Episode 31: Ukiyo-e: Art of the Floating World
Welcome to Spooky Season! As we reflect on how time and life changes, we must also stop and think about the power of cultural exchange. Arts and culture don't operate in a vacuum, and different influences can radically transform different mediums. However, today's subject is unique. For the Edo (Tokugawa) period, Japan was characterized by economic growth, strict social order, isolationist foreign policy... and wildly popular enjoyment of the arts. Ukiyo-e, then, represents the final phase of a long development of Japanese culture operating in total isolation from the rest of the world. And after two centuries of operating in a vacuum came to a dramatic close with the reopening of Japan in July 1853, the whole world changed.
Find out where the concept of 'Japonisme' came from; learn how ukiyo-e developed over the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries; admire the cut-throat nature of Edo-period art markets; and, contemplate how art has the potential to transform the whole world.
Things have changed, but we're changing with it.
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Our music was written and recorded by Elene Kadagidze.
Our cover art was designed by Lindsey Anton-Wood.
