Comments on: Through Japanese eyes

By: le style et la matière

le style et la matière — Tue, 04 May 2010 13:00:00 +0000

Thank you !

By: Emile de Bruijn

Emile de Bruijn — Tue, 04 May 2010 08:08:56 +0000

Le Style, yes God is in the comments, as Mies van der Rohe might have said

Perhaps that is why I instinctively like Japanese art: Japanese forms wrapped in Chinese forms wrapped in European forms.

I have corrected the link, apologies for that.

By: le style et la matière

le style et la matière — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:39:20 +0000

P.S. I could not get to Ono’s website through your link!

By: le style et la matière

le style et la matière — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:36:56 +0000

These are utterly charming!
How true that we can glean further information from commentaries; I had wondered about your name! The same is true for me with the US and France, though something fundamental remains. Maybe, in yet another way, as you said else where “the past is all around us.”

By: Emile de Bruijn

Emile de Bruijn — Sun, 02 May 2010 16:48:29 +0000

Janet, Indeed. Perhaps that is why Mr Ono’s work appeals to me, since I look at Britain through foreign (Dutch) eyes too – although I have lived here for so long now that Holland seems more foreign to me than England.

By: Janet

Janet — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 21:47:55 +0000

Oh, I do like these. There is a freshness to them. It is always good to look at the familiar through foreign eyes.

By: Emile de Bruijn

Emile de Bruijn — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:52:59 +0000

Gaye, Yes there does seem to be someting akin to Edwardian illustration in Mr Ono’s work – but then Edwardian illustrators were probably influenced by Japanese prints!

And it is very interesting that your art adviser preferred ‘whimsical’ over ‘cute’: I think this illustrates our western embarrassment about letting ‘life’ into ‘art’. In Japan those boundaries seem to be slightly more fluid. The refined beauties of Utamaro have an element of cuteness, while the cute toys of Hello Kitty have an element of refined design – they are both part of the same continuum.

By: littleaugury

littleaugury — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:19:21 +0000

These are splendid. You and Columnist are both highly revered at littleaugury, I find the childlike quality to be more nostalgic- illustrations from the old Book Trails(1920′s) of my Mother’s I had growing up-perhaps this is why I like these so. They have a snowglobe quality to them, I immediately see your suggestion of the humour inserted into Japanese art. I find both O and H to be pleasing-in very different terms. By taking the overwhelming architectural details of the properties and the principles of his art and merging them into something quite original -is, I find-what it’s all about. With success of course. My art adviser told me early on to never refer to anything in art as cute-It was a cut direct as they say- But rather say whimsical, spontaneous, humourous. It helped me appreciate my own attempts while I applied my hand, PGT

By: Emile de Bruijn

Emile de Bruijn — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 12:04:14 +0000

Well, regardless of who you prefer, at least the juxtaposition of Mr Ono’s work with Hiroshige’s has made you think about how you assess beauty (in conjunction with your own earlier post)

Interestingly, there is a long tradition of childlike humour in Japanese art and culture, which is sometimes difficult to appreciate by us westerners, with our conception of art as something almost sacred. Even respected masters like Hiroshige and Hokusai often added elements of slapstick and visual or verbal puns to their work.

By: columnist

columnist — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 11:48:31 +0000

Well, now is an example of my own subjective view of an innate sense of beauty. Whilst I believe I have an open mind about art, my view about it is obviously affected by what I consider to be beautiful; I am very much in favour of that generated by the likes of Hiroshige, but very luke warm on Onosan’s renderings of British country houses, (which I find too child-like, almost cartoonish). This proves the point in my blog post, but I hope it doesn’t offend!