Art of the Trowel: Architectural Detail Beautifully Preserved in Tottori
Alice Gordenker
During the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was the fashion in some of Japan's smaller towns and villages to embellish the exteriors of homes, shops and storehouses with three-dimensional designs skillfully crafted in plaster. Tucked under eaves or sculpted onto doors, these whimsical reliefs of birds, fish and even vegetables were an extension of the plasterers' usual work in finishing the outside of buildings. more...
Discovering Timelessness: Tracing the History of Japanese Architecture
James Lambiasi
Architecture in Japan, both contemporary and ancient, has always captivated the world with its inventiveness, craft, and beauty. The current exhibition at the Mori Art Museum, Japan in Architecture: Genealogies of Its Transformation, allows us to further appreciate the wonder of Japanese architecture by tracing the lineage back to its original sources found in traditional building forms and ancient building techniques. more...
Young Moderns: Taisho-Era Design at the Hibiya Library & Museum
Alan Gleason
The brief reign of Emperor Taisho, from 1912 to 1926, is remembered as a golden age when a truly modern hybrid of Japanese and Western culture first reached full flower. The preceding Meiji era (1868-1912) had been a tumultuous period of headlong modernization as well as fervent reaction against the onslaught of Western influences. By the end of it, artists were beginning to blend those influences with homegrown traditions in novel ways. more...
