Is It Art?

[Davis]

Good Morning all

Brian, it's a great idea to create this separate section.  I'm looking forward to using it and improving my very limited knowledge in this field.

 

I'm posting a picture of a decorative panel that was made for the tourist/export market, probably during the Meiji period.  To me it conveys movement and momentum but can it be considered as art?  Does anyone have any thoughts?

Mick

[Fuuten]

Isn't everything art depending on the person viewing it?

[Brian]

Wow. I find that quite stunning. If it is hand done and requires skill to do, I would call it art of course.

What is the size?

 

Brian

[Kai-Gunto]

Great work ,for me its art.

[Pete Klein]

It needs velvet...

[k morita]

Hi,

This artwork is one scene of chushingura.(also 47 ronin)

Is it ivory ?

 

 

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C5%ABshingura

[Davis]

Thank you Morita san for identifying the subject.  The panel is housed in a wooden frame and measures 82cms x 47cms.  The materials used are ivory, bone and shell.  As said, art as in beauty is in the eye of the beholder.  Although I'm not sure Pete how this piece can be enhanced by velvet?

Mick

[Steve Waszak]

The real question is why the term "art" is so privileged.  To inquire whether a given work is "real art" is to reinforce and sustain "art" as a privileged thing/notion.  It may be worth considering what's at stake in the question itself...

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

[Davis]

Thanks Steve for your interesting and thought provoking comments.  Victorian England was fascinated with Japan.  Writers such as Mitford and Satow wrote of their experiences and captured the public's imagination.  Collecting Japanese "art" was very popular with those that could afford to do so.

 

The late 19th and early 20th century saw huge quantities of this "art" arriving in the UK.  Some of this was indeed treasure such as arms and armour once prized but now discarded.  Much more though was "art" created specifically for the western market.

 

This panel falls into the later category.  The politically correct of this world might also view it as just a display of random violence from a bygone age.

 

To me though it is much more than that.  It's creator has used some remains of once living things and brought them to life again albeit in a different form.  It reveals a hidden tale of honour, loyalty and self sacrifice.  It might be just another tourist piece but I would still regard it as art.  It's pleasing that some of you would agree.  Thanks for your responses.

 

Mick

[kaigunair]

The real question is why the term "art" is so privileged.  To inquire whether a given work is "real art" is to reinforce and sustain "art" as a privileged thing/notion.  It may be worth considering what's at stake in the question itself...

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

 

Steve, a very interesting question indeed.  If "real art" equates to "high art" / "exceptional art", then ability & devotion alone would need to be combined with time + means in order to develop an artist's skills throughout a lifetime in order to create "exceptional" pieces of art.  Time + means to support such an endeavor would most naturally occur in a relatively prosperous and leisurely environment.  So an equally valid  question is why wouldn't the "high arts" be connect with the "privileged"?  In what conditions and eras in time do we find "high arts" not connected with privilege/wealth/leisure?

 

Re:  the panel.  I like it!   

[Steve Waszak]

Hi Junichi,

 

By "privileged," I am not referencing economic status or a culture of affluence.  I am speaking of the term/concept of "art" itself as being of an exalted status, i.e. something termed "real art" versus being seen as "only" craft, or as "only" decoration. 

 

Cheers,

 

Steve

[Pete Klein]

To my POV, anything made by human endeavor which elicits a response from our senses and therefore makes us ponder our observation, that is art.

[Davis]

Nicely summed up Pete.  The page is copied from a book published in 1882, the vase was purchased at a flea market for a couple of pounds.  They perhaps illustrate the range of "art" that came to the UK in the Victorian/Edwardian eras.  In the UK "export" art can still be found in abundance and cheap too.

Mick

[Brian]

Where is that sword now?

 

Brian

[Davis]

Whereabouts unknown.  Authenticity?  It would have been acquired at a time of great upheaval in Japan and anything is possible...Liverpool, in the past was a great place to collect swords.  A large port, large number of very wealthy Victorian collectors whose collections were disposed of locally when they died......

Mick