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Modern Art Styles
In the years after 1867, when Emperor Meiji
ascended the throne, Japan was once again invaded by new and
alien forms of culture. By the early 20th century, European
art forms were well introduced and their marriage produced
notable buildings like the Tokyo Train Station and the National
Diet Building that still exist today. Manga were first drawn
in Meiji influenced greatly by English and French drawings
in a newspaper criticizing current events often poking fun
at the politics.
After World War II, American art and architecture
greatly influenced Japan. Though fear of earthquakes severely
restricted building of a skyscraper, technological advances
let Japanese build larger and higher buildings with more
artistic outlooks. Cartoons imported from America led to anime
that
at first visualized manga stories. Game graphics and developments
of computers also combined to form an entirely new art style.
Painting
The first response of the Japanese was
open-hearted acceptance, and in 1876 the Technological Art
School was opened, employing
Italian instructors to teach Western methods. The second
response was a pendulum swing in the opposite direction spearheaded
by Okakura Kakuzo and the American Ernest Fenollosa,
who encouraged
Japanese artists to retain traditional themes and techniques
while creating works more in keeping with contemporary taste.
Out of these two poles of artistic theory developed Yo¯ga
(Western-style painting) and Nihonga (Japanese painting),
categories that remain valid to the present day.
Architecture
The need to rebuild Japan after World
War II proved a great stimulus to Japanese architects, and
contemporary Japanese
buildings rank
with the finest in the world in terms of technology and
formal conception. The best-known Japanese architect
is Kenzo Tange,
whose National Gymnasiums (1964) for the Tokyo Olympics
emphasizing the contrast and blending of pillars and
walls, and with
sweeping roofs reminiscent of the tomo-e (an ancient
whorl-shaped heraldic
symbol) are dramatic statements of form and movement.
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