Aistė Kisarauskaitė. Japanese pop culture – horror, lust and peculiar beauty | Culture

It is true that Japanese art, literature and philosophy have been embedded in Lithuanian culture for a long time, just like in other Western countries. The modernism of the interwar or Soviet era absorbed various phenomena of both old and modern Japanese art of that time, when the distant country beckoned with its exoticism, and later, thanks to the technological boom, all this merged into the current co-cultural phenomena.

Today, we rarely think that the word animation as we know it comes from the Japanese animēshon (アンティード). Now anime is a popular phenomenon all over the world, fan clubs are being established, Cosplay culture is developing.

Thus, for the first time in Lithuania, such a historical-panoramic exhibition opens the door to a huge treasure, it aims to reveal the connections between ukiyo-e wood engravings of the Edo period, historical caricature giga, erotic shunga books, commercial posters hikifuda, pre-war and post-war comics manga, children’s games menko cards, anime movie and computer game posters, Shiseido cosmetics company promotional videos, animated historical kabuki curtains and works of Japanese contemporary art (including those representing the sūpā furatto movement) – painting, graphics, photography, animation and sculpture.

As the exhibition annotation says, from Edo period advertising posters hikifuda and caricatures giga in the 19th century. at the end, manga crystallizes, and from manga in the 20th century the anime that is worshiped all over the world today is born. Ukiyo-e masterpieces have long since ceased to be considered worthless prints, they have entered the halls of museums, and manga and anime, which until recently were not considered “art”, are gradually settling in the halls of galleries.

Ukiyo-e masterpieces have long since ceased to be considered worthless prints, they have entered the halls of museums, and manga and anime, which until recently were not considered “art”, are gradually settling in the halls of galleries.

Of course, if you visit the exhibition with a guide, you can learn a lot of wonderful historical and iconographic details, e.g. to hear what one or another samurai pose, holding a sword, clothing patterns mean. However, I leave the tours to the viewers to experience themselves, because if I tell everything here, then why does the exhibition matter?

Although it should be emphasized that the exhibition can do without the guide’s narration as best as possible, because the Japanese woodcarving tradition of ukiyo-e offers the viewer incredible beauty and sophistication, while those who appreciate the classics less can find here both modern graphics and posters of childhood heroes or playing cards Coordinating Ministerour more often called caps on behalf of

Photo by Greta Skaraitien/BNS/In the National Art Gallery, the exhibition “Beauties, charms and samurai”

Unexpectedly, in the exhibition you find childhood images, beloved cartoon heroes. Anyone who has kids knows that today’s students grew up with My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, created by Lauren Faust and launched in 2010. Although it will not be found in the exhibition, here is the poster of the Japanese manga and animation series Sailor Moon (美少女戦士セーラームーン, anime creator – Naoko Takeuchi). This guardian of love and justice, wearing a sailor-style school uniform, is well remembered by today’s youth.

Photo by Greta Skaraitien/BNS/In the National Art Gallery, the exhibition “Beauties, charms and samurai”

High school student Usagi Tsukino fights evil with her allies and even finds love. The series was screened in television anime films, feature television dramas, musicals, and games based on it. “The Sailor of Menulis” was a real social phenomenon, even special restaurants dedicated to the heroines of the series were established.

Menulis Sailor was originally published in Kodansha’s shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi from 1991 to 1997, and soon became an animated series that aired from 1992 to 1997.

It is understandable that older viewers did not have Japanese animation in their Soviet childhood, but there were quite a few books translated from Japanese into Russian, which were full of werewolves, only turning into a fox instead of a wolf, as well as hungry spirits and demons.

The ghosts here can be very strange, like Katsushika Hokusai’s famous nishiki-e woodcut The Ghost of Oiwa (c. 1833), a copy of which is on display at the exhibition, also known as the Paper Lantern Ghost.

Photo by Greta Skaraitien/BNS/In the National Art Gallery, the exhibition “Beauties, charms and samurai”

But it’s not just the ghosts that the heroes of the stories have to face, the exhibition shows a dynamic scene created by Tsukiyoka Yoshitoshi, where “Drunken Liu Zhishen attacks the Guardian Statue on Mount Godai” (1887). Unfortunately for him, she is able to give back.

