Le prochain numéro de Perspective : actualité en histoire de l'art est consacré au Japon et aux histoires de l’art qui s’y pratiquent comme aux études et aux travaux que suscitent son patrimoine et sa création artistique au niveau mondial. Cette thématique a bénéficié ces derniers mois d’une actualité inédite : célébrant le 160^e anniversaire des relations diplomatiques entre la France et le Japon, « Japonisme 2018 » a déployé les différentes facettes de l’art nippon dans un grand nombre de musées et d’institutions artistiques du territoire, tandis que le 150^e anniversaire de la restauration de Meiji a donné lieu à une série d’événements commémoratifs à l’échelle nationale et internationale. Si depuis le XIX^e siècle les deux pays sont liés par une affinité élective, les recherches sur les échanges artistiques franco-japonais se sont focalisées sur deux sujets de prédilection : le japonisme, d’une part, et l’art moderne japonais, d’autre part, situant majoritairement le débat sur le plan des influences entre l’Asie et l’Occident.

Argument

The forthcoming issue of Perspective is devoted to Japan and the art histories that are practiced there, as well as international studies and works inspired by its heritage and artistic creation. In recent months, this subject has benefited from an unprecedented topicality: celebrating the 160^th anniversary of diplomatic relations between France and Japan, the project “Japonisme 2018” has presented various facets of Japanese art in museums and art institutions throughout France. Furthermore, the 150^th anniversary of the Meiji Restoration has lead to a series of commemorative events both nationally and internationally. Though the two countries have been linked by an elective affinity since the nineteenth century, research on Franco-Japanese artistic exchanges has focused on two favored subjects: japonisme on the one hand, and Japanese modern art on the other, thus locating the debate mainly in terms of influences between Asia and the West.

Avoiding an endogenous or essentialist approach, we propose to consider the topic beyond the geographical boundaries of the Japanese archipelago, and to examine it in the light of the dynamic economic, cultural, and artistic interactions that involve the neighboring Asian territories as well as the rest of the world and the narratives and imaginations they have nurtured. The purpose of this issue is to reflect the complexity and contradictions at work in representations of the land of the Rising Sun, articulating ancestral traditions and futuristic technology, mastery of nature (the art of gardens) and vulnerability to natural disasters, or even the tradition of communal activities and the emergence of unusual societal phenomena, such as Hikikomori syndrome.

In this issue, the journal wishes to examine the current state of art history in Japan as well as research on Japanese art and heritage from prehistory to the present day, opening its pages to subjects which, besides the fine arts, may concern archeology, urbanism, decorative arts, design, crafts, museography, film, theater, dance, music, photography, comic books, gardens, cuisine, and all forms of hybridization generated by the encounter of these different areas, provided that they are approached through the prism of visual history. Whatever the subject proposed, contributions must follow the editorial line of Perspective which publishes original articles that offer historiographical or critical reviews of substantive issues and/or represent the current state of the discipline within the proposed topic.

Submission guidelines

Please submit your proposals (2,000-3,000 character summary, with a provisional title, and a 2-3 line biography) to the editorial address (revue-perspective@inha.fr)

by March 11, 2019.

All projects will be examined by the issue’s editorial board regardless of the language of submission and Perspective will assume responsibility for translation. Authors of the articles selected will be informed of the committee’s decision by the end of April 2019. Full texts of accepted contributions must be submitted by November 29, 2019.