Parallel Modernism

This significant historical study recasts modern art in Japan as a “parallel modernism” that was visually similar to Euroamerican modernism, but developed according to its own internal logic. Using the art and thought of prominent Japanese modern artist Koga Harue (1895–1933) as a lens to understand this process, Chinghsin Wu explores how watercolor, cubism, expressionism, and surrealism emerged and developed in Japan in ways that paralleled similar trends in the west, but also rejected and diverged from them. In this first English-language book on Koga Harue, Wu provides close readings of virtually all of the artist’s major works and provides unprecedented access to the critical writing about modernism in Japan during the 1920s and 1930s through primary source documentation, including translations of period art criticism, artist statements, letters, and journals.

Acest studiu istoric semnificativ reformeaza arta moderna din Japonia ca un „modernism paralel” care era similar din punct de vedere vizual cu modernismul euroamerican, dar dezvoltat dupa propria sa logica interna. Folosind arta si gandirea artistului japonez proeminent Koga Harue (1895–1933) ca obiectiv pentru a intelege acest proces, Chinghsin Wu exploreaza modul in care acuarele, cubismul, expresionismul si suprarealismul au aparut si s-au dezvoltat in Japonia in moduri care au paralel cu tendinte similare in vest, dar, de asemenea, le-a respins si s-a indepartat de ele.