Mirroring the Japanese Empire: The Male Figure in Yōga Painting, 1930–1950 by Maki Kaneko

A scholarly examination of the male figure in yōga (Western-style oil painting) produced in Japan between 1930 and 1950, a period shaped by imperial expansion and the Asia-Pacific War. Kaneko focuses on prominent yōga painters including Fujita Tsuguharu, Yasui Sōtarō, Matsumoto Shunsuke, and Yamashita Kiyoshi, analyzing their depictions of male bodies through the overlapping lenses of gender politics, race, and the visual ideology of the Japanese Empire. Rather than accepting the postwar model of unilateral state control over artistic production, Kaneko proposes a more nuanced reading of artists' agency within late imperial visual culture. Profusely illustrated. A significant contribution to the study of Japanese war art and modern art history.

• Title: Mirroring the Japanese Empire
• Subtitle: The Male Figure in Yōga Painting, 1930–1950
• Author: Maki Kaneko
• Adapted/Edited/Foreword by: Series editor: John T. Carpenter
• Publisher: Brill, Leiden / Boston
• Publication Date: November 14, 2014
• Edition: First Edition
• Printing:
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages:
• Illustrations: Color and black-and-white plates throughout
• ISBN-13: 978-9004227675
• Language: English
• Dimensions:
• Series: Japanese Visual Culture, Vol. 14
• Condition: Very Good
• Notes: Academic press publication; Brill imprint. Maki Kaneko is Associate Professor, Kress Foundation Department of Art History, University of Kansas.
• Contents:
• Description: A scholarly examination of the male figure in yōga (Western-style oil painting) produced in Japan between 1930 and 1950, a period shaped by imperial expansion and the Asia-Pacific War. Kaneko focuses on prominent yōga painters including Fujita Tsuguharu, Yasui Sōtarō, Matsumoto Shunsuke, and Yamashita Kiyoshi, analyzing their depictions of male bodies through the overlapping lenses of gender politics, race, and the visual ideology of the Japanese Empire. Rather than accepting the postwar model of unilateral state control over artistic production, Kaneko proposes a more nuanced reading of artists' agency within late imperial visual culture. Profusely illustrated. A significant contribution to the study of Japanese war art and modern art history.