Female Nudity and Nihonga (1890-1960): The Paradox of a Certain Cultural Identity

Conference by Pierre GAUTIER, head of the Japanese collections at the Cernuschi Museum.

Traditionally very present in Western culture, the nude is much less so in Japanese arts. How is it present, particularly in the current of... nihongaWhere would one least expect it, and what are the cultural, political and societal factors that explain it? How does its occurrence reflect a society?

Of course, Japanese art has featured female nudity for centuries, but it is always done under very specific conditions and in a very specific form. For example, we find some traces of semi-nudity from the Kamakura period (1185-1333), notably in the famous scrolls depicting the "nine stages of decomposition of the female body" (Kusōzu), a meditation aid intended to remove carnal desires from monks, as well as, almost exceptionally, in rare illuminated secular scrolls (Yamato-e) or even in Buddhist statuary. It was especially during the Edo period (1603-1868) that a form of nudity developed more readily with the emergence of theukiyo-e ("images of the floating world"): one could mention the representations of women in baths, the loves (fishing women), but also erotic prints (shunga : "images of spring") where nudity is paradoxically not systematic.

Kusōzu (paintings/images of the nine stages of decomposition of the body) (Detail), 14th century. Colors on paper.

Kitagawa Utamaro (c. 1753-1806), Fisherwomen of Awabi (Detail) circa 1798. Woodblock print. ©Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Kuroda Seiki (1866-1924), Kan (print) 1897-99. Oil on canvas. ©Tokyo National Museum.

The fall of the shogunate and the restoration of the emperor in 1868 significantly changed the way art was viewed, particularly with regard to nudity. The extensive policy of Westernization/modernization (Bunmei kaika The "civilization and enlightenment" policy implemented during the Meiji era (1868-1912) had two potentially contradictory effects in this regard. The first was the unprecedented criminalization of the production and publication of erotic prints through legislation concerning "obscene images," the practical application of which by the police was particularly vague; the second was the large-scale development of oil painting called yoga (lit. "Western-style painting") driven by a broader desire to appropriate European knowledge and techniques. In reaction to this forced Westernization of Japan, the American Ernest Fenollosa (1853-1908), in collaboration with one of his students, the intellectual Okarura Kakuzō, known as Tenshin (1863-1913), actively engaged from 1880 onwards in a comprehensive inventory of Japanese heritage, as well as in structuring a national painting style which they called nihonga (literally "Japanese painting", that is, using pigments applied to silk or paper). Conservative in essence, this movement aims to preserve and promote a painting considered traditional during a period when the state seeks to forge a national narrative, while assimilating certain aspects of Western painting, such as the rendering of bodies in volume, perspective and the use of synthetic pigments.

Their work and the resulting surge of nationalism led, three years later in 1883, to the prohibition of oil painting instruction at the Tokyo University of the Arts. This prompted some aspiring artists, such as Yamamoto Hōsui (1850-1906) and Kuroda Seiki (1866-1924), to go to France to train in oil painting. In Paris, they became aware of the importance of the female nude in Western art, which they would in turn adapt and teach upon their return. It goes without saying that the first female nudes yoga exhibited in Japan from 1895 onwards, they aroused incomprehension, both from the public and the police, who likened them to shungaThis caused numerous scandals. Initially a non-subject in traditional painting (because it was considered too Western), the nude had become so popular in painting yoga at the turn of the 20th^th century that some artists nihongaGenerally, the younger and more progressive artists seek to incorporate it into their painting, taking care—at least initially—not to betray the "Japanese spirit" inherent to the movement. It was therefore primarily a matter of using themes drawn from traditional visual culture, particularly by drawing on...Ukiyo-e or in suitable literary subjects as cultural references, like Watanabe Seitei (1851-1918) or Uemura Shōen (1875-1949).

Kikuchi Yōsai (1788-1878). En'ya Takasada (no) tsuma shutsuyoku no zu (En'ya Takasada's wife, scene leaving the bath), 1842, colors on silk. ©Fukutomi Tarō Collection.