True, during the Soviet era, Japanese woodcarvings were exhibited in Lithuania. It took place in 1981 in the then Palace of Artists (now the Presidency).

In 1969, the Department of Graphics was established at Vilnius University. Its founder and manager, Jurgis Tornau, between 1970 and 1976, brought a set of 19th century paintings to the office from his travels abroad. middle Japanese wood engravings, according to the exhibition brochure, made according to the drawings of an artist of the ukiyo-e school, signed with the pseudonyms Iciyoshin, Oju and another, undeciphered, for which the exhibition was organized. The colors of incredible brightness, the craftsmanship of the drawing made a huge impression on more than one artist, these prints became a source of inspiration for some creators running away from socialist realism.

The NDG exhibition can become the same starting point for artists, comic creators, fans of the anime genre.

The NDG exhibition can become the same starting point for artists, comic creators, fans of the anime genre. Yes, this paragraph is dedicated to beauty and the attention of wood engravers – it is enough to look at the drawing of the hands of samurai or beauties, mouth expressions, angles, precision of movements, details of nature.

Photo by Greta Skaraitien/BNS/In the National Art Gallery, the exhibition “Beauties, charms and samurai”

The organizers of the exhibition claim that “images of beauties (bidinga) are without a doubt the most prolific and enduring genre of Japanese visual pop culture, changing artistic means of expression but surviving to this day.” There is much to be learned here for future animators or comic artists, and non-artists alike. just to admire. Thus, beautiful courtesans oiran (花魁) or geisha entertainers who do not provide sexual services display refined fragility and elegance in their every move.

But exhibitions are not only about beauty, and there is so often little of it in current exhibitions, because the modern world, like art, can be extremely bitter.

The old stories also attract attention not only with beauty, well-known emotional engines are also at work here – lust, desire for adventure, horror. The structure of the exhibition consists of these main segments – the works of more than 70 authors are divided into beautiful (please) images, toys (jokai) stories and samurai (bushi, samurai) feats.

The organizers of the exhibition have created a space next to the section of beauties, where the already mentioned ghosts, hungry spirits, demons, so typical of the Japanese tradition, welcome the viewer.

Photo by Greta Skaraitien/BNS/In the National Art Gallery, the exhibition “Beauties, charms and samurai”

Samurais are the least discussed in this text, but they are far from cornered in the exhibition. It is unlikely that these powerful men could easily be pushed down by anyone…

There is also an unmentioned chapter that remains behind the curtains – lust and eroticism have always been an important part of human life, it would be strange to pretend that all this does not exist. Frequently, overseas auctions of Japanese art and cultural artifacts show an image hidden under the 16+ inscription. From the frequency of such artifacts alone, it can be concluded that these images are from the 19th century. It was not a rarity in Japan.

Another important layer of the exposition should be mentioned – the works of legendary contemporary Japanese artists were brought to the exhibition. Here you can see Nobuyoshi Araki’s photographs and read a little about his muse. And also the works of one of the most prominent pop art figures – Takashi Murakami.

Looking at the exhibition placed behind the curtain, Nobuyoshi Araki takes on its historical context. And seeing kimonos with the most amazing patterns, their combinations of multi-colored ornaments in engravings, T. Murakami, who proudly created graphic design for one of the most famous fashion houses – Louis Vuitton products, reveals itself in a different way. His “Rumpumpum in the Flower Field!” (2021) or “The Melting Hollow” (2021) should entertain not only sophisticated art fans, but also the general public or even children.

Photo by Greta Skaraitien/BNS/In the National Art Gallery, the exhibition “Beauties, charms and samurai”

So, the exhibition is full of images, connections, stories and surprises, so you can find the right topics for you. Such expositions are similar to a good documentary film or book, only they have an advantage – the exhibited originals are always more impressive than the digital copies visible on the screen.

In fact, you will spend about as much time as you would watch a movie on the YouTube platform – an hour or so and you will leave not only having gained knowledge, getting acquainted with a part of modern pop culture, its origins, a part of Japanese art history, but also simply seeing amazingly beautiful works of art.