Beauty in the Breakdown; blurb 3
Growing up Chinese in a Korean neighborhood, I had always been interested in East Asian culture, which is why after discovering the Japanese Art gallery tucked away in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I was curious to take a look inside. I had always attributed Japanese art to screen painting and handscrolls, similar to the Chinese art I had seen growing up and so I was honestly not expecting to see anything groundbreaking in the dark rooms that made up the gallery. Sadly almost half of the rooms in the collection were devoted to screen paintings and wall scrolls, which were absolutely beautiful, but didn’t stand out to me as uniquely Japanese. Luckily, there seemed to be small surprises tucked away in the corners of the gallery including a small pink bowl made in what is known as rakuware style. Rather than patiently spinning a perfect piece of pottery on a wheel, rakuware involved shaping a bowl with bare hands and putting the piece through a series of extreme temperature changes not to beautify it, but to destroy and maul it. It seemed that not all art concentrated on aesthetic appeal. The art in rakuware pieces is the process by which it is made. It is the the imperfections of cracks and bumpy surfaces that make the piece ultimately beautiful. This by far was the most surprising fact I picked up and it completely reinvented my previous notions of Japanese art.
November 15th, 2007 at 3:17 pm
This is a really interesting observation (“…not all art concentrated on aesthetic appeal”). It reminds me of the John Cage video, when he talks about trying to get away from “taste” since taste is subjective and serves only to limit experience not expand it.
Also your blurb reminds me again of how our perception of ‘beauty’ is to a large degree culturally determined. I always appreciate that reminder as it allows me to see the world in a whole other way.
November 20th, 2007 at 1:01 am
I’ve never heard of rakuware, but after reading your blurb I want to see it for myself. I agree art does not have to be “perfect” to be beautiful and I think the destruction of the piece tells a lot more than smooth pottery would.
November 20th, 2007 at 6:11 am
Hey Susan, I learned this from my art history class. The Japanese at that time admire the unexpected and natural beauty (meaning asymmetry, cracks, and unexpected results) of their rakuware. It was funny when I first learned about this. I wonder how can you admire something that is so ugly for your eyes.