Fenollosa’s Legacy in Late Nineteenth-Century Japan

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Fenollosa’s Legacy in Late Nineteenth-Century Japan is written by Hiroshi Nara and published by Bloomsbury Publishing PLC. It's available with International Standard Book Number or ISBN identification 1666948306 (ISBN 10) and 9781666948301 (ISBN 13).

Fenollosa’s Legacy in Late Nineteenth Century Japan: An American Scholar’s Role in Resurrecting the Art of Japan makes a critical assessment of American art theorist Ernest F. Fenollosa’s work in Meiji Japan. Ernest F. Fenollosa was first hired as a Tokyo University professor of political philosophy in 1878 but became an art theorist and policymaker for Japan’s Education Ministry. His illustrious career as an art administrator began with the 1882 Bijutsu shinsetsu speech that cemented the reputation of his work. Working closely with Okakura Kakuzo (Tenshin), Fenollosa became the lightning rod in defining the course of modern painting as well as in establishing the first national art school. He is widely credited with resurrecting moribund traditional Japanese painting to health. The author shows this assessment of Fenollosa as the savior of Japanese traditional painting work may not have been deserved by examining the historical context in which he made the 1882 speech. The book offers the first English translation of Fenollosa’s 1882 Bijutsu shinsetsu speech that had been previously unavailable to the non-Japanese reading audience.