As the nation modernized, expanded its Asian empire, fought the Allied nations in World War II, suffered defeat and occupation, and then rebuilt itself, the visual arts played an active role. 

This website is a supplement to ARTH 488A Japanese Art in the 20th century--Empire, War, Occupation, taught by Prof. Alicia Volk at the University of Maryland. In this class we will look at artworks in a variety of media (architecture, sculpture, painting, prints, photography, film, performance and video) made by Japanese artists between roughly 1900 and 2020, with a focus on the thirty years between 1930 and 1960.

We will consider how artists positioned themselves and their work in relation to society and social issues, and how these approaches were impacted by the geopolitical realities of nation and empire-building, World War II, the Cold War, and Japan’s relationship to the rest of the world, including Asia, Europe and the United States. We will examine the relationships between art and politics, and monuments and memory, and see how historical issues studied in this class appear in contemporary artworks. Above all, we will think about how art has been used to revolutionize—or to preserve— the status quo.

The class also features numerous opportunities to engage with rare original archival materials, an important and exciting aspect of research that is not often available to undergraduates. In this way the students will learn how to use unique primary sources and experience the thrill of “touching history.”