Kuroda Seiki (1866-1924). Morning toilette. Oil on canvas. 1893.

Yamamoto Hōsui (1850-1906). Urashima, 1895. Oil on canvas. ©Gifu Museum of Fine Arts.

Despite a turbulent start in Japan, particularly due to the infamous legislation targeting "obscene content," nudity surprisingly aroused the interest of the Japanese government, which saw it as an excellent means of external communication. Kuroda Seiki, who had caused a resounding scandal in 1895, was commissioned to create the allegorical triptych. Chi-Kan-Jō ("wisdom, feeling, impression") for the Japanese contingent at the 1900 World's Fair. The aim was to show Westerners that Japanese artists could paint their own subjects just as well, and above all, that they could successfully apply conceptual thinking to art through a triple allegory. An eminently political work, it reflects a perfect synthesis of Japanese and Western painting, with these three completely nude women against a flat background reminiscent of the gilded tones of folding screens. rinpaThis occurred even as artists in Japan were being forced to cover their nudes to avoid censorship. Kuroda, who was already uncharacteristic of such practices, would never return to this syncretic style.

Le nihonga did not experience such setbacks. At the beginning of the 20th^th In the 20th century, the movement underwent an identity crisis, with, on one side, the proponents of a conservative school, and, on the other, a younger generation of artists enamored with greater aesthetic and thematic freedom, particularly with regard to nudity. In 1907, the official Salon (the brightly colored) is created by the Ministry of Culture and Education (Monbushō) with a view to bringing together all currents, both nihonga that yoga, under the auspices of the State. It will be a partial failure. In 1912, the year of the exhibition of Women of the island by Tsuchida Bakusen (1887-1936) – a work resolutely inspired by Paul Gauguin, a first for this movement – in the sixth installment of the brightly colored, a split of the section nihonga is proposed in order to meet the expectations of the two irreconcilable factions. Despite these efforts, several groups of artists decided to leave the Salon between 1914 and 1918 in order to create alternative circles where a nihonga a more progressive – not to say “new” – approach will be presented.

It is precisely at Nihon Bijutsu-in (the Japanese Art Institute), established in 1898 but reformed in 1914, as well as the Kokuga sōsaku kyōkai (Association for a Creative National Painting) founded in 1918, notably by Bakusen, whose first works nihonga including explicit nudity began to be exhibited. The 1920s were marked by a more democratic climate allowing the expression of nudity that broke free from these historical references to dare to exist as such. Mermaid/Siren The work of Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878-1972) is a very good example, and testifies to the reform of the official Salon undertaken in 1919 to limit the departure of its artists. Subjects and styles became bolder; some nudes were painted from photographs to achieve a much more naturalistic vision of the body, pushing the artistic possibilities of the medium to their limits. nihonga, as with the nude women of Kainoshō Tadaoto (1894-1978) and their unabashed eroticism.

With Japan's imperialist policy, the nihonga takes on an even more nationalist turn from the early 1930s onwards. Like the works yoga, nihonga It began to be filled with nude women evoking the exoticism of the Japanese colonies, which, paradoxically, is reminiscent of Gauguin's works in the Pacific, both in spirit and composition. Japanese artists traveled to Micronesia, the Caroline Islands, and the Mariana Islands, bringing back an idyllic vision of these territories conquered during the Taishō era (1912-1926), which they translated into images to showcase the diversity of Greater Japan to the Tokyo public. During this same decade, the state further increased its hegemony over artistic production. Artists were strongly encouraged to participate in the national movement as the entire country moved towards a belligerent militarism from 1931-32 onward. Typical subjects of theukiyo-e reappear in art, like the "women bathing" image. However, the aim is to exalt the figure of the "good wife and wise mother" (Ryōsai kenbo) Japanese, according to the official doctrine widely promoted in the 1930s. That is to say, a woman who takes care of herself and her home, far from those lecherous-looking men humorously depicted in the prints of theukiyo-e. Likewise, the loves They are brought back into the spotlight for patriotic reasons, veritable icons nurturing an intangible and idealized Japan, even as their way of life gradually disappears. Thus, until the 1940s, there was a renewed interest in the Edo period (1603-1868), considered the golden age of a Japan preserved from outside influences, even though this period had been rejected during the Meiji era. The nude then almost completely disappeared from salons from 1942 onwards, further demonstrating the great fickleness and discomfort of the Japanese state regarding this subject since the end of the 19th century.^th century.

