In the exhibition “Beauties, Wonders and Samurai” – Japanese pop culture, inviting you to the territory of dreams | Culture

Visitors will have the unique opportunity to see ukiyo-e graphics from the Edo period (17th-19th centuries), early and modern manga, excerpts from cartoons, as well as works by contemporary Japanese artists. The exhibition can be visited until October 13.

“This historical-panoramic exhibition is one of the few attempts (and the first in Lithuania) to reveal the interrelationships of things that were not usually and often still are not shown together in the museum space: a giga of ukiyo-e prints, historical caricatures, erotic šiunga books, commercial posters hikifuda, pre-war (1928, 1937) and post-war (1950-1970) comic book manga, excerpts from famous anime movies, and more.

In the exhibition, we will reveal the influence of the pop culture of the Edo period on the imagination of modern Japanese creators”, says the head of the museum and curator of the exhibition Dr. A. Gelūnas.

Lithuanian National Museum of Art / Katsushika Hokusai (1760–1849), From the cycle “53 Tokaido Road Stations”. 1804

Five centuries of pop culture formula: tempt, frighten and fascinate bravery

17th century In the then-largest city of the world, Edo (today’s Tokyo), the strictly hierarchical Japanese society was one of the first in the world to establish a leisure and entertainment space for non-noble citizens – the Yoshiwara entertainment district. It was here that the form of Japanese popular culture that achieved enormous success far beyond its borders – kabuki – was born theater, ikebana – the art of arranging flower bouquets, haiku poetry and colored wood carvings ukiyo-e.

Japanese popular art is presented to visitors of the exhibition in three thematic sections – beauties, geeks and samurai:
“These themes seemed to suggest themselves – they emerged from the analysis of several centuries of Japanese pop culture – from the 17th century. until these days. The most prominent theme is that of beauties, or bidjin. By the way, please (live), translated from Japanese, means a beautiful person. Originally, the word referred to both men and women. Geishas and courtesans, beautiful kabuki theater actors, sometimes sumo wrestlers or samurai are called beauties in Yoshiwara entertainment district.

Lithuanian National Museum of Art/Manga

However, in Japanese mythology and the culture of everyday life, a ternary scheme emerges: beauty, something terrifying and mysterious, and courage. As the chief consultant of the exhibition, Professor Tetsuya Ozaki, says, if we consider the topic of beauties as romantic films, geeks as horror films, and samurai as combat films, we can say that these themes and genres have remained relevant to this day and are essential components of pop culture.

In other words, pop culture strives to tempt, frighten, amuse, and enthrall viewers with tales of bravery and strength. All this shows that a person needs very similar things, even as the ages change,” says the curator of the exhibition Dr. A. Gelūnas.

Photo by Gintarė Grigėnaitė/Arūnas Gelūnas

Pop culture that connects and empowers people

The exhibition “Beauties, Curiosities and Samurai” will not only introduce visitors to Japanese pop culture, but also invite them to rethink the phenomenon of popular works of art:

“Culture becomes popular when it leaves the territory of the privileged class and reaches the masses. We, the 21st century. people, we often attribute a negative connotation to massiveness, we associate it with a lesser value, but let’s go back to the 17th century. Japan, where, following the end of the terrible period of warring feudalism, peace is finally coming. Ordinary people make a living, gain free time, create entertainment – little by little, the pop culture explored in the exhibition is formed.

National Art Museum of Lithuania/Utagawa Yoshimori (1830–1884), Destruction of an invading Mongol ship. 1863

Its precocity and abundance of forms that have reached these times are surprising. For example, ukiyo-e colored wood engravings performed the same function as magazines or posters in our time. Engravings in Ede were not expensive at that time – for the same amount people might eat in the city or indulge themselves by purchasing a graphic print. I hope that the exhibition will provoke visitors to rethink the term pop culture and see people empowered by pop culture”, says A. Gelūnas.

The curator of the exhibition adds that nowadays a poster for a computer game, cartoon or manga comic books look mundane, but visitors will be surprised by the clear connections between them and the 17th century. exhibits marking the origins of pop culture.

Lithuanian National Museum of Art/Manga

The exhibition includes works by more than 70 artists

The ingenious architecture of the exhibition and its sound and lighting design, which creates an allusion of Japanese urban space, will help the visitor to get acquainted with more than seven dozen Japanese artists and their works.

According to the curator dr. A. Gelūno, although the main focus is on pop culture, the exhibition will also have something to offer the visitor who cherishes the classical concept of art:

“Japanese culture is extremely diverse. After making one statement regarding her, it can be found to refute it. Next to the popular culture, there is also the culture of the elite – the court, the clergy – which can be attributed to sophisticated ink painting, calligraphy, ceramics closely related to the tea ceremony.

Lithuanian National Art Museum/Kawanabe Kyosai (1831–1889), Old manga (giga) book. 1880

And in this exhibition, we will present extremely delicate multi-colored woodcuts by Katsushika Hokusai, Kitagawa Utamaro, Utagawa Toyokuni III, Utagawa Kunisada II, Utagawa Kuniyoshi and other ukiyo-e classic masters.

All of them were very popular in their time, they left thousands of prints, cycles of works, which, initially treated as low-value advertising material, and sometimes used simply as wrapping paper for porcelain or ivory products, not only received worldwide recognition, but also became “museums” art”.

Next to traditional objects, hikifuda posters advertising goods and services with at least a partial ukiyo-e aesthetic will be displayed, as well as classic Japanese comics giga, which have gradually turned into modern manga.

We will present the legendary manga and anime father, Dec. 6-7 creator Osamu Tezuka, as well as Shigeru Mizuki and his created monster Kitaro, who fights for the rights of monsters in the human world, Kazuo Kamimura and his manga regarding the bloody snow princess. This work inspired the American film director Quentin Tarantino to create a two-part film “Kill Bill”, in which the role of the main character was created by Uma Thurman.

Lithuanian National Museum of Art/Toyohara Kunichika (1835–1900), Reflection of Humanity’s Beauty. 1878.

Finally, visitors will see excerpts and film screenings of several films important to the development of Japanese anime in the NDG auditorium and a whole galaxy of important creators of Japanese contemporary art – Takashi Murakami, Makoto Aida, Aya Takano, Akino Kondoh and others.”

A dream territory created by Japanese culture

Interest in Japanese culture has been growing in Lithuania in recent years. Exhibition curator, LNDM general director dr. According to A. Gelūnas, she attracts by offering a dream:

Photo of the organizers/Exhibition poster

“In a modern society living a routine life, and in the 17th century – in a hierarchical society, Japanese popular culture invites us to enter the dream territory, which has been developed for several centuries in an extremely aesthetic and very inventive way. What’s more, this dream world is offered in accessible ways for everyone.”