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Introduction
Japanese art can be acclaimed as having its unique style and special spirit inspired by its sophistication and fineness which can be hardly confused with anything else in the world. Japan is especially known for its unique art movements and styles including Mono-ha, Yamato-e, Sumi-e, and ukiyo-e. These movements and styles developed as a result of a special vision of the world common for Japanese people who are known for their devotion and tender affection to nature and its beauty, and the desire to understand their place in the universe along with their relationship with the surrounding space; in addition, the art of Japan is remarkable for its originality which is so different from any other art conceptions in the world. In the following paper, such an important art movement of the twentieth century as Mono-ha will be examined in terms of its main tendencies and the influence on the modern art of Japan. Generally, it appears that the Mono-ha style’s main concept can be characterized as a sophisticated outlook on space along with seeing interdependent relationships with natural “things” including such simple and daily seen materials like wood, steel, or cement; the other important concept of this style of art is in helping the audience to develop the awareness of their position in the open space and their relation to everything surrounding them.
The Definition of Mono-Ha
Speaking about mono-ha style, its development, and its main peculiarities, it should be mentioned that it is the style peculiar for Japanese nature admiring the way of thinking developed by Japanese artisans themselves without any other influence from behind (Monroe 261). The word Mono-ha in itself can be explained as “the art school of things”. The artworks of this style are distinguished by their abundance of themes from the surrounding world and the daily life of common Japanese people including nature and rural scenes with their pleasures and joys.
The artists and artisans of this movement became especially active in the late sixties to early seventies of the twentieth century. Mono-ha style has its indicative feature of being accomplished in wood, steel, or cement without processing to express and discover new modernism or abstract reality (Mono-ha and the Search for Fundamentals 84). The artworks from the Mono-ha style reveal a lot of interesting details about the Japanese way of thinking, and especially about its moving affection for nature’s glory and inspiring philosophic ideas. The main representatives of this art movement are such inimitable geniuses of Japanese art as Nobuo Sekine, Susumu Koshimizu, Lee Ufan, Koji Enokura, Katsuro Yoshida, Kishio Suga, Noboru Takayama, and Katsuhiko Narita (Monroe 261).
With regards to the concepts of this style, it should be stated that the artworks accomplished in Mono-ha present a sophisticated outlook on space along with the outlook of the interdependent relationship on natural “things” including such simple and daily seen materials as wood, steel, or cement. The other important concept of this style of art is in helping the audience to develop the awareness of their position in the open space and their relation to everything surrounding them. Further, Mono-ha is known for its connection with the ideas prevailing in the Japanese society during 1960 including cultural, political, and social implications. Namely, these were the ideas of nature preservation and care for the well-being of every living thing and environmental protection. In 1968 the first work accomplished in this style attracted the attention of the public by the above-mentioned concept’s realization.
It was the artwork called “Phase – Mother Earth’ installed in Kobe’s Sumarikyu Park during the First Open-Air Contemporary Sculpture Exhibition. The work simply struck the minds of the present ones with its unusual layout. It was a whole with a depth of 2.7 meters and a diameter of 2.2 meters along with the excavated earth next to it which was compacted into a cylinder of similar size. The power of this first remarkable piece of art accomplished in Mono-ha style was an incredible one. People were standing and evaluating it for a long time. This became a grandiose birth of mono-ha. Finally, one more important concept addressed within this style is in topology. In this vein, the artworks of Mono-ha are characterized by three-dimensionality and quantifiable entities.
The Influence of Mono-ha on the Modern Art of Japan
In addition, discussing mono-ha style, it is important to address its outstanding traditions which are considered to be Japanese art’s “carte-de-visite” even nowadays after more than fifty years ago from the period of its initial origination and florescence. and had its numerous distinctive peculiarities contrasting it with the styles of the other periods mainly developed by the nobles from high classes of the society of Japan (Tatehata and Birnbaum 231). This style of art is also peculiar for its not being affected by the ideas of European, American, or any other artists or the other people of art and design, and thus not lacking the originality of Japanese as it can be said about ukiyo-e, for example (Jarves 41).
Conclusion
Finally, the movement of Mono-ha left its significant trace in the modern art of Japan. Even nowadays the address to the themes of Mono-ha including sophisticated outlook on space along with seeing interdependent relationships with natural “things”, and the awareness of people’s position in the open space and their relation to everything surrounding them can be found within the ideas of modern artworks from Japanese artists and designers.
Concluding on all the information related above, it should be stated that Japanese art can be described as especially permeated with the spirit of love and devotion to nature and its beauty along with the place of an individual in the Universe and the relationships with the world around us. This special tendency can be seen in the most broad-ranging pieces of art from the 1960s to 1970s. The main representatives of this art movement are such inimitable geniuses of Japanese art as Nobuo Sekine, Susumu Koshimizu, Lee Ufan, Koji Enokura, Katsuro Yoshida, Kishio Suga, Noboru Takayama, and Katsuhiko Narita.
The artworks from the Mono-ha style reveal a lot of interesting details about the Japanese way of thinking, and especially about its moving affection for nature’s glory and inspiring philosophic ideas. Mono-ha concepts including sophisticated outlook on space along with seeing interdependent relationships with natural “things”, and the awareness of people’s position in the open space and their relation to everything surrounding them can be seen even in the modern-day art of Japanese artists and designers; thus, indicating how significant is the influence of this art school in the art and design of the country. What is more inspiring and amazing when it comes to the art of mono-ha, is the fact that this art school was able to prevent the influences from western cultures including the trends for American, European, and Chinese art.
Works Cited
Jarves, James. A Glimpse at the Art of Japan, Japan: Boxerbooks, Inc. Print.
Mono-ha and the Search for Fundamentals, Japan: The Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, 1995. Print.
Monroe, Alexandra. “The Laws of Situation; Mono-ha and beyond the Sculptural Paradigm”. Japanese Art after 1945: Scream against the Sky: 256-287. Print.
Tatehata, Akira and Alfred Birnbaum. “Mono-ha and Japan’s Crisis of the Modern.” Third Text (September 2002): 223-236. Print.
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