著者
植田 彩芳子
出版者
美学会
雑誌
美学 (ISSN:05200962)
巻号頁・発行日
vol.57, no.1, pp.70-83, 2006-06-30 (Released:2017-05-22)

In 1898, Okakura Kakuzo chose "Expression" as an objective at the first Nippon Bijutsuin Exhibition in Tokyo. After the autumn of 1897, the "Expression" became a terminology to critique exhibitions, but not before spring 1897. What did "Expression" mean? Why did the critics of the time pay attention to it? How did a modern Japanese painting artist, Yokoyama Taikan, apply this concept in his art? Yokoyama Taikan's Listening to the Buddha's Laws was considered as the work that followed the concept of "Expression." Taikan himself revealed that he explored the concept in his work. We understand from his explanation that "expression" for Taikan meant the expressions of people's emotion. My research found the two sources to be the cause of such a new trend: one was Suematsu Kencho's article, "Query on Japanese Painting," published on July 19, 1897 in the Yomiuri Newspaper, and the other was Lafcadio Hearn's "Theory of Japanese Painting," in Taiyo, vol. 3, #5, published on July 20, 1897. These articles caused the debate on "Expression." Taikan tried the technique of chiaroscuro for the first time in Listening to the Buddha's Laws to experiment the concept of "Expression," because the debate was focused on the relationship between the expression and the techniques of chiaroscuro.