The Asiatic Society 
of Japan

Next lecture: Monday, December 11, 2023 18:00 JST
Dr. Rosina Buckland
‘The Splendour of Modernity: Towards a History of Meiji Arts’   

LECTURES AND EVENTS


JST 2023.12.11
Dr. Rosina Buckland
Curator of the Japanese Collections at the British Museum

‘The Splendour of Modernity: Towards a History of Meiji Arts’

Synopsis:  
The programme of modernization and industrialization initiated by the new government of Japan following the Meiji Restoration of 1868 had profound effects on the arts, bringing changes to practices, materials, venues and the very words used to describe creative forms. However, within the study of Japanese art history, the late nineteenth century has largely been neglected because of a perception that, due to the admixture of foreign elements during this period, the art was somehow no longer authentically "Japanese". Dr Buckland’s forthcoming publication, the first textbook on this period, will counter this view, demonstrating that rich new strands of artistic practice developed at this time, which were distinctively Japanese even as they incorporated new stimuli from overseas. It will also challenge the mistaken assumption of artistic decline in the opening years of the Meiji era, due to a bias towards those art forms associated with official institutions, both old and new. In her lecture, Dr Buckland will present a selection of topics from the book, to show the resilience, innovation and enduring beauty of Japanese art during a transformative period marked by Japan’s global engagement and artistic evolution.  
 

Brief Biography:  
Dr Rosina Buckland is Curator, Japanese Collections at the British Museum in London. She received a BA degree in Japanese Studies from the University of Cambridge and a PhD degree in Art History from the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. Her publications include Shunga: Erotic Art in Japan (2010) and Painting Nature for the Nation: Taki Katei and the Challenges to Sinophile Culture in Meiji Japan (2013). Having worked at the British Museum, the National Museum of Scotland, and the Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, in 2020 she returned to the British Museum. Her forthcoming publication is a textbook entitled The Splendour of Modernity: Japanese Art of the Meiji Era (Reaktion Books, Feb. 2024). Her next project is a large special exhibition examining the representations and myths of the samurai.



Online Lecture Programme 2023 - 2024

JST 2024.1.22  
Dr. Ayaka Jimbo
’Fukudenkai – the most traditional and globally orientated social welfare house in Japan’  

   JST 2024.2.19
Prof. Jędrzej Greń, (PhD)
‘Retelling the Turmoil: Everyday Sengoku Life in the Ietada Nikki’  

JST 2024.3.25
Annual General Meeting & Special Lecture by the Ambassador of the Embassy of Sweden to Japan, H. E. Mr. Pereric Högberg
“Sweden and the world - challenges and opportunities in a changing global security landscape”


2023 YOUNG SCHOLARS' PROGRAMME - completed

Congratulations to the Scholars!

Ms. Lise Bénézet  
‘Wandering in darkness: Death in Izumi Shikibu’s poems (Xth-XIth century)’
Ms. Clara Momoko Geber-Mérida  
‘Embracing the Generational Change: A Study of onnashokunin in the District of Arakawa, Tokyo’
Dr. Marianna Lázár  
‘Examining the tradition of the Four Gods belief in Japan: Focusing on the role of ceremonial banners’
Ms. Kuniko Matsui  
'Suda Kokuta’s abstraction in the 1950s-60s: Dōgen’s Zen revived in Japanese avant-garde art'


© 1999 - 2023 The Asiatic Society of Japan - All Rights Reserved