| The concept of the East as a unified cultural entity that emerged in late-nineteenth-century Japan had profound effects on the understanding of art in modern Japan and China. It inspired new trends in painting, historiography, and art theory, and prompted explorations of the relationship between regional identity and cultural practices. Paintings that combine fragments of Asian history drawn from classical tales with Western pictorial techniques, and works that synthesized native and foreign styles enjoyed widespread popularity. Painters influenced by the nationalistic art activist Okakura Tenshin were major producers of these works.; The concept of the East, which was founded upon the idea of intercultural bonds, also provided an impetus for extensive interchange between the Japanese and Chinese art worlds. A series of joint exhibitions held during the interwar years exemplified this interaction.; During this period changing patterns of collecting Chinese art in Japan transformed Japanese knowledge of Chinese painting history. Naitō Konan's ground-breaking History of Chinese Painting (1922–1923) was based almost entirely on works imported into Japan since the 1910s. It reflected a new commitment to keep Eastern cultural artifacts in the East.; The ideal of individualism prevalent in the Taishō period became associated with traditional forms of Eastern culture and suddenly allowed literati painting to be re-constituted as a symbol of modernity. Komuro Suiun, Taki Seiichi, Ōmura Seigai, and Chen Hengke pointed to precursors of modern individualism in what they portrayed as the Eastern expressions of subjectivism inherent in literati painting. |
