The Supplement: Kobayashi Kiyochika

We usually associate Japanese printmaking with serene views of Mt. Fuji and beautiful Geishas. It’s often forgotten that after Japan was forcibly made to open its shores to foreign relations and trade by American battleships in the 19th . The resulting collapse of previous feudal society turned Japan into a modern capitalist nation and they embarked on an era of violent military conflict. Culminating in the collapse of the Japanese Empire, and occupation of Japan by America after the Pacific War.

Ultimately the nostalgic view of the country is preferred over its violent sometimes shockingly brutal Imperialist past. History can only be rewritten to a certain extent and the legacy of the era remains. These Kobayashi Kiyochika’s prints depict the First Sino-Japanese war (1894-1895). They retain the aesthetic of traditional printmaking but with a modern and violent twist.

Despite the change in the subject matter they till possess the incredible craftsmanship and subtlety that only a master Japanese printmaker can achieve.

“Kiyochika’s impressions of the front ranged from the lyrical to the atrocious, sometimes even bringing these two extremes together.”

http://ocw.mit.edu/ans7870/21f/21f.027/throwing_off_asia_02/toa_essay02.html