FAH262H1 Lecture Notes - Triangle Fraternity, Sumida River, Emilio Aguinaldo
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Lecture 3 – 1/24/11
•Trend of photography to emphasize facial features to identify them as members of
different races
•Portray the essence of a nation in a photo
•Emperor Meiji in Court Robes, 1860s
oUnmoving, traditionally depicted as in paintings/sculptures
oDescendent of a divinity
•Picture of the Issuing of the Constitution in the State Chamber of the New Palace,
Adachi Ginko, 1881
oWoodblock printing
oModernized German clothing of the period
oDoes he serve as the figurehead of the nation?
oIs this the most effective way to present the nation? Or a landscape painting
instead?
•Hawk in Pine with Rising Sun, Utagawa Hiroshige, 1852
oSun goddess, imagery of sun
oFlag of Japan features the sun disc, “hinomaru”
•Ernest Renan – “What is a nation?”
•Great Japanese Naval Victory of Haiyang Island, Nakamura Shuko, 1894
oTraditional Japanese medium
oClash of nations represented as clash of national images
•Japanese Navy Victorious off Takushan, Ogata Gekko, 1894
oNational imagery a bit more subtle here
oRhetoric of Japanese superiority
oUniforms cause the Japanese soldiers to lose their individuality
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•Picture of Our Naval Forces in the Yellow Sea Firing at and Sinking Chinese
Warships, Kobayashi Kiyochika, 1894
oStrong Japanese prejudicial coding (Chinese ponytails)
oLess sophisticated Chinese nation
•How national images manifest themselves in art and culture is a difficult thing
•Flags become seminal in late 19th century
oLimited in shape and color, and yet able to express very different ideals of the
states
•Flag of Vietnam, 1802
oLiterally “dragon spirit”
oSymbolizes Vietnam for many reasons
oYellow – rebel sisters that led the people and carried a yellow banner against
the Chinese people – symbolize discreteness of Vietnam as a nation, and lack
of dependence on China
oYellow also represents king and ethnic Vietnamese
oRed – sun and the south
oBlue – ocean and dragon scales, dragon thought of as water and body =
Vietnam is bordered by water
•Flag of Korea, 1883
o“great ultimate flag” – Taegeukgi
oHarmony, symmetry, balance, circulation
oCircle – image that diagrams sun’s shadow – pattern of shapes sun dial will
trace
oState of Korea is centered and balanced
•Flag if Republic of China, 1895
oQingtian bairiqi, “sun disc”
oBlue sky, white sun, red earth
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