The Print Room

This subject provides an introduction to Japanese art and cultural history through a survey of the Japanese woodblock print from its emergence in the mid-seventeenth century to the mid-twentieth century. Visits to University’s Baillieu Library, the Ian Potter Museum, and the NGV and first-hand viewing will form a key part of the subject. Technical developments, major genres, and master designers are explored within the context of Japanese and East Asian pictorial traditions, the publishing industry, and urban culture. Topics for consideration include aesthetic discourse, consumerism, materiality of prints, censorship, erotica, the construction of class and social identities in relation to printed media.

学习版画艺术的历史、技术与鉴赏。

• 1Analyse the social, cultural, and historical contexts in which Japanese woodblock prints were produced, circulated, and consumed.
• 2Evaluate the technical, stylistic, and thematic innovations of major practitioners across different genres of Japanese prints.
• 3Assess the roles of publishing, consumer culture, and censorship in shaping the production and reception of Japanese prints.
• 4Construct coherent written arguments that integrate primary visual evidence with scholarly sources to address debates in Japanese art and cultural history.