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Guest Lecture by Professor Masatomo Kawai of Keio University, Tokyo 

October 11^th 2010, 18:15 – 20:00, Aud. 2, Georg Sverdrups Hus 

”The Development of Japanese Painting and its close proximity to Literary genres such as Poetry and Monogatari”

What are the most salient characteristics of Japanese painting?  Professor Kawai provides a historical overview of the characteristics with focus on the emergence of “Yamato-e” (Japanese painting) as opposed to “Kara-e” (Chinese painting) in the 7^th through 9^th century.  The “Yamato-e,” depicting nature and famous sceneries, was often painted as accompaniment to waka-poetry, and its development was closely connected with that of the monogatari-literature at the Heian court (The most famous example is the illustrations of Genji-scrolls), and of other literary genres in the later Muromachi and Edo periods. 

Professor Kawai is Professor Emeritus at Keio University, Department of Art History, and published numerous books and articles on Japanese art and paintings. He has been guest researcher at Columbia University, University of Washington, Brown University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and most recently, Sainsbury Institute, UEA.

The lecture in Japanese  and translated into English.