign to modernize the Chinese writing system. Characters with overly complicated strokes were simplified - that is the number of strokes decreased and the character became more simplistic. The intent was to promote literacy and create a more efficient means of communication.

Decades later, the reforming of the Chinese writing system by simplifying the age old traditional characters is still a very controversial topic today. It is cumbersome to memorize 5,000 to 10,000 characters in order to be literate in the Chinese writing language. Therefore, simplified characters have allowed a greater number of the population to enjoy the benefits of being literate. Reading and writing is a powerful tool, and it can only benefit society if more people are able to cultivate their intellect.

Yet sacrificing aesthetics and history for greater literacy… do the means justify the ends? Traditional characters have not fallen out of favor at all, and there is a strong preference for it in regions such as Hong Kong and Taiwan. Simplified characters do not have the elegance of their traditional counterparts, creates a loss of cultural identity, and prevent future generations from being able to read ancient texts written in traditional characters.

References:

Editors, The. The Chinese Language, Ever Evolving. NY Times, Web. <http://roomfordebate.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/05/02/chinese-language-ever-evolving/>.
 
Linotype.com. Chinese Fonts Explained. Web. <http://www.linotype.com/5623/chinesefontsexplained.html>.

01: Reflecting on Images

I was very really excited to come across inspirational images and artists I had not heard of before in Meggs’ History of Graphic Design. As I looked through the images before the Modern Movement, I started imagining the artist sitting down, drafting their designs, and painstakingly hand drawing everything because they did not have the luxury of technology of Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, and the entire Adobe Suite at their disposal. The doctored photos in the early 20th century was also highly impressive. I've had experience in the darkroom and I can tell you it is not easy at all.

Looking through these images as a whole made me realize that the need to communicate has always been a strong part of society and continue to be so until possibly the end of time. It was interesting to see graphic design constantly evolving, first by going through stages of clumsy crudeness, to highly polished and ornate and even through rebellion. Graphic design is a great reflection of society's ideals and beliefs and vice-versa.

The Digital Revolution section were not nearly as exciting as I thought it would be. I think this section would have been more fun if we could actually see interactivity from the title sequences and Martha Steward magazine cover instead of them just being static images in a book. Without the moving graphics and sound, the images seem to lose quite a bit of impact in my opinion.

While perusing this very hefty book,I was quite pleased to see a variety of different cultures depicted. More often than not, my experience with art history in the classroom has been extremely Western and Euro-centric. I have always found that to be very frustrating because no country is an island in today’s global world. East and West are constantly influencing each other and that can’t be ignored. I’m really glad to see Meggs' History of Graphic Design rectify this by making an effort to show a lot of diversity in the selected images.

It’s quite interesting to note that in the variety of images showing casing the graphic designs of different cultures, they still end up sharing a commonality. Different cultures have different outlooks on certain things and different typography to deal with. For example, Roman letters need to be read left to right, while Asian writing (such as kanji) are often read from right to left (if the characters are arranged from top to bottom). Yet whether Western, Eastern, Middle Eastern, or Latin American, designers tend to usually adhere to the same rules and principles of design. The elements of composition, color theory, harmony, emphasis, and most importantly clear communication are all there. 

Abedini, Reza. Rêves de sable. 2003. Film Poster. 

Meggs, Philip B., and Alston W. Purvis. Meggs' History of Graphic Design. 5th. New Jersey: John Wiley , 2012. 528. eBook.

Even though I am not able to understand the language and words on this movie poster, I still find the image to be highly appealing. The elements are well put together, it's simplistic and complex as the same time. The intricate white and black text contrasts nicely against the bold yellow-tan background. The poster appears to have been designed with a grid layout or rule of thirds in mind. I also notice the woman is smack dab in the center, which should have created boring symmetry if it had not been for the asymmetrical placement of the text.

As a movie poster, it serves its purpose well by advertising and creating interest in the film.The poster makes me want to know the woman's story and who she is.She seems melancholic yet proud at the same time. Even though I may not be familiar with the culture, but I can see and somewhat understand the message that the designer is trying to communicate to the audience. This makes me think that good design is able to transcend cultural rifts and contain clarity in its communication.