Kaburaki Kiyokata (1878-1972). Yōgyo (Mermaid), 1920. Colors and gold leaf on silk mounted on a folding screen (six panels). ©Fukutomi Tarō Collection.

Hasegawa Tatsuko (1904- after 1995). Machi no yu. Woodcut.

The end of World War II and the American occupation marked a significant turning point in artistic production, particularly as the new constitution written by the Americans in 1946 substantially transformed several aspects of Japanese society. One could cite, for example, the sweeping judicial reform, which notably repealed various articles of law that had generated so much controversy regarding nudity. yoga during the years 1890-1910. Another point of interest, much more unexpected, was nothing less than the emancipation of women. They were granted the right to vote, as well as access to the Tokyo School of Fine Arts, which had previously been forbidden to them. Besides the obstacle-strewn path to becoming professional artists, women before 1946 faced a more limited and differentiated art education compared to that of men, even though the creation of private schools from 1900 onwards was a significant step forward. The nihonga, due to its conservative aura, had always been, before the war, a movement where women were more likely to pursue careers, unlike a yoga imagined by families as a breeding ground for men leading lives of debauchery and excess, women painters were thus particularly constrained in the subjects they could address. These were limited to themes deemed "appropriate" (children, portraits of women, domestic scenes, or flowers), while others were "to be avoided" (self-portraits, landscapes). The nude—which seemed almost unthinkable for a woman—belonged to a kind of gray area, neither forbidden nor entirely tolerated. Even though far fewer women than their male counterparts resorted to it, it is possible to find a few nudes. nihonga before 1945 (Ogura Yuki (1895-200), Akino Fuku (1908-2001), or Hirota Tatsu (1904-1990), but always expressed through traditional "modest" themes such as that of the "woman in the bath".

In the post-war period, it was as if a pall of oppression had been lifted, and certain norms gradually faded away: women artists reclaimed the theme of nudity, which had previously been severely restricted to them, starting with the official Salon of 1946. This led to a radical shift in perspectives on nudity. Most artists who had already explored it before the war, such as Ogura Yuki, completely changed their approach, moving, for example, from "women bathing" to a nude woman dancing, facing forward, under the full moon. Conversely, others, younger artists like Asakura Setsu (1922-2014), who had been limited to patriotic themes, made nudity a true outlet, expressing themselves through aesthetics that had previously been forbidden. One could thus hypothesize—or rather, observe—that this "reappropriation" of their own naked bodies by women artists... nihonga seems to foreshadow the women's liberation movements of the 1960s.

Torii Kotondo (1900-1976), Kami-suki (hair combing), 1929. Woodblock print.

Fujikawa Eiko (1900-1983), Sannin no rafu (Three Nude Women), 1936, oil on canvas. Work lost. Exhibited at the Nikaten in 1936.

Higashiyama Kaii (1908-1999), Nanpō rakudo (The Paradise of the South), 1942. Work disappeared.

The presence of the nude in the nihongaThis quintessential nationalist artistic movement, where the female nude is not taken for granted, reveals the ambivalent and paradoxical relationship the Japanese have had with this subject. Tolerated but constrained, the use of nudity as a theme or motif is primarily a desire to connect with the yoga, to shift towards highlighting a patriotic narrative, and finally to become a theme of exploration freed from certain societal constraints that weighed on female artists. The occurrence of nudity in artistic production, particularly in a movement like the nihonga, is a very good “barometer” of the resistances, issues and liberations that underlie Japanese society throughout the ages.

France-Gabrielle de la Gueronnière and Estelle Jaubert