The Panorama-kan of Meiji Japan | 明治日本のパノラマ館

Jan16-DrKusahara: Panorama-kan of Meiji Japan

Jan16-DrKusahara-Panorama-kan-of-Meiji-Japan

The Panorama-kan of Meiji Japan
Saturday, January 16, 2010

8:00pm

Tickets $10 {$8 VPES Members}

The Velaslavasay Panorama enthusiastically welcomes world renowned media art scholar Machiko Kusahara, who will present "The Panorama-kan of Meiji Japan". During her illustrated lecture, Dr. Kusahara will share her research on the aesthetics, construction, and social function of panorama halls - known as panorama-kan in Japanese - and other related visual entertainments which were popular during the Meiji period {1868-1912}. Little information on this fascinating era of the panorama’s history has so far been published in English.

Jan16-DrKusahara-Panorama-kan-of-Meiji-Japan

Vicksburg Panorama Nippon- kan in Asakusa,Tokyo

The most important Panorama-kan in Japan was the Nippon Panorama in Asakusa, Tokyo, which was built in 1890 for the Battle of Vicksburg Panorama and demolished in 1910. Although the panorama craze arrived late and was short-lived, it burned quite hot; dozens of rotundas were built from Fukushima to Fukuoka, and traveling showmen introduced and exhibited oil paintings, a medium which in itself was new to the Japanese. As with other parts of the world in which the panoramic phenomenon flourished in both the 19th century and today, many of the panoramic displays in Japan depicted battlefields; while the panorama halls themselves served as cultural battlefields for Japanese oil painters to fight against traditional art. For the Japanese public in Meiji Japan, Panorama-kan represented modernity.

The presentation of "The Panorama-kan of Meiji Japan" has been funded in part by the Pasadena Art Alliance and The Velaslavasay Panorama Enthusiast Society. Images are from the collection of Dr. Kusahara and reproduced with her kind permission.