Mead Art Museum | Amherst College
Representing Tokyo/Teaching Tokyo
Asymposiumheldinconjunctionwiththeexhibition
ReinventingTokyo:Japan’sLargestCity
intheArtisticImagination
Pruyne Lecture Hall, Fayerweather Hall 115, Amherst College
Speaker Schedule:
Thursday, December 6, 4:30 p.m. — Artist Yamaguchi Akira
Friday, December 7, 9:30 a.m. — Peter Duus, Stanford University
Friday, December 7, 11:00 a.m. — Nakatani Norihito, Waseda University
Friday, December 7, 1:30 p.m. — Wada Hirofumi, Tōyō University
Friday, December 7, 2:30 p.m. — Gennifer Weisenfeld, Duke University
Friday, December 7, 4:00 p.m. — Kaneko Ryūichi, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography
Saturday, December 8, 9:00 a.m. — Jonathan Reynolds, Barnard College and Columbia University
Saturday, December 8, 10:00 a.m. — Theodore Bestor, Harvard University
free and open to the public.
registration is not required.
The symposium is sponsored by the Amherst College Departments of Asian Languages and Civilizations and Art and the History of Art and by
the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. Funding for the symposium is provided by John C. Weber, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the
John Whitney Hall Fund in the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, the Georges Lurcy Lecture Series Fund at Amherst College.
www.amherst.edu/mead
Representing Tokyo/Teaching Tokyo A symposium held in conjunction with the exhibition Reinventing Tokyo: Japan’s Largest City in the Artistic Imagination Pruyne Lecture Hall, Fayerweather Hall 115, Amherst College Thursday—Saturday, December 6—8, 2012 Free and open to the public. Registration is not required. Thursday, December 6 4:30—5:30 p.m. 5:30—6:30 p.m. My Work and Its Relationship to Tokyo Artist Yamaguchi Akira Reception in the Mead Art Museum Friday, December 7 8:45—9:15 a.m. 9:15—9:30 a.m. 9:30—10:30 a.m. 10:30—11:00 a.m. 11:00 a.m.—12:00 p.m. 12:00—1:30 p.m. 1:30—2:30 p.m. 2:30—3:30 p.m. 3:30—4:00 p.m. 4:00—5:00 p.m. 5:00—6:30 p.m. Registration/Coffee Opening Remarks Reinventing Edo?: Why Meiji Tokyo Didn’t Become the Paris of the Orient Peter Duus, Stanford University Coffee Revisiting Kon Wajiro’s “Minka”: The Transition of the Form of the Common Living Style of the Japanese Throughout the 20th Century Nakatani Norihito, Waseda University Lunch Break New Photography and Tokyo in the 1930s Wada Hirofumi, Tōyō University Tokyo 1923: Disaster, Modernism, and Modernity's Gamble Gennifer Weisenfeld, Duke University Coffee Tokyo: A City Perspective Kaneko Ryūichi, Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography Reception in the Mead Art Museum Saturday, December 8 8:30—9:00 a.m. 9:00—10:00 a.m. 10:00—11:30 a.m. Coffee “Female Urban Nomads”: Imagined Migration through Tokyo in the Days before the Bubble Burst Jonathan Reynolds, Barnard College and Columbia University Teaching Tokyo: Roundtable Discussion Theodore Bestor, Harvard University (moderator) Speaker Biographies Yamaguchi Akira, a graduate of Tokyo University of Arts, is one of the most exciting and imaginative artists of his generation working in Tokyo today. He frequently adapts traditional modes of representation to modern Tokyo’s urban landscape. For example, Tokeizu (Scenes of Tokyo) mix new constructions with fanciful depictions of pre‐modern structures. A frequent participant in international bienalles, Yamaguchi has exhibited widely in solo exhibitions including the Ōyamazaki Villa Museum (2008) and joint exhibitions including the Ueno Royal Museum (2007). His work was also included in Bye, Bye Kitty (2010). Theodore C. Bestor is Reischaueer Institute Professor of Social Anthropology and Director of the Reischauer Institute of Japan Studies at Harvard University. He is also the current (2012‐13) President of the Association for Asian Studies. Much of his research on Japanese culture and society focuses on Tokyo. Among his many publications are Neighborhood Tokyo (1989), Tsukiji: The Fish Market at the Center of the World (2004), and (as co‐editor) The Routledge Handbook of Japanese Culture and Society (2011). Peter Duus is the William H. Bonsall Professor of Japanese History, Emeritus, in the Department of History at Stanford University. His academic interests encompass Japanese imperialism and colonialism, political cartoons and Tokyo. His most recent publications include The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895‐1910 (1995), The Japanese Discovery of America: A Brief History with Documents (1997), and Rediscovering America: Japanese Perspectives on the American Century (2011). Wada Hirofumi is Professor in the Department of at Tōyō University. He is a specialist in the literature and culture of Tokyo’s “Modern Era.” He is the editor of the multi‐volume Collection—Culture of the Modern City, and author and editor of numerous books including Text and the Modern City (1992), and The Cultural Institution Known as Shiseido (2011). Nakatani Norihito is Professor in the Department of Architecture, Waseda University. Formerly the chief editor of the Journal of Architecture in Building and Science, he is a specialist in the architectural history of Japan with a focus on the revitalization of traditional architecture. His publications include Study on the Conversion of Cities (2005), Severalness: The Cycle of Humans and Things (2005) and Revisiting Kon Wajirō’s ‘Nihon no minka’ (2012). Jonathan Reynolds is Associate Professor in the Department of Art History at Barnard College and the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University. His research encompasses Japanese architecture, photography and cultural identity. Among his publications are “Ise Shrine and Modernist Construction of Japanese Tradition,” (2001) and Maekawa Kunio and the Emergence of Modernist Japanese Architecture (2001). Kaneko Ryūichi is Guest Curator at Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography and the author of numerous books, catalogues and essays on Japanese photography including Tokyo: A City Perspective (1990), Rhapsody of Modern Tokyo (1993) and Vision of the Modernist: the Universe of Photography of Horino Masao (2012) Gennifer Weisenfeld is Associate Professor in the Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies at Duke University and a specialist in the art and visual culture of Japan of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Her publications include Mavo: Japanese Artists and the Avant‐Garde, 1905‐1931 (2002) and Imaging Disaster: Tokyo and the Visual Culture of Japan’s Great Earthquake of 1923 (2012). General Information •
To learn more about the symposium, contact Samuel C. Morse, the Howard M. and Martha P. Mitchell Professor of the History of Art and Asian Languages and Civilizations, Amherst College (scmorse@amherst.edu, 413‐542‐2282). •
Information about the exhibition Reinventing Tokyo: Japan’s Largest City in the Artistic Imagination, on view at Amherst College’s Mead Art Museum through December, 30, 2012, is available on the museum's website: amherst.edu/mead. •
For driving directions to Amherst College, visit amherst.edu/aboutamherst/visiting/directions. •
For information about local lodging, visit amherst.edu/aboutamherst/visiting/lodging. •
For dining options and other tourist information, visit amherstarea.com. •
Will all other enquiries, contact Ms. Rachel Rogol, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College (rrogol@amherst.edu, 413‐542‐2295). The symposium is sponsored by the Amherst College Departments of Asian Languages and Civilizations and Art and the History of Art and by the Mead Art Museum at Amherst College. Funding for the symposium is provided by John C. Weber, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the John Whitney Hall Fund in the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations, the Georges Lurcy Lecture Series Fund at Amherst College. Five College faculty members from any discipline interested in incorporating original works of art from the Mead’s collection into their teaching and research are encouraged to register for the complementary three‐hour “eyes‐on” exploration of the Mead’s rich collection of images of Tokyo: Teaching Tokyo at the Mead Art Museum Related Half‐Day Mellon Workshop for Five College Faculty Mead Art Museum, William Green Study Room, Amherst College Friday, December 14, 2012, 9:30 a.m.—12:30 p.m. Led by Prof. Samuel C. Morse, curator of the exhibition Reinventing Tokyo: Japan’s Largest City in the Artistic Imagination, this museum workshop will offer an opportunity to learn in depth about a range of Mead artworks and to consider ways in which faculty can use these artworks in courses across the disciplines—
from Anthropology to Architecture, Art History to Film Studies, Asian Languages and Civilizations to Psychology, History to Sociology, and many more. Eligibility: Five College faculty members in any discipline are eligible to apply. The workshop is limited to TWELVE participants on a first‐come, first‐served basis. Stipend for participants: Participants will receive a stipend of $250. Registration: To register for the workshop, please send your name and position title to Pamela J. Russell, Head of Education and Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programs, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College (prussell@amherst.edu, 413‐542‐8229).