| NOTA |
(★)(The European discovery of Japan was made by the Portuguese, who first arrived there in the mid-sixteenth century. Because they had reached Japan from the south and, in the eyes of the Japanese, looked like outlandish southerners, they were called ´namban´ : literally ´southern barbarians.´ Their objectives were the development of trade and the propagation of Christianity, but they also inspired the creation of a unique genre of Japanese art in which they and their remarkable ships, their curious manners and customs, and the imagery of their religion were portrayed in painting and a variety of other media --in brief, the namban art of Japan. This art, flowering during the century or so of the Portuguese presence in Japan, found its chief expression in the painted screens known as ´namban byobu´, which most frequently pictured the proud caravels of the foreigners themselves engaged in various activities on shore. Other subjects for screen painting included panoramic views of foreign cities and maps of Japan, Europe, and the world. Religious and secular painting in Western style also flourished, and Western themes were employed in the decoration of lacquerware, ceramics, and other craft products. The namban artists, working for the most part in the brilliantly creative Momoyama period of the late sixteenth century, left a singularly interesting heritage of art produced during the earliest phase of Western influence in Japan. The present book introduces the namban art of Japan through a wealth of illustrations --36 in full color and 106 in black and white-- and an authoritative text that explores its historical background and appraises its aesthetic values. The book is the first in English to deal so informatively with the subject, and for many readers it will no doubt reveal a new facet of Japanese art. ◆Yoshitomo Okamoto is the leading authority on the namban art of Japan and the Christian art that forms a part of it. He is also a specialist in the field of early Japanese relations with the West. He has served as a professor at Sophia University in Tokyo and is co-author, along with Tadao Takamizawa, of a monumental two-volume work on namban screens published in Japanese in 1970.) |
BASE de DATOS, Biblioteca del Centro Cultural de la Embajada de Japon